by Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader On August 31 “NBC Nightly News” Brian Williams moved into a commercial break with a tease of his next segment. “As more and more school districts are moving to a four-day week, parents are asking, ‘What are we supposed to do with our kids on that extra day?’.” While [...]
Technology and diets have one thing in common. Neither works unless you work them, and, when it comes to school technology, for the most part, we educators are more like dabblers than implementers. In a recent New York Times article, Matt Richtel put it bluntly. “Schools are spending billions on technology, even as they cut [...]
Principals and teachers working in diverse, high-poverty schools are constantly challenged, even on a normal school day. In addition to the need to raise the achievement of each and every one of our students, our school had to overcome a number of externally imposed challenges. In fact, our teachers designed a t-shirt to commemorate our [...]
Create your own Personal Learning Network (PLN) by tapping into the collective intelligence of hundreds or even thousands of your fellow educators through Twitter and other technologies. Find out how to establish a PLN that’s made up of the right people to guide your learning and to whom you contribute your knowledge and expertise. (Read [...]
A late school start aimed at tourism revenue undermines the efforts of college-bound students and parents. After a friend of mine personally witnessed the horrific traffic in the Washington, D.C. area, he said, “the people here must have a really high tolerance for this craziness.”
“It’s a huge transition. They come in at 14 and they leave as adults.” Ninth Grade-Our Last Chance I learned from experience that a successful ninth grade experience predicted future high school success. Conversely, I learned that when students struggled in ninth grade, they rarely graduated.
by Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader In an effort to close their minority achievement gap, Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools (MCPS) like many other school systems has turned to Disneyland for educational advice. According to an article in the Washington Post: ”In their ongoing quest to eliminate academic achievement gaps, Montgomery County educators are seeking [...]
by Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader When No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was first presented in the early years of the Bush Administration it represented a significant shift in educational policy. End-of-course exams like Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL) were soon to become a measure of a school’s success. The initial requirement of a 70% [...]
I don’t know anyone who would wish to be a ninth grader again. While the first day of ninth grade may be a “rite of passage,” it certainly was not a pleasant one. According to this report, ninth graders must face the following: Overwhelming – Most new ninth graders are unprepared for the sheer size [...]
By Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader The key to creating an illusion is to distract the viewer. Draw the attention away from the sleight of hand and the audience will believe they have seen magic. Apparently this technique is now a key element when dealing with the analysis of standardized test results. The plan appears [...]
