June 2011
8 posts
2 tags
Pro-Teacher Support Rising
In “Stop Blaming the Teachers” Jim Taylor echoes much of what I believe to be true about the criticisms aimed towards education, and teachers, in the US today. When the President of the United States comes out and supports the wholesale firing of teachers in an underperforming Rhode Island school without understanding the socio-economic history of that school, or bothering to look into...
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Teaching and Pensions
Somewhere around ten years ago, our legislature (Ohio) and the state teachers retirement system (STRS) became worried that baby boomers would be retiring en masse and schools would be unable to accommodate the loss. Therefore, these two groups decided to provide an incentive to keep teachers in the classroom a bit longer. Traditionally, teachers worked 30 years, then retired on a pension that...
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Watchgjmueller:
Could the End of Homework Be on the Horizon?
If the homework ban does become the norm rather than the exception, what does this mean for teachers?
Apart from having to coordinate with each other to ensure they don’t exceed allotted homework time, how will educators change the way they design classroom time?
Too much homework is busy work. Teachers need to reevaluate what...
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Measuring Teacher Effectiveness... →
This article examines attempts to effectively measure teacher success, while casting a critical eye at the emphasis on value-added evaluation, merit pay, and the recent attempt to downplay teacher experience and added degrees. Overall, a good read for teachers as they arm themselves with information to deflect the attacks of their critics.
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Arne Duncan - At It Again
In Not Insulted, Martha Infante takes issue with Arne Duncan’s comment that Diane Ravitch, “is in denial and she is insulting all of the hardworking teacher, principals, and students all across the country who are proving her wrong every day.”
Diane Ravitch was on the “dark side” and once supported NCLB. She has since recanted and has become a vocal opponent of...
1 tag
How Do These Ignorant People Get Elected?
I just finished reading NC House Speaker Thom Tillis Says Educators Don’t Care About Kids, in the blog The 21st Century Principal and I’m just dumbfounded how elected officials can get away with saying such trash.
The Republican plan is clear - destroy public education and privatize k-12 education in the USA, issue vouchers and turn families loose to find the education they can...
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Teachers And Their Changing Roles
I’m reading The Changing Role of the Teacher in the 21st Century in teachers.net Gazette and it presents a common theme - teachers are stuck with teaching methods from the 1960s, while students need to be prepared for the 21st century.
Yes, I agree with much of what is being said. Teacher as font of knowledge is not what it used to be. Technology has created learners who are exposed to...
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More Political Garbage
I just finished reading Diane Ravitch’s NYT OP-ED piece, “Waiting For A School Miracle.” I enjoy reading her articles and tweets. Her change-of-course on school reform is refreshing. Once again she pulls the shroud of half-truth from the claims of politicians, this time President Obama, Arne Duncan, and Michael Bloomberg, and their dubious claims of success for schools who punish...
