“I can stop talking about teaching whenever I want to,” claims educator-writer Emmet Rosenfeld, who spends much of his time—you guessed it—thinking and talking about teaching. A former English teacher at the renowned Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., Rosenfeld transitioned to a position as English teacher and Dean of Students at the Congressional Schools of Virginia in Falls Church, Va. He wrote this wide-ranging opinion blog on teaching and learning in his classroom and beyond. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: teaching & learning.
Education
Opinion
Tapestry
One of the first things I put up in my office for this new job was a quilted tapestry about three feet square. It’s an Amish star on a dark green background, composed of diamonds ranging in hue from turquoise to wine. I’ve had it since my first teaching gig, sixteen years ago, when I bought it from the artist, a colleague who was retiring (to quilt more). Years before, she had been my own 8th grade English teacher. We read A Midsummer Night’s Dream in her class, and she called us “toads.”
Education
Opinion
Making the Grade
Last week, Fairfax County changed its grading policy to adopt a “ten point” scale. In other words, instead of needing a 94 for an A and a 64 to pass, under the new system 90 or better bags an A and a 60 gets you over the hump.
Education
Opinion
Singing America
In another corner of Teacher, editor Anthony Rebora is moderating a forum right now asking teachers a timely question:
Education
Opinion
Plank by Plank
Here’s some stuff about building a book Annie Lamott never told us in Bird by Bird, her quickly classic writer's autobiography. Fortunately, I’ve got Andrea from Long Island to help me craft a marketable proposal. Over spring break, I knocked out a chapter outline listing the sections and what I want to put in each one. The organizing device is a metaphor, a suitable approach for a guy like me who has a license plate on his jeep that says METAAAA.
Education
Opinion
Gifts
I was gifted when gifted wasn't cool, or at least before it became de rigueur for every middle class kid with a parent on the PTA. My mom was a committed advocate of special programs for kids identified as "gifted and talented" when I was in elementary school in the late '70s and early '80s, to the point where she moved my twin brother and I to three different schools over the course of our primary career in order to follow Fairfax County's local full day program.
Education
Opinion
Changing Course
The course of true love never did run smooth, and neither did my lesson plans. I’ve never understood how some teachers create a quarter calendar and stick to it down to what day the tests fall (then again, I don’t give tests either, because I prefer not to privilege my response as a reader above a student’s, but that’s another post).
Education
Opinion
HALLELUJAH!
Hallelujah… Hallelujah… Nope, typing it just doesn’t have that cathedral ring. But I’m hearing it in stereo in my head right now, having just popped open an email on my computer that I waited two years to see.
Education
Opinion
The Write Direction
One advantage to having fewer students than I used to is that I can spend more time helping each one with writing (this is not a veiled pitch for independent schools—it’s an argument for small classes regardless of the type of school). I’ve tried to teach writing a lot of different ways, and it always comes down to the fact that the more high quality attention one can give a writing student at key moments, the more likely they are to write something that won’t be painful to read.
Education
Opinion
We Pod
“I’m SOME-body!”
So crows Steve Martin as nebbish Navin R. Johnson in a line from The Jerk when he discovers his name published in the phonebook (the plot is propelled when a killer opens his own newly delivered phonebook and plops a finger down at random on Navin’s name). Not sure why this is still kicking around in my head, but I felt a Navinesque sense of elation when I clicked on the podcast of my recent talk to teacher researchers of Annandale Terrace Elementary. In the spirit of 2.0 multitasking, pop it open for a listen while you’re reading the rest of this blog.
So crows Steve Martin as nebbish Navin R. Johnson in a line from The Jerk when he discovers his name published in the phonebook (the plot is propelled when a killer opens his own newly delivered phonebook and plops a finger down at random on Navin’s name). Not sure why this is still kicking around in my head, but I felt a Navinesque sense of elation when I clicked on the podcast of my recent talk to teacher researchers of Annandale Terrace Elementary. In the spirit of 2.0 multitasking, pop it open for a listen while you’re reading the rest of this blog.
Education
Opinion
Half a Stack
I thought teaching only two English classes a day would give me more time, but somehow I feel twice as busy as when I taught a full load. Here are a few things that keep stealing my attention away from the partially graded stack of mock application essays on my desk.
Education
Opinion
What I Learned in 2nd Grade Today
This morning one of our second grade teachers was sick, and I had to cover her class for an hour. After a rushed tutorial from the other second grade teacher I found myself in front of a class of people a lot littler than the ones I’m used to teaching.
Education
Opinion
Publish or Perish
Family Magazine, a Northern Virginia-based publication on parenting, is including content from Congressional staff, and it’s my turn. I thought I’d use this week’s post to work out some ideas and reflect on publication as an aspect of the writing process.