Tuesday, January 25, 2011

School Tech Connect: Tell Yourself A Story

School Tech Connect: Tell Yourself A Story

Tell Yourself A Story

This really is astonishing poverty data.

I taught 8th grade writing at the very same private school where Rahm went to school. I taught 7th and 8th grade writing at a fabulously resourced public school in Northbrook. I started my career in the blistering hot East Valley of Phoenix, where we had large classes of 35-40 eighth graders, half of whom lived in squalor, in shacks and hotels and RV's and in isolated poverty on the reservation. The one thing I can say without a doubt is that if you want to have effective lessons, just eliminate the poverty, shrink the class size, and select the most motivated families.

If you can't do that but you want to feel like you're doing something, then you need to start telling yourself some