a personal blog on leadership and education
Why do we do this work? Many would say for the kids and that is a great answer, but many kids will go through school just fine. They are elastic and adhere to anything that you put in front of them. All three of my kids are just like this. While each of them has…
As an attempt to change up how I am blogging and am starting to record videos on my thoughts. I usually have plenty of time to record a 4-5 minute video while I am driving to and from the school. I figured this would give me a more authentic posting and more frequent posting as…
So I was reading this morning and came across this article. Literacy is important for all students. It opens doors for children and it opens them wide. We are teachers who teach kids. We DO NOT teach subjects. “I am a band teacher!” WRONG! You are a teacher of children, not a teacher of a…
Ten years in the classroom is now approaching. Last year I got adventurous with my professional goals and decided to link using Facebook as one of my goals. At first, I was scared about going down that road and so were many others, but it worked out just fine. This year I may have gone…
Some teachers say they use rubrics for everything and they do. Some of those rubrics that I have seen that they use are horrible and just thrown together without taking the learner into consideration nor do they even define the proficient level for each student. Here is a post from ASCD about creating rubrics and…
Self-Paced Professional Development Here are some options for self-paced, learn-when-you-can professional development. Your district will not hand you these options, but I encourage you to seek them out. iTunesU iTunesU is an iPad-based repository of courses, lectures, and resources for teachers and students. The content can be accessed exclusively on the iPad, and the material…
We put a great deal of emphasis on that our schools are failing and that our kids are not learning in schools today. It is true, the American education system is in a triage situation and needs to have attention placed the critical needs. Many parents and teachers are concerned with the fact that students…
The Myth of the Super Teacher on Vimeo Roxanna Elden is a great speaker. The message that she sends forth in this video is stellar. I have not read her book as of yet but I intend to. She is 100% correct when she says that all teachers need honesty, humor, and practical advice. The…
Here I am going to criticize as constructively as I can two perspectives of education, teachers, and parents. I have linked to both recent articles that both made me get a slice of passion as this summer is ending and I am starting to head into daily reflection mode. First of all, let me get…
When I attend conferences, I often find myself asking the question of other educators “What do you teach?” Now when I ask this question I am never really looking for a particular answer and to be quite honest I should rephrase the question. For me personally, when I am asked this question I always respond…