The American Age Is Over
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The global economy is fundamentally different today than it was yesterday.
The system of global trade anchored on the United States, that Canada has
r...
On Tyranny: Lessons for Educators 8
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Reflections on the short yet deep book of Timothy Snyder. Stand out.
Someone has to. It’s easy to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say
something ...
On Tyranny: Lessons for Educators 8
-
Reflections on the short yet deep book of Timothy Snyder. Stand out.
Someone has to. It’s easy to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say
something ...
Should We Be Rooting FOR Catastrophe?
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More than 100 years ago H.G. Wells observed that “Human history becomes
more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” Wells was stacking
the dec...
Even Our Words Can Be Loose Parts
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*"No climbing to the top!"*
When our daughter was in kindergarten, her school installed an amazing
rope-and-steel climbing structure. The kindergartner...
Boys
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I’m old enough to remember… When we were all sharing data in the 1990s
about how boys got called on more often, and their comments got more
affirmative res...
Things That Make You Go, Hmmm
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First up, the Board is having an *Ad Hoc Policy Manual Review Committee *meeting
from 2:30-4:00 pm. This is all part of the Student Outcome Focused
Gover...
SPI Presents SB 48 Immigration Bill
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State Superintendent Tony Thurmond presents immigration bill challenging
enforcement on school grounds, promotes expansion of Dual Language
Immersion progr...
OK: Another First Amendment Lawsuit
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Oklahoma's Education Dudebro-in-Chief just loves him some lawsuits, so he's
decided to launch another one, this time going after the Freedom From
Religio...
Mike Shulman the ARISE UFT Judenrat
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I was surprised to learn that Mike Shulman has aligned himself with ARISE.
I previously supported him, advocating that the Castle Doctrine could have
bee...
The Newest Old Politics of Reading
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I subscribe to the Hall Pass Newsletter from Knox County Schools, where I
worked as a high school librarian many years ago.
The most recent issue offere...
Trump actually already can serve a third term
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and even a fourth and a fifth ….
so could Clinton, Bush 43, and Obama.
There are no limits on how many terms a President can serve
Here are the relevan...
AI in School is the Latest Edtech Scam
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By Thomas Ultican 3/30/2025 For more than thirty years, technology
companies have looked to score big in the education sector. Instead of
providing useful ...
How Do We Fight Trump?
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Dear Friends, I don’t know when and why it hit me. But I suddenly realized
how serious Trump is about changing the country into something that
horrifies. I...
The High Cost of Partisan Discource in Education.
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“Moments in time when the world is changing bring out the best and the
worst in people.” ― Tan Twan Eng Forgive me if I am a little groggy
today. We are ...
March’s Parent Engagement Resources
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What does our research say about grades, attendance, test scores, & “on
track” metrics for @chipubschools.bsky.social students? How can parents use
this in...
Dismantling Public Education: No Laughing Matter!
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Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s
gone… ~Joni Mitchell Many educators and parents found it painful watching
Donald...
Standing with Federal Workers? Or backing Trump?
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The ABC group shows a dangerous side. “Leaving politics at the door”
apparently means not taking on Trump when he denies rights to workers.
Focusing on “Br...
Tarbiyah School Is STILL Stealing Federal Funds
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I had hoped the feds would have shut them down by now, but nope. In fact,
Dr. Amna Latif, the leader of the Tarbiyah School is finding new and
creative way...
Three Pillars for Decimating Public Education
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What do we do when our public schools are under attack? A couple of weeks
ago, the new Secretary of Education Linda McMahon leveled significant ...
Read ...
The Dark Works of Evil
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We are watching the dark works of evil creep into the soul of our nation.
We need to resist and bring bright light to our neighbors. Now is not the
time to...
Building the Resistance
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Our fight for democracy is not about left or right, or who you voted for -
it's about who gets to live with dignity. Right now, greedy oligarchs think
our ...
Are we all on the same team?
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Copied from Quora; I didn’t write any of this… As an American I ask my
fellow Americans, why can’t you realize at the end of the day we are all on
the same...
Who is the new CEO of Teach For America?
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From 1990 until 2013, the CEO of TFA was the founder, Wendy Kopp. Under her
leadership the program grew from a small organization that struggled to
make pa...
Site Index - Updated December 31, 2024
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When I was teaching,
I got tired of hearing how bad American educators were.
*My Promise *
WHEN I STARTED BLOGGING IN 2011, I said I planned to speak ...
Defining Productivity, Cost, and Efficiency
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Recycled material here… The central problem with US public schools is often
characterized as an efficiency problem. We spend a lot and don’t get much
for i...
Number 18 — A barely-hanging-on Blogoversary
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Blogoversary #18 SEPTEMBER 14, 2006 I started this blog while I was still
teaching, in 2006. I had just begun my 31st year as an educator. Just like
in pre...
Student "Growth" Measures Are STILL Biased
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This caught my attention:
New Jersey school districts may soon be evaluated differently, *with a
greater emphasis on student growth* as compared to stud...
AIN’T IT AWFUL
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As the terrible feelings of dread and angst spread across the world the
great majority of the American people feel powerless before the onslaught
of those ...
Vote NO on the UFT Contract. Here is Why:
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The best reason to vote no on this contract is this: UFT Unity* lied* to us
in 2018. They misrepresented that contract. It was predicated on deals we
wer...
Testimony to the CPS Truancy Task Force
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I prepared testimony for one of two public hearings held by the Chicago
Public Schools Truancy Task Force, a body mandated by state legislation.
The meetin...
There Is A Teacher Shortage.Not.
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THERE IS A TEACHER SHORTAGE. And just to be sure you understand, it’s not
that teachers don’t want to teach. It’s not that there aren’t enough
teachers cer...
Book Banning Turns to Dick and Jane
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Breaking News: Dateline February 4, 2022 - Parents in Dimwitty, Alabama
have asked the Dimwitty Board of Education to ban the children's primer *Fun
with...
Have You Heard Has a New Website
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TweetHave You Heard has a new website. Visit us at
www.haveyouheardpodcast.com to find our latest episodes and our entire
archive. And be sure to check out...
Follow me at Substack
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I've moved. Follow me at Substack
I'm now posting regularly at Substack. You can subscribe for free to my new
Edu/Pol blog at michaelklonsky.substack.com
...
Aspiring Teachers Get New Help Paying For College
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[image: colorful classroom pattern]
*; Credit: shuoshu/Getty Images*
Cory Turner | NPR
New rules kick in today that will help aspiring teachers pay for c...
Tips Akses Situs Judi Qq Tanpa Perlu Takut Nawala
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Kegiatan berjudi slot melalui situs judi qq online, sekarang sudah
dilakukan oleh banyak penjudi Indonesia. Tentu, Kamu yang sedang membaca
artikel ini a...
The Threat of Integration
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I have lived in the same house in the Miracle Mile section of Los Angeles
for over 30 years, where up until now I have had little or no interaction
with th...
We fight for a democracy worthy of us all!
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The nation stands at a crossroads, said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García
in her final keynote address to the 2020 NEA Representative Assembly and
it’s up...
The Passing Of Chaz 1951-2020 Age 69
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I am the son of Chaz and like to inform you that he passed away this
afternoon from the COVID virus. My father passed in peace beside his loved
ones. We ar...
The Fight For Our Children
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*The number of suicides among people ages 10 to 24 nationally increased by
56 percent between 2007 and 2017, according to a new federal report showing
the ...
Read to Self: Just a Kid and a Book.
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Date: Monday, January 5, 2020 Place: My classroom Student: Mrs.Mims, could
we start doing Read to Self again because I got this great book for
Christmas an...
Reminiscences
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I just finished dumping the rest of my lesson plans. I guess I held on to
the calculus ones for so long because I spent so much time working on them
an...
Just Asking for some Teachers I know.
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Recently Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers stated, We must … recognize that
part of supporting our kids in the classroom means supporting the educators
who t...
Cara Menang Bermain Judi Bola Online
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Bermain judi bola online tentu saja memiliki kesenangannya tersendiri baik
itu mendapatkan keuntungan maupun ketika menantikan hasil skor pada sebuah
perta...
A Critique of Standards-Based Grading
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It first happened to me about ten years ago. I was beginning my third year
of teaching in a new school in Washington, DC. Social studies teachers were
si...
My First and Last Visit to Hudson Yards
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Figuring I did not need to invite any more darkness and vulgarity into my
head than that provided on a daily basis from Trump’s White House, and
after read...
Reduced time for testing? Not so fast.
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NYSED and Commish Elia continue to say that the NYS Assessments are of
reasonable length, I completely disagree.
Here is what NYSED states are average expe...
The World According to Michelle Rhee
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The men behind the curtain fashioning the brave new world of corporate run
education in America! Michelle Rhee is the founder of StudentsFirst, The
New T...
Whose Opinions Matter in Education World?
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It's hard to identify education heroes and sheroes. And perhaps even harder
to pinpoint just whose work is slanted, paid-for and dishonest.
Blockchain: Life on the Ledger
-
Originally posted on Wrench in the Gears:
I created this video as a follow up to the one I prepared last year on
Social Impact Bonds. It is time to examine...
New Local Businesses in Sacramento
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Starting a new local business in Sacramento is a monumental task, but can
be accomplished with footwork, perseverance and knowledge. One must learn
the loc...
Lesson Plan: Rhyme and Rhythm in Poetry
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I’ve started a recent unit on poetry with my class. I’m not a poet, and I’m
not a poetry fan (I don’t hate it, but I’m a prose gal), so this makes it
harde...
The Apotheosis of Betsy DeVos
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Betsy Devos has drawn few headlines in recent months, and that is a good
thing for the Secretary of Education. Her tenure began with Vice President
Mike P...
Education Is a Civic Question
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In their final post to end Bridging Differences' decade-long run, Deborah
Meier and Harry Boyte urge readers to put the energy, talents, wisdom, and
hard w...
Site News: New Home for Education News & Commentary
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Quick! Get over there! The daily education news roundup and education
commentaries that you're probably looking for are now being published over
at The Gra...
Should We Be Grateful?
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In an odd turn of events, and with little explanation, Michigan Governor
Rick Snyder has decided to return the state’s School Reform Office back to
the Dep...
An Open Letter to NC Lawmakers
-
An Open Letter to NC State Lawmakers and NC State Superintendent Mark
Johnson: I am a NC native, voter, and public school teacher. I am
addressing you all ...
The Secret to Fixing Schools (My Next Bestseller)
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The Secret to Fixing Schools (My next bestseller) Prologue I just finished
watching a fascinating documentary on Netflix entitled, “The Secret”. The
film p...
Farewell, Sleep
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Today is the official last day of my spring break. I've done a scientific
survey: My natural bedtime is 2 AM, and my natural wake up time is 9:41
AM. Tom...
REPORT: States With the Best and Worst Schools
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States With the Best (and Worst)Schools
By *Evan Comen, Michael B. Sauter, Samuel Stebbins and Thomas C. Frohlich*
January 20, 2017- http://247wallst.com
...
Test Refusal = People Power
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In recent months, social media has been ablaze with talk of regular folk
taking action to resist the Trump agenda. Protests are a daily occurrence,
and ev...
Random Musings and Observations. . . .
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I’ve been gone a while from the blogging scene. Some of my more regular
readers no doubt noticed but did not hassle me about it. Thank you for
that. Sinc...
AB 934: A LEGISLATIVE FIX FOR VERGARA?
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By Michael Stratford | in the Politco Morning Education Report | via email
05/24/2016 10:00 AM EDT :: Two national education groups are backing a
Califor...
MY NEW BLOG
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My new blog will consist of fictitious headlines, meant to be a blend of
humor and satire. I apologize ahead of time if any other satirical site has
simila...
Thank you
-
Dear Readers,
Thank you for visiting *The Perimeter Primate*. This blog is being retired
for the time being. Although I no longer post here, I do still s...
I am Retiring
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I have some news: I am retiring from the PBS NewsHour and Learning Matters.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other
conte...
New Beginnings: Kickstarter and EdWeek Teacher
-
Greetings to InterACT readers one and all! If you’ve been following posts
here recently you might recall that I’m moving my blogging activity to
other loca...
Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School
-
*“With Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School closing, Newark families must
move on.”* The Star-Ledger (NJ), 6/25/2013
NEWARK — Bobby and Troy Shanks saw the...
AllTop has been around awhile. It’s a “news aggregator” – it identifies a number of topics and then creates pages on them with updated stories from different sites specializing in those topics. The stories are updated by RSS feeds which, prior to the advent of social media ten years ago, which was the way a ton of people consumed Web content. It’s still around, and many of us use feed readers lik
I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . This post originally appeared in 2013. OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay An old community organizing adage goes like this: “Sometimes the only thing worse than losing a fight is winning one.” In organizing, that can mean your group gave so
MabelAmber / Pixabay I’ve previously shared about a new Geography video series Crash Course started last month. I thought this episode in particular would be useful:
geralt / Pixabay Though I didn’t quite get to all the “Best” lists I wanted to compile (one collecting IB Theory of Knowledge resources and another with various ed pundit predictions for the new year fell by the wayside), I did get to most of them. You can see all the mid-year lists at ALL 2020 MID-YEAR “BEST” LISTS IN ONE PLACE! and all previous annual lists at All My “Annual” Best List Collecti
geralt / Pixabay Here’s my final “Best” list of the year, and I’m adding it to ALL END-OF-YEAR “BEST” LISTS FOR 2020 IN ONE PLACE! Here is a relatively short list of pieces I’ve written this year outside of this blog (for posts appearing here, you can check out 2020’s Best Posts From This Blog! ). Because of lack of time, I haven’t made “Best” picks from my Ed Week column, but you can check out T
iXimus / Pixabay A teacher’s deepest fears about 2021: Students who disappeared, covid-19 myopia and six more is the headline The Washington Post put today on one of my posts from last week. That one originally has a much shorter headline: EIGHT TEACHING CONCERNS I HAVE GOING INTO 2021 .
PhotoMIX-Company / Pixabay I used to post weekly collections of my best tweets, and used Storify to bring them together. Unfortunately, Storify went under. Fortunately, however, Wakelet was a new tool that was able to import all of a person’s Storifys. So you can see all those previous Twitter “Best” lists here . You might also be interested in MY MOST POPULAR TWEETS OF THE YEAR and RECOMMENDATIO
BiljaST / Pixabay Six years ago I began this regular feature where I share a few posts and resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general that have caught my attention. You might also be interested in THE BEST RESOURCES, ARTICLES & BLOG POSTS FOR TEACHERS OF ELLS IN 2020. Also, check out A Collection Of My Best Resources On Teaching English Language Learners. In additi
I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . This post originally appeared in 2017. You can see other videos, including a series Katie Hull and I did on differentiated instruction, and another on student motivation, here . In preparation for a series I did for them, I worked with
USA-Reiseblogger / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Newsom to announce plan to encourage in-person instruction in elementary grades is from Ed Source. Newsom to promise $2 billion in hopes of reopening schools beginning in February is from The L.A. Times. *Ten* paragraphs down into the Post story it says this https://t.co/P55W9g
geralt / Pixabay This is from Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain : On January 1, 2021, copyrighted works from 1925 will enter the US public domain, 1 where they will be free for all to use and build upon. These works include books such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time, and Franz Kafka’s The Trial (in the origin
MIH83 / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL Covid testing plans leave England’s school leaders guessing is from The Guardian.
Report Estimates 1 to 3 Million Students Missing From School Since March, But Data on Disrupted Learning is ‘At Best a Moving Target’ is an article that appeared in The 74 in late October about research on this issue, and NPR published a less detailed piece this morning about it. I’ve never met or heard from several students who are on my rosters, despite many attempts to connect. And others are,
I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . This post originally appeared in 2013. I’m a big advocate of teachers making a point to pronounce student names correctly (see The Best Resources On The Importance Of Correctly Pronouncing Student Names ). I always do a lesson on names
Author Interview: ‘Reading & Writing with English Learners’ is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Authors Valentina Gonzalez & Melinda Miller answer questions about their book Reading & Writing with English Learners: A Framework for K-5. Here’s an excerpt:
President-Elect Biden spoke today about the pandemic, and said his goal was to open K-8 schools in his first 100 days. I might be wrong but, though he’s talked about reopening schools in his first 100 days, I believe this is the first time he’s narrowed it to down to only K-8 ones (see BIDEN WANTS MOST SCHOOLS TO REOPEN BY MAY 1ST – HERE’S WHY I THINK THAT WOULD BE GREAT TIMING IF IT CAN BE DONE
I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . This post originally appeared in 2013. PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay I’ve been watching “Game of Thrones” on DVD, and just saw this great scene that teaches an important lesson about making change: Knowledge is not power — “Power is p
geralt / Pixabay You may be wondering how much your district will be receiving from the $900 billion stimulus package that was finally signed by President Trump yesterday. In very rough and general terms, it will be $1,000 per student. However, if you want to get a more specific amount – again, such a slightly less rough total, according to Chalkbeat : districts can expect to receive four times w
I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . This post originally appeared in 2016. An article in last week’s New Yorker, Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect , is the latest salvo in attempts to debunk the popularized mythology that people can become experts in any field through practi
The above quote comes from a research study titled Sustaining a Sense of Success: The Importance of Teacher Working Conditions During the COVID-19 Pandemic . It was written by Matthew A. Kraft, Nicole S. Simon, and Melissa Arnold Lyon, and was published in August after examining last spring’s emergency remote teaching. Of course, there finding is no surprise. I know that our school’s administrato
gabrielle_cc / Pixabay Yesterday, I shared Eight Teaching Concerns I Have Going Into 2021 . I thought it would be a good reflective exercise for me to follow that post with one sharing my goals for the next year, and thought that at least a few readers might find them interesting. 1. Of course, one major goal is that the eight concerns I listed yesterday get prevented, or at least are substantial
I’m fairly active on Pinterest and, in fact, have curated 22,000 resources there that I haven’t shared on this blog. I thought readers might find it useful if I began sharing a handful of my most recent “pins” each week (I’m not sure if you can see them through an RSS Reader – you might have to click through to the original post). You might also be interested in MY MOST POPULAR PINS OF 2020 Here
htuuli / Pixabay I don’t know about you, but using graphic organizers in Google Drive has been a pain-in-the-butt for me. Yes, I know I can create them in Google Drawings, and I have been doing that, but it takes some time. Today, though, I learned a Google Drive trick that rivals MY MIND WAS BLOWN TODAY AFTER LEARNING HOW TO COLLABORATIVELY ANNOTATE PDFS ON GOOGLE DRIVE . I had not realized that
Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues (You might also be interested in THE BEST ARTICLES, VIDEOS & POSTS ON EDUCATION POLICY IN 2019 – PART TWO ): Public Schools Face Funding ‘Death Spiral’ as Enrollment Drops is from The NY Times. 5 big questions facing Miguel Cardona, Biden’s pick for education secretary is from Chalkbeat. Arizona charter school got a PPP l
Note: Usually, I only post this regular feature once a week. This week, though, there are a lot of resources to share, so I’m posting twice to make space for all of them!) BiljaST / Pixabay Six years ago I began this regular feature where I share a few posts and resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general that have caught my attention. You might also be interested i
Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay In July, I wrote a column for The Washington Post headlined Teacher: Eight concerns about school this fall that are robbing me of sleep . And, boy, was I “spot-on” with those concerns as the fall semester unfolded. I was able to get a decent handle on the ones I listed that were within my control (such as what to cover in the curriculum and what to jettison), ha
I often write about research studies from various fields and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies are published that it’s hard to keep up. So I’ve started writing a “round-up” of some of them each week or every other week as a regular feature . By the way, you mig
School Cultural Socialization and Academic Performance: Examining Ethnic‐Racial Identity Development as a Mediator Among African American Adolescents is a new study by Juan Del Toro and Ming‐Te Wang. It’s behind a paywall, but there are ways to still access it (see The Best Tools For Academic Research ). As the textbox above states, the study finds that “school cultural socialization” supports Af
I’m making a change in the content of the regular feature. In addition to sharing the top five posts that have received the most “hits” in the preceding seven days (though they may have originally been published on an earlier date), I will also include the top five posts that have actually appeared in the past week. Often, these are different posts. You might also be interested in IT’S THE THIRTE
Each week, I publish a post or two containing three or four particularly useful resources on classroom instruction, and you can see them all here. Of course, this is a crazy time for “classroom” instruction…. You might also be interested in THE BEST RESOURCES ON INSTRUCTION IN 2020 – PART TWO . Here are this week’s picks: “Created and led by Native peoples, Illumi Native is a new nonprofit initia
I’ve recently begun this weekly post where I’ll be sharing resources I’m adding to The Best Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resources or other related “Best” lists. You might also be interested in THE BEST SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING RESOURCES OF 2020 – PART TWO. Finally, check out “Best” Lists Of The Week: Social Emotional Learning Resources . Here are this week’s picks: Nurturing students’ growth