Kids These Days

Dear current and future parents,
This is what can happen when kids have smart phones and when teachers supply students with email addresses to turn in projects digitally:
Hi Ms. Smith* (:
i’m in my physics class and i’m hella bored!!!!!!!!!! we’re working on
our final, and i’m dying here. i swear i have had senioritis since
freshman year! [...]

I’m Thinking About…

Education policy.  What is the connection between public high schools and two and four year colleges?  Whatever it is it isn’t enough.  So much of the education debate takes place around K-12 that we leave out any consideration of what our students go on to post-diploma.  The NY Times explores one side of this issue. [...]

Tsk Tsk!

One of my graduation presents–isn’t it hysterical?

Mean Teacher dish by John Derian
Beware!  Beware children of the Bay–whether San Francisco, Marin, Peninsula or East!
¡Mean teacher is here!  
Beware! my tight curls, sharp hairsticks, heavy leather-bound volume,
Beware! my mutton sleeves, corsetted waist, pursed lips,
Beware!  my unsympathetic eyes and disaffected pointed finger!
I     WILL     SCHOOL [...]

I’m thinking about:

building student confidence to improve academic achievement; see NY Times and The Situationist
how did I forget today was Earth Day?  Jewels of New York in Fort Greene (details on their Twitter) My students are super excited about the film Earth.  ”It looks hecka tight!”  Opening today, Earth Day.
why aren’t there more floral design blogs? [...]

If You Don’t Know, Now You Know

Tomorrow, Friday April 17, 2009 is the 13th annual Day of Silence.  Day of Silence “brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools.” 
The goal of the Day of Silence is to make schools safer for all students, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. In a Harris Interactive study on bullying, students said [...]

What I’ve Been Up To

Over the last two or so months I have been planning and teaching, and analyzing and writing about my teaching.  The result is eighty-eight pages of hard work.  The impetus was P.A.C.T.  What is P.A.C.T.?  The Performance Assessment of California Teachers.  
I’m done and I’m celebrating.  I like to call it my first book.  Go [...]

Announcements

Alistair Bomfray and Jesse Scaccia have formed Teacher Revised, a new blog focused on the experience of teaching from teachers’ perspectives.  The site includes personal reflections from current teachers as well as essay on education news and politics.  
The Jewels of New York have begun shipment of Easter cookies.  Pastel paradise with sparkling dragées.  Please [...]

This Story Isn’t Going Away

When I studied in Berlin in 2001, I spent the majority of my time in coffee shops and the Freie Universitat studying the issues surrounding Germany’s largest group of minorities: the Turks, who were invited to Germany by the German government during the post-WWII labor shortage.  
Today, while casually listening to NPR in the car, [...]

Separate and Unequal: Berkeley High

I’ve long had reservations about Berkeley High and the way its small schools function to divide students academically, which unintentionally tends to lead to further divisions along social and racial lines.  Earlier today I was talking to another teacher about how I’m working to address the achievement gap in my classroom, and happened to bring [...]

Spate of Education-related posts

The Teacher Salary Project, a group of educators and citizens committed to raising teacher salaries in order to improve the quality of education, is having an event in San Francisco on March 23, 2009 from 6:30-8:30.  The evening will include clips from the new film of the same name, based on the New York Times [...]