Teachers who blame students for being bored is the equivalent to yelling at the hammer after you strike your own thumb. Diane Ravitch says: Be careful Canada (and Australia!) I know many Canadian educators who are rightfully sceptical of the debacle that is American Education Reform. We should not be too quick to dismiss […]
Why Good Teachers Aren’t Thinking About the Global Economy By Alfie Kohn
April 11, 2011 by
Here are some phrases that might reassure us if they were used to defend a particular education policy: “excitement about learning” . . . “deeper thinking about questions that matter” . . . “promoting social and moral development” . . . “democratic society.” And here’s a phrase that ought to make us wince and back […]
Two-thirds of teachers want to quit. What is the Purpose of Education
April 4, 2011 by
NEARLY two-thirds of Australian teachers are considering quitting their jobs for a new career. So are teachers all over the world See: A love of teaching, but fear for the future: Fight over collective bargaining leaves one teacher uncertain about career choice http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42306729/ns/business-us_business The Centre for Marketing Schools was commissioned to survey staff satisfaction levels […]
I’m Sorry I’m A Teacher
April 3, 2011 by
This powerful letter was written by an American Teacher, Alan Haskvitz, a member of the National Teachers Hall of Fame and has been recognized many times as one of the nation’s most successful and innovative teachers. Accounts of his students’ accomplishments have been featured in books, periodicals, and on national radio and television. He is […]
SCHOOLS AS COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES
February 12, 2011 by
© Julie Boyd 2010 (updated from an original 1993 article) For full article including diagrams click here: SCHOOLS AS COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES 2010 Taken individually, each concept in the phrase “collaborative learning community” has incredible power and together, there is a synergy, a revolutionary force that we are only just beginning to recognize in schools. […]
Student test data in assessing teacher quality.
January 13, 2011 by
A study released last month by the Gates Foundation supposedly offered up “some of the strongest evidence to date of the validity of ‘value-added’ analysis.” VAA makes the claim that teachers’ effectiveness can be reliably estimated by gauging their students’ progress on standardized tests. But Jesse Rothstein, an economist at UC Berkeley, argues that the analyses in the […]
Schools As Collaborative Learning Communities
SCHOOLS AS COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES © Julie Boyd 2010 (updated from an original 1993 article) Taken individually, each concept in the phrase “collaborative learning community” has incredible power and together, there is a synergy, a revolutionary force that we are only just beginning to recognize in schools. The school pictured above has given way to […]