Note: This is my entry to the Thomas B. Fordham Institute Wonkathon contest. Exactly two years ago, March 2016, I was in the trenches as a high school special education teacher. I would leap from classroom to classroom, borrowing them from the general education teachers during their prep time. I was trying to balanceContinue reading “High school counseling and individualized plans are key to student success”
Author Archives: beautyined
MyOn: A Review
Bottom Line: The children’s e-book site MyOn is enjoyable, in the way a bowl of sugary cereal is. There are reasons to be cautious about it. MyOn promises to spread literacy by offering any kid with an internet connection access to more than 20,000 books. But how does it stack up? Every reviewContinue reading “MyOn: A Review”
Reading the room
Master teachers, when mentoring their newest crop, always zoom in on the power of reading and reacting to the energy levels of the classroom. As a teacher, you have a great deal of control over the students’ energy levels. When it’s low, it’s a good idea to get students to move around and doContinue reading “Reading the room”
What happens when you let students and teachers be free?
Lately, there has been a switch from English classes focused on critical readings, mini-lessons and writing workshops to standardized composition courses. My latest visit with my former English teacher left me with a palatable sense that he feels his freedom is gone and he’s now trapped. The times when he would scour first his homeContinue reading “What happens when you let students and teachers be free?”
What is the foundation of your job?
It’s important to have existential crises sometimes. When authors come and use a sledgehammer on society’s institutions, it makes me wonder: What is the foundation for my work? What can be stripped from it and still be recognizable? In The Trial, Franz Kafka presents us with a simple premise: What if someone got arrested withoutContinue reading “What is the foundation of your job?”
Give it up for flexible seating!
It’s sometimes too easy to criticize the state of education and so I want to mix things up with a positive educational trend: flexible seating. I’m writing on the subject in the hope that it becomes the norm rather than a novelty. The benefits I see to flexible seating come from my experience as aContinue reading “Give it up for flexible seating!”
Welcome and Introduction!
Hello everyone! If you are reading this, I first want to say thank you for giving me a chance 🙂 For now, this blog will be anonymous and so my job in this post is to make myself sound as credible as possible without giving too much of myself away. I am currently an InstructionalContinue reading “Welcome and Introduction!”