Tuesday, January 21, 2014

1-21-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:






Afghan attack took young American ‘destined for greatness,’ teacher says
Last Friday night in Afghanistan, the Taliban attacked a popular restaurant in Kabul frequented by Westerners, killing two Americans. One was Alexandros Petersen, a brilliant young man who was an expert on grand strategy and energy politics and who had graduated from Georgetown Day School, a private school in the District, in 2003. (His younger […]    


Reaction to Ravitch: A different view of Common Core
I published the text of a speech that education historian and activist Diane Ravitch gave this month about the past, present and future of the Common Core State Standards to the Modern Language Association. (You can read it here.) Here’s a response from Professor Gerald Graff, a former president of the Modern Language Association who […]    


Why teachers can’t reach every child: a case study
Larry Cuban, a former high school teacher and principal who now teaches at Stanford University, posted two pieces on his School Reform and Classroom Practice blog that are unusual because they are about students whom he tried to reach but could not. The posts are poignant and speak broadly to the extraordinary problems that some students […]    



Dogs vs. cats: Their oh-so-different teaching styles

For a laugh, watch this to the very end. And for all you cat lovers, it’s just a joke!    
1-20-14 The Answer Sheet
The Answer Sheet: Why Christie’s school ‘fix’ is misguidedNew Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recently proposed extending the school year and school day in State of the State speech as reforms intended to improve student achievement, though he didn’t provide details or make any mention of how he would fund it. Here’s a piece questioning the notion that simply adding seat time works. This was written […