After An Educator's Journey
Out of the classroom & into the universe
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Once upon a time, I taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. Now I’m retired and working on new ventures.
Author: amybisson
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How does that saying go? If you’re not green and growing, you’re rip and rotten. One of the key components of the Daily Five – teaching learners to be independent – is not only appealing, but imperative. After some false starts last year (based on my reading of both the D5 and Cafe books), I attended…
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What is my purpose in life? I was asked that question recently and my white glare honest answer is, I’m still working to uncover that answer. My purpose has been defined differently at every stage of my life. At different times, my purpose has been defined by different roles: daughter, sister, wife, mother. Each role…
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I’ve been spending a bit of time thinking about what the physical atmosphere and arrangement of the classroom projects. I am a packrat. There, I’ve said it. I saved egg cartons – must have had to toss about 50 of them when we moved 16 years ago – knowing in my teacher brain that I…
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August 9, is the anniversary of my Dad’s death. If he were still with us today, he would have been 93. My Dad fought a long, hard and brave fight against COPD and emphysema. He had been a smoker – first cigarettes, then cigars and pipes. I once heard him express regret over smoking, but…
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Underneath all of the coverage of the debt crisis was another important event that really needs some attention: the Save Our Schools rally in Washington DC over the weekend. Stakeholders in public education got to listen to and rally around some educational heavy-hitters – Diane Ravitch, Jonathan Kozol and others whose writings and voices I…
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The Massachusetts Common Core Curriculum implementation starts this coming school year. As a District Team, we’ve looked at how the standards are expressed with increased attention to Focus, Coherence, Clarity and Rigor. In Lowell, we began our look at the new standards by defining exactly what these four terms mean. One idea that has stuck…
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Today, I had the privilege of attending The Sisters Daily Five presentation here in Massachusetts – and if you get the chance, it is well worth your time…. and money. Some of the most intriguing parts of the presentation involved the research on brain function. When I try to apply a something new and exciting…
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Every day there appears a new idea for making teachers accountable for student achievement. Yesterday I noticed a pip of an idea in a twitter post: Phys. Ed. teachers should be evaluated based on their students’ fitness level. This preposterous idea, that the fitness level of a student who has maybe 40 minutes contact time…
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It’s going to be a bumpy night.” I love this quote from “All About Eve”; and coming straight from Bette Davis’ mouth – well you can imagine the delivery. The more thinking is done about the implementation of the new mathematics curriculum frameworks – the Common Core – the more it becomes apparent that this…
After An Educator's Journey 