I am assigned to them and they are assigned to me. We meet at the same time every week day for almost nine months, rain or shine. I am supposed to help them; they are supposed to profit from my … Continue reading
A Moonlight Graham Smile
Bad Bananas Can Rot the Bunch
Thanks to State Senator Luther Olsen for his likening the Wisconsin legislature to a banana republic, and not the clothing store. Senator Olsen referred to the legislature about face relative to its partisan decision to countermand its 2011 decision to … Continue reading
Numerically Finished
Runs. Touch downs and conversions. Two-point and three-point shots and free throws. Strokes. Goals. Percentage of correct responses. When everything is reduced to points, there always is a numerical end. Sometimes the end is when the numbers of time on … Continue reading
Real School Royalty
School royalty. Lords and Ladies of the school house. The concept of school royalty seems incongruous with public education. Yet, schoolhouse royalty does exist and it exists in every school. Ask any person who has spent significant time in a … Continue reading
Children Deserve Better Schools Than They Get
What is the school that children deserve? It is not a difficult question. Children can answer the question. Teachers can answer the question. Parents can answer the question. Employers and college admission personnel can answer the question. Interestingly, each of … Continue reading
Read This Summer or Fall Further Behind
It’s mid-May and everyone at school is counting down the days. Zero is the last day of school or the first day of summer vacation; it depends upon your goals. Summer officially starts for children and their families, and teachers … Continue reading
The Parent Side of Educational Reform
In the movie Moneyball, Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics, says to Art Howe, the team’s coach, “If you don’t win the last game of the season, nobody gives a damn.” Coach Howe responds, “So, now it’s on … Continue reading
Growing a Teaching Tool – Task Analysis
What am I supposed to think about this and where do I begin? This question finds its way into our thinking on many occasions, especially when we are responsible for the success of children. Often the words of others assist … Continue reading
Growing a Teaching Tool – Critical Attributes of What Is To Be Learned
If you are ready and prepared to do something important, the doing is much easier and the result is much more likely to be exactly what you anticipated it would be. Readiness points a person toward success! We can learn … Continue reading
Time, Tide and the Common Core Standards Wait for No Teacher!
Have you ever had that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that a small disaster is imminent? The dream is real. I woke in a sweat the other night. A consistent dream of incompetence haunts my sleep now … Continue reading