There are countless of quotes floated about attributed to Albert Einstein. I’m sure many of them–probably most of them–are authentic. Some are probably not. To his credit, he did have a lot of good stuff to say about a great many topics beyond physics. I think the above is a good example, and a worthy admonishment for all educators. Of … Read More
Don’t Smile ’til Christmas
Fellow educators: what was your number one growth area during your first years of teaching? I know what mine was: Classroom management. As a beginning teacher, I felt pretty confident in planning lessons. I knew my content. I believed myself to be a competent assessor. But classroom management? Not my strongest suit. To be honest, I had a lot to learn. … Read More
Improving Testing
My students in Introduction to Education recently had their first exam of the semester. Some came in very confident, others very nervous. One student admitted to me, “I just get so anxious every time I have to take a test!” I thought that was an important comment–very honest! Many students are fearful of tests. Test anxiety is a real thing. … Read More
School Choice in My State? Really?
I am guessing that if one would survey random citizens as they walk the downtown streets in your community asking the question, “Does our state have school choice legislation?”, you would receive some interesting responses. A fair guess would be that most would not be aware of school choice legislation in their state. The Friedman Foundation has declared “No More!” … Read More
The Not-So-Common Core?
It is difficult to subscribe to any type of education newsfeed without seeing an article, blog post, or political response (for/against) the Common Core State Standards. What began as a seemingly unified attempt to address the United States’ “middle-of-the-pack” performance on international tests (e.g. PISA, TIMSS) as well as create a rigorous set of national standards that would raise achievement … Read More