Stories from School: Practice meets Policy

Resistance

2012-05-24T01:00:00-07:00

By Mark By nature, I am a pessimistic skeptic. I am a glass-half-empty-because-it-is-cracked-and-leaking kind of person. But, if there's one thing I believe, it is that a person should, no must, be willing to adjust his or her beliefs when...

Thanks, Mom

2012-05-13T15:58:39-07:00

By Marge’s Son In 1966 I started kindergarten. The bus stop was in our front yard, and my mom put me out there with the other kids to wait. “Stand here,” I was told, “and when the bus comes, get...

More Appreciation

2012-05-11T20:34:52-07:00

By Travis Writing did not come easily to me. In junior high, I would watch my friends energetically write, their pencils dancing away, creating works of great literature, or at least semi-coherent pieces that would garner a passing grade. Writing...

Appreciation

2012-05-09T01:00:00-07:00

By Mark There will be coffee awaiting me in the main office tomorrow in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week. Coffee: I used to joke with my students that if any of their papers came back with coffee stains from me,...

Relationships

2012-05-07T05:11:00-07:00

By Travis I took my sons to school with me on national Take Your Child to Work day. It humanized me. I have a good rapport with students because I care about them as people outside of my subject area....

May

2012-05-01T01:00:00-07:00

By Mark Of my seniors, some may graduate, some may become a statistic. Of the total FTE in my building, some may have jobs next year, some may be RIF'd. Of the courses on the master schedule, some classes may...

The English Problem

2012-04-30T01:00:00-07:00

By Mark For several years, my building has been identifying and aligning curriculum to standards--first state standards and now Common Core Standards--with part of this process being the identification of the Power Standards! each unit of instruction is to focus...

Assessing the Assessment

2012-04-29T07:00:46-07:00

By Tamara I will be spending this week setting standards for language proficiency testing to be measured by WELPA (Washington English Language Proficiency Assessment) A charge that feels dubious in light of this recent piece. I don’t want to finish...

Education Remodel

2012-04-27T07:19:00-07:00

by Travis My posts as of late have been somber, critical, and perhaps too much on the glass-half-empty side. I am aware that they have been. I knew they would be. This dark view on our state’s support of our...

Cracking the Achievement Gap

2012-04-26T08:33:00-07:00

By Tom While leafing through a recent copy of The Stanwood-Camano Crab Cracker, looking for something to do in the greater Stanwood metropolitan area, one event caught my eye: Ready Reader: Preschool Storytime; 9:30AM or 10:30AM at Stanwood Library. Let...

Avoidance Behavior

2012-04-24T12:19:27-07:00

By Tamara I observe my class of seventh graders struggling to complete their persuasive writing assessment. It is quiet enough to hear the ticking of the clock. To an unpracticed eye they are engaged and hard at work. Yet in...

Staying Informed about a Moving Target

2012-04-14T11:07:07-07:00

By Mark I do not envy my colleagues who teach high school math. In the few years I've been teaching, I've watched the mad dash and scramble to react to the nearly annual changes in statewide math assessment. At this...

Standards and Gremlins

2012-04-11T18:17:36-07:00

By Mark Though I do not believe that uniform curriculum standards will actually cure any ills in education, and though I do not believe that the Common Core standards for the language arts are really clear or specific enough to...

Cheating

2012-04-03T19:59:21-07:00

By Tom A few years ago I was giving my third graders their annual standardized test. This was the reading assessment, and Rachel had her hand up. I asked her what she needed. She wanted to know what a “selection”...

Mission Impossible

2012-03-31T15:56:26-07:00

By Tamara Here is your three part challenge should you choose to accept it: 1.) Demonstrate your proficiency as a teacher measured in part by MSP/HSPE scores, 2.) Mentor a student teacher so they may start their career at a...

Benefit and Loss or The Opportunity Cost of Shifting Priorities

2012-03-31T15:52:41-07:00

By Rob Sometime ago the teachers in my district decided to extend our school day four days a week so it could be shortened on Wednesday. This was a benefit to teachers. Wednesday was a day for collaboration and planning....

What Are We Teaching Our Teachers?

2012-03-25T15:23:19-07:00

By Travis Education is a fascinating field in which to work. In addition to the joy and interest that students bring with them each period, I find our educational system fascinating. This system can be observed, and analyzed, as if...

When I'm Happiest

2012-03-19T19:10:50-07:00

By Mark Everyone has probably heard about, or actually read, the New York Times website article that discussed the supposed downward spiral of teacher morale. It highlighted how teachers working in struggling schools had the lowest morale, and the teachers...

Stage Five: Acceptance

2012-03-18T09:53:12-07:00

By Tom There has been a fundamental shift in the teaching profession over the last ten years or so. Previously, the focus was mostly on what the adults did. Now the focus is primarily on what the students are doing....

Math & the Common Core - glimmers of hope?

2012-03-16T06:46:40-07:00

By Ginger, Guest Blogger In the current state of the world, it can be far too easy to focus on the troubles and dangers that beset K-12 education and be drained of energy by that bleak viewing. It was therefore...