Another year, another clusterf**k at the Tennessee Dept. of Education
The State of Tennessee Department of Education (Motto: We will spend millions of dollars to make our schools like China!) is so addicted to testing that they will simply do anything to hide how bad...
View ArticleFL Duval Co. schools losing about $7.4 million because of failed charter...
Duval schools losing about $7.4 million because of charter schools Instead of a projected $10.9 million loss from more students leaving Duval’s traditional, district-run schools for charter schools...
View ArticleUniversity of Alaska President Search Part 1: The Cultural Conflict
The members of the Board of Regents spend countless hours of their lives reading documents and going to meetings. They make decisions that will affect the future of Alaska in all kinds of ways. I'm...
View ArticleFrom Ambivalence to Conviction: Reflections of a Privileged Inner City Teacher
It was summertime. I remember being equally elated and anxious about the prospect of attending an American school. What an honor! What a privilege to receive an American education, I reminded...
View ArticleIowa school district to start using body cams to record interactions with...
Will principals everywhere soon be recording their interactions with parents and students? Body cams—they aren't just for police anymore! The Burlington School District in Iowa is going all in on body...
View ArticleNOW what's the matter with Kansas?
I live in Kansas. I am an educator. My state has just eliminated teacher licensing requirements for six school districts, including a major suburban district known for the affluence of its students. On...
View ArticleTeacher Twitterstorm: NO WAY to Hillary
Recently I was stunned to read that American Federation of Teachers, the union I belonged to before retiring had come out with anearly endorsement of HRC.Sorry, but my initial reaction was WTF? The...
View ArticleSo I find myself in a strange position
Here I am, a highly qualified Social Studies Teacher, with excellent references and multiple awards for my teaching, including two in the last year. I have taught Middle and High School. I am...
View ArticleChristie Suggests Teachers Should Be "Punched In The Face." Teacher Takes Him...
Eager to score points with the Republican base voter while he wastes his state's tax dollars on a futile campaign for the Presidency, the pile of toxic waste that calls himself Chris Christie lambasted...
View ArticleTeachers' Lounge: Pushing Outside of your Comfort Zone
At my university we have a junior-level interdisciplinary seminar, which can be on any topic a professor wants to teach about. I have taught versions about places -- Istanbul, Cairo, London, and this...
View ArticleNote To Carly Fiorina: Solving Nation's Problems Harder Than Rocket Science
From last Friday's news: "For GOP presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina, solving the nation’s biggest challenges is pretty simple — “it’s not rocket science,” as she likes to say."I watched Neil...
View ArticleTeachers' Lounge: Writing that Goes Beyond
I am starting to realize how much we limit our students at the college level. Unless they are in a creative class (and often even then) I see that they are not willing to actually let any part of...
View ArticleBringing more dance education into Idaho schools
by Michael Strickland "Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body." - Martha GrahamWith so many education funding cuts in Idaho, it is always heartwarming to run into initiatives that...
View ArticleTop Missouri Republican photographed exchanging numbers—on a historical mural
Seriously? Dave Marner of the Gasconade County Republican could not believe his eyes when he saw two people exchanging numbers, using a historically significant mural by Thomas Hart Benton as a...
View ArticleTeachers' Lounge: Play
Children learn when they play. So do adults, and as part of my goal of making life long learners out of my students, I am trying to encourage play in my classes. Not in place of learning, but to...
View ArticleTeachers' Lounge: I am old
‘You are old, Father William’ (1865) Lewis Carroll “You are old, Father William,” the young man said, “And your hair has become very white; And yet you incessantly stand on your head – Do you think, at...
View ArticleTeachers' Lounge: Getting out of bed in the morning is sometimes hard
Today was a "Visit Day" at my university, for prospective students, and for each of those there are two events where department faculty participate -- the department chair does the presentation and a...
View ArticleContingent Faculty and the Viability of Higher Education in the U.S.
(This is a report on the growing consensus among higher education scholars, including accrediting agencies and the Association of Governing Boards (AGB), that contingent faculty should not be...
View ArticleNew Study Confirms U.S. Public Schools Are Testing Our Children To Death
We as a nation have devoted enormous amounts of time and money to the focused goal of increasing test scores, and we have almost nothing to show for it. Just as importantly, there is no evidence that...
View Article"officer slam" was just doing his job
What I have a hard time conveying to some of my more sheltered friends* is that the actions of "officer slam" are not remarkable. They are commonplace.And given how common this is "officer slam"...
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