A New York Times Magazine article titled Building a Better Teacher appeared last March. It’s an excellent contribution to the debate about what makes a good teacher. As the article describes, it’s not enough to care a lot; there are many caring teachers who can’t get their students’ attention to teach them anything. Being a […]
It’s a measure of what a difficult situation our US schools are in when the math program a school adopts makes the news. But that is exactly what is happening often now that our nation is recognizing how far behind we have fallen in math and science. This article outlines the reasons this Chester, PA […]
This is the first year since 2003 that I will not be teaching NaNoWriMo in the classroom. What’s good about this is it frees me up to do it with a whole bunch of area students. I have posted a new program description for our fun, exciting adventure to come. Here are a few details […]
Imagine trying to pay for a doughnut and not knowing if a $10 bill is enough. Imagine not knowing which is more, 5 or 4. Imagine never having a sense of time, so you are always early or late for things. Or someone gives you an hour to complete a task, and you have no […]
The Urban Word of the Day today was “cerebral bulimia,” defined as “binging and purging of the brain.” Doesn’t that sound familiar? It calls to mind all the useless studying in which facts are crammed into temporary storage in the brain, dumped out on paper (or computer) for a test, and promptly forgotten. This can, […]
My friend and esteemed colleague, Charles Fischer, brought to my attention the frightening lack of time and resources spent on professional development for teachers. His blog post relates a report from the National Staff Development Council and the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education to his own experience with professional development. Here is a […]
New York State is putting teachers and students under more pressure by revising the required scores on standardized tests for students to achieve proficiency. Why are they doing this? Apparently it is because despite passing Regents tests, almost 25% of the students need extra support once they reach college. How will they afford “remediation” for […]
What is Singapore Math? This is a question I get a lot, from friends, people on the plane, pretty much anyone with whom I discuss what I teach. It’s a broad topic, but I’ll try to cover it in a nutshell here. Singapore Math is the curriculum for teaching math that was developed in Singapore. […]