Thinking About Education

I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think. ~Socrates

“The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life.” ~Plato

  There has been a lot of talk about how best to evaluate teachers lately, especially with the “new” movement to include student test data as part of a teacher’s evaluation. Diane Ravitch’s blog has provided much evidence about how student test data has been shown not to be a good measure of teacher quality. So what is a good measure of teacher quality, and why is this question one we find it.. Read More

The Carrots and Sticks of PBIS

  “PBIS” stands for Positive Behavior Interventions and Support. This is one of the groundswell initiatives moving through the schools in our area right now. It’s hard to argue with its premise: let’s focus ourselves on promoting good behavior rather than on punishing bad behavior. Let’s celebrate victories not wallow in failures. Let’s be positive, not negative. Sounds good on the surface. If you look at research about motivating human behavior, however, we.. Read More

“Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement.” ― Daniel H. Pink

  Autonomy. This is a vital characteristic of a satisfying human life. As interdependent as we and other creatures of the earth are in our communal and global ecosystems, each healthy life system is also organized around some principle. As humans, for example, we make choices, we determine what we will or will not do, or how we will relate to the larger system of which we are a part. According to Daniel.. Read More

This Calls for an Investigation…or Does It?

  Principals are trained in all kinds of legal matters including how to conduct investigations. I left one such training asking about how this would be applicable or appropriate for elementary schoolchildren. I didn’t get an answer. But I guess if we are going to conduct investigations, we should know how to do it well. And, as I think about it, students can get into serious fist-fights and that sort of thing, requiring.. Read More

“Elementary, My Dear Watson”

  Sherlock Holmes was definitely in his element when he was solving crimes: passionate, engaged, using his natural ability and skills to the maximum. That is why we so enjoy Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. Ken Robinson has talked and written a good deal about the “element,” that place where a person thrives as a creative individual (see for example, his book The Element). Not everyone finds his or her element, but it.. Read More

Collaboration Does Not Mean Conformity

Teachers are being told that their PLC (professional learning community) is not functioning properly if an administrator “walks through” their classrooms on any given day and s/he doesn’t see the same things going on in all classrooms. Teachers are also being told that disagreeing with initiatives/ideas handed down from somewhere above is a sign of “not being a team player.” These are disturbing signs as they indicate a confusion of collaboration with conformity… Read More

Communion of Subjects

There has been some sad news in the papers lately in our community. Teachers who had a passion for a particular subject and had built a curriculum over the years, becoming expert in their content and methods, are involuntarily being moved to different schools and assigned to teaching new subjects. This is unfortunate on many levels. It is unfortunate for the students who will no longer benefit from the expertise and passion of.. Read More

Bursting the Balloons of Grade Inflation

Many school districts—I wonder if this is true across the country?—are encouraging and even requiring teachers to inflate their grades. I was told I should give no grade lower than a 60 to my students, even if they earned a 0. I was also encouraged to give easier tests to students who did not perform above a certain standard and to reduce the amount of work I gave them (I am disregarding students.. Read More

Disciplining Students

As an administrative intern, students were referred to me for misbehaviors of all kinds.  I struggled at first with how to deal with them all in a way that was consistent, fair, and that addressed the need being expressed in the misbehavior instead of just the fault. I wanted to establish a consistent process that would result in discipline (as opposed to punishment), so that hopefully the students were changed in some positive.. Read More

The Freedom to Fail

I was complaining recently to my best friend from 7th grade who now (40 years later) lives across the continent. I said I failed to get the job I wanted and felt I had earned. She reminded me that failure was nothing new to me, so what was I moaning about?  And then I remembered so many failures…and all the wonderful things I learned from them: Choosing to ride the Tower of Terror.. Read More

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