I love watching Olympic figure skating. The athlete makes the art of skating appear effortless, but only through thousands of practices and a flawless execution. I think this is a lot like teaching: if an observer watches me work in…
If you, like me believe that adopting a school voucher program in Tennessee would represent a poor use of public tax dollars, then I urge you to contact the members of the Tennessee House Finance Subcommittee before this Wednesday when…
As a common core supporter I continue to appreciate the NEA’s President, Dennis Van Roekel. Throughout the development and roll out of common core, the NEA and Mr. Van Roekel in particular have publicly supported the new standards. They’ve dedicated considerable resources…
From Andy Spears and the Tennessee Education Report: Schools Matter has a series of posts up on the Measuring Effectiveness in Teaching project sponsored by the Gates Foundation. Of note is the use of video cameras to record Tennessee classrooms and…
President Obama is a strong supporter of education reforms such as common core, VAM, and charter schools. But even he draws the line when it comes to school vouchers. Check out his thoughts on these programs in this interview with…
In January this year, Governor Haslam launched a new initiative designed to increase college degree completion to 55 percent in Tennessee. Termed the Drive to 55, the program is designed to boost the number of Tennessee residents with at least…
A friend of mine sent this job along and I wanted to post it for any interested teachers out there who are interested in looking for a new job in Elementary Education. This seems as good of a time as…
I want to highlight a great piece written by Julia Steiny which attacks the criticism that common core dumbs down math standards. She writes that the reduced focus of the math standards should be viewed as a positive move because…
In our last post, we said that the brilliance of RTI² is that “kids don’t have to be diagnosed with a disability to receive extra support to help them catch up.” However, there’s a reason that diagnosis – especially the…
Back in September, I decided to teach my kids how to use the tools of geometry: compasses and protractors. I figured I could give the tutorial in a day and then move on, but the entire experience quickly turned into…
