Posts in Category Teaching
Education Between Nations
One of the things that really made me want to make sure my daughter's education was different from my own was the view of another nation's school system I had a chance to experience during college. During my sophomore year, I was able to participate in a teaching internship in Spain for at-risk children; I consider it one of the best learning experiences of my life yet.I am hesitant to discuss actual school policies, rules, curricula, etc. since I only speak moderate Spanish and did not get to take part in every classroom or the full lowdown on the school's policies; in fact, I only spent a few days within regular classrooms. Some of this appalled me--particularly the disdain I...
Posted on Mar 17, 2010 - 03:50 PM by Sara Schmidt
Want coffee?
Spring has arrived... if not in weather, in attitude.I have had to scrape my windshield in the mornings, but the kids are wearing their summer apparel. Go figure. I am freezing, and the students seem to be in another place entirely. Not just in the shorts and shorter skirts, but in their class work as well. It is as though they are bored with me.
In order to shake things up a little I have decided that April will be the month of Guest Speakers. I would like to have real people, doing real jobs, come and talk to my juniors. My eleventh graders are in a class that helps prepare them for college. I am hoping that guest speakers will give the kids the extra energy they need to finish the...
Posted on Mar 10, 2010 - 08:06 PM by Alison Bagg Brink
Within Earshot and Eyesight
I live in a pretty relaxed neighborhood in Tempe, AZ. For most of the houses throughout my neighborhood, to walk out the back yard and into the alley is to come face to face with someone else's backyard, or usually their 6-foot cinder-block wall. Past my back gate, however, is the school yard of a middle school. The yard is used for Physical Education, and recess at lunch, mainly.Every day, I hear the school bells chime, and multiple times a day, big groups of children come out for P.E. and once for recess. During P.E. the kids usually begin by running laps around their rather large yard. They will holler and run, walk and talk, and some eventually begin to drag their feet and pant. Boy,...
Posted on Mar 01, 2010 - 01:42 PM by Shawn Strader
Resistance, Hope & Democracy
I used to direct an after-school program, which was housed in a public school classroom, and I tried to implement a democratic meeting with my middle school students (a diverse group in terms of race and family income). As well-intentioned as I was, the students didn't respect me as a leader because I was offering them decision-making power. They seemed so used to an authoritarian school day that they didn't know what to do with an unexpected dose of freedom. It was also just a drop in the bucket compared to the way they spent the majority of their time. How would you have handled this situation?- Redwood City, CA
I have a few thoughts regarding your situation but first I must say: Kudos...
Posted on Feb 24, 2010 - 11:46 AM by Jonah Canner
Help?
It has been a strange week at the Brink house. It all culminated yesterday morning, when my husband drove to a job site early, to pick up some tools. Yesterday was crystal clear. He was on a stretch of road with a 35 mile an hour speed limit. The car in front of my husband's van struck a man walking across the street. The walker was tossed into the air, hit the pavement, and rolled multiple times. The driver of the car barely slowed down, and then fled the scene. My husband stopped, helped the injured man to the side of the road, began basic first aid, and called EMS.The ambulance, police, and fire trucks soon arrived. My husband was thanked, and then he went on his way... with a full day...
Posted on Feb 23, 2010 - 08:40 PM by Alison Bagg Brink
Re-hired and It Feels So Good
On January 29th, I received my official letter of termination. Our district has lost more than a million dollars in funding and any new teachers were immediately cut. On February 1st, I received my official letter of re-assignment. This story has a happy beginning. Title I funding was used to bring me back (me in all my un-tenured glory) as a literacy intervention teacher. I have a class size cap of 10 students and the freedom to build this course from the ground up.
First assignment: I had students watch this video clip:
A video on how to teach a dog to roll over using operant conditioning. Students were utterly confused, wondering what sort of class they were put in, and I...
Posted on Feb 21, 2010 - 07:16 PM by Ammerah Saidi
The Worlds of Fractions and Spelling Collide
When Melia Dicker, IDEA's Communications Director, first asked me to become involved with this project, I thought, "Me?" Then she comes up with this "ImprovEducation" title, and I thought that maybe there could be something there for me to write about. The improvisational aspect of my teaching style comes naturally, and sometimes yields something pretty darn good.I wrote on January 19 ("Quadrant Spelling") about the way I deliver spelling words to my fourth-grade students, via a pocket chart in the form of an x,y quadrant graph. They all know about coordinates, points, rows and columns now, and participate with great enthusiasm.
We recently began adding fractions with uncommon...
Posted on Feb 14, 2010 - 12:58 PM by Tim Curley
They want to be just like me. Great! Now what?
Many of us who strive to nourish democracy in our society and strive tirelessly for equality, justice, peace and compassion have a break down in execution when it comes to our own home life. It's very easy for even the most mindful, progressive parents to replicate systems, dynamics, and roles we experienced in childhood, rather than the ones we aspire to create in our adult lives. Most of us working for in progressive education or for progressive causes didn't come from that experiential background.Our young children don't have access to our intellectual sensibilities or our academic pursuits regarding education, democracy, sustainability, or anything else. And they could care...
Posted on Feb 11, 2010 - 12:42 PM by Khalif Williams
Commercial Urges in Homeschool Education
I want to buy everything.It's a good thing I don't have enough money to do just that, or our house would be filled to the roof with chemistry kits, pretend food, costumes, and pretty much every other educational (traditional or otherwise) item available for purchase. Some people love to buy shoes or clothes--my thing is books, stickers, lacing boards and the like.
Cognitively, I know that most of these things are a waste of money; the small Melissa & Doug beading set I just bought, for example (it was on sale!), could have easily been made with some plain cord and pony beads. Yes, my daughter loves it and has made several necklaces, but she would have loved choosing her own bag of beads...
Posted on Feb 04, 2010 - 07:38 PM by Sara Schmidt
Obama’s Education Disconnect
The Obama administration is ramping up its focus on education following last week's State of the Union. Unfortunately, it does not seem to go very far in taking a broader look at learning and giving teachers and young people more of a voice in the education process. Positive proposals include expanding the system of rating schools to include more than just test scores and using a student growth-based metric rather than a static grade comparison across schools. However, there is still no talk about more authentic forms of assessment or supporting student growth beyond academics, and the Race to the Top initiative, which guides additional education spending, remains focused on linking...
Posted on Feb 02, 2010 - 10:22 AM by Dana Bennis
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