Teaching

No Controversy Allowed! On Getting Kicked Out of a Middle School

Posted by zoeweil ⋅ June 6, 2011 ⋅ 7 Comments

I wanted to share a recent post I wrote for Common Dreams, a progressive news site. Here are a couple excerpts: Imagine our surprise when ten minutes after the presentation we found out that the second one was canceled. The principal – who’d come in a few times during my presentation but wasn’t able to … Continue reading »

Allow Yourself to Dream

Posted by Pernille Ripp ⋅ May 11, 2011 ⋅ 9 Comments

I do my best teaching while I dream. Far away from my own cowardice that tells me to stick within the lines, follow the lesson plan, and to not deviate off the trodden path. I do my best teaching right before sleep comes and envelopes me, right before the stress of the day falls away, … Continue reading »

What’s high school for?

Posted by kima ⋅ May 6, 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

I don’t always agree with Seth Godin, but I usually find his thoughts valuable beyond the world of marketing and entrepreneurship he usually writes about. I was so glad he decided to venture into the question of “what value could (or should) high school bring?” in today’s blog post, he suggests we should teach the future generations … Continue reading »

Rewards: motivating compliance or learning?

Posted by kima ⋅ April 21, 2011 ⋅ 12 Comments

I sometimes pretend and say ‘Yay!’ – my 7 y/o daughter explaining how she learned to ‘comply’ in her school Incentive schemes, which are supposed to encourage desired behavior through the use of rewards, or discourage undesirable ones through punishments, are all too familiar to all of us. Probably similarly familiar are the findings that … Continue reading »

Miracle schools, vouchers and all that educational flim-flam

Posted by teacherken ⋅ April 17, 2011 ⋅ 1 Comment

is the title of this piece by Diane Ravitch. It appeared at the website of Nieman Watchdog of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, as part of the “Ask This” which is subtitled “Questions the Press Should Ask.” Oh if only reporters and writers on education were knowledgeable enough about education to ask … Continue reading »

A Powerful, Crucial Vision for the Future of Schooling: Teaching 2030

Posted by zoeweil ⋅ April 8, 2011 ⋅ 2 Comments

Teaching 2030: What We Must Do for Our Students and Our Public Schools… Now and in the Future is perhaps the most cogent, reasonable, clear, and yet visionary book about educational reform in the 21st Century. Written through a collaboration of twelve teachers/teacher-leaders and changemakers, Teaching 2030 steers clear of rhetoric, either/ors, political side-taking, and … Continue reading »

Want Better Schools? Exalt Great Teachers

Posted by zoeweil ⋅ March 28, 2011 ⋅ 8 Comments

For my blog post today, I’m sharing an essay I wrote that was published on Common Dreams.org, a progressive news site. Here’s a short excerpt: “We all have our stories of bad teachers. Most of us have memories of being bored, frustrated, anxious, and often miserable at school. We love our great teachers, and we … Continue reading »

An incredibly important piece on teaching and education

Posted by teacherken ⋅ March 23, 2011 ⋅ 1 Comment

Sometimes one encounters something that needs no commentary from me – it is complete in itself. I want to share something like that about teaching and education. People who follow the blog Valerie Strauss runs at the Washington Post, the Answer Sheet, experienced that. Valerie often cross-posts things written elsewhere. Occasionally she posts something written … Continue reading »

Institute for Humane Education Launches New Graduate Programs for People Who Want to Create a Better World

Posted by zoeweil ⋅ March 22, 2011 ⋅ Leave a Comment

I’m thrilled to share the news that the Institute for Humane Education (IHE) is launching new graduate programs in humane education through an affiliation with Valparaiso University. Beginning in September, IHE will offer an M.Ed. and M.A. in Humane Education, along with concentrations in Humane Education in Valparaiso’s M.Ed. in Instructional Leadership and M.A. in … Continue reading »

What’s Worth Teaching

Posted by teacherken ⋅ March 20, 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

this is a cross-posting of a review of this book. The review original appeared at Education Review Marion Brady is a retired educator. He has taught in K-12 and at the university level. He has written columns for Knight-Ridder Newspapers and guest-blogs for the Washington Post. He has authored textbooks. He wants to change American … Continue reading »

The Influence of Teachers

Posted by teacherken ⋅ March 19, 2011 ⋅ 1 Comment

Teachers can never declare “Missions Accomplished,” because they are a bridge, not an endpoint, for all the boys and girls (and men and women) who come into their lives . . . . the teacher’s job is to help students build a self, to create the entity that will be constant company for life. That’s … Continue reading »

Dexter Chapin’s Master Teachers

Posted by zoeweil ⋅ March 16, 2011 ⋅ 1 Comment

I recently read Dexter Chapin’s excellent book, Master Teachers: Making a Difference on the Edge of Chaos and underlined more passages than I had in any book in years. For my blog today, I wanted to share some of them. “Nothing the federal government, the state government, or the school district does will improve education … Continue reading »

Educator Arnold Greenberg: Counting What Can’t Be Counted

Posted by zoeweil ⋅ March 9, 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

Arnold Greenberg, founder of Miquon Upper School in Philadelphia, Deep Run School of Homesteading, and Liberty School – A Democratic Learning Community, lives in an off-the-grid cabin in East Blue Hill, Maine. He wrote this essay, “Towards a Different Standard: Counting What Can’t Be Counted,” which I wanted to share with readers of Cooperative Catalyst. … Continue reading »

Teaching: The Most Noble Profession

Posted by zoeweil ⋅ March 7, 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

For my blog post today, I’m sharing an essay I wrote that was published on Common Dreams.org, a progressive news site. Here’s a short excerpt: “In college a friend in medical school told me that he thought that medicine was the most noble profession. It was a strange statement, really, and quite provocative. I wondered … Continue reading »

An Open Letter to Natalie Munroe From Chris Lehmann

Posted by zoeweil ⋅ February 23, 2011 ⋅ 2 Comments

Chris Lehmann, the principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia (who gave a fabulous TEDx talk, “Education is Broken“), has written an open letter to Natalie Munroe, the Pennsylvania high school English teacher whose blog, replete with invective, insult, and profanity directed toward her students, was found by one of those very students, shared … Continue reading »

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