After An Educator's Journey
Out of the classroom & into the universe
recent posts
about
Once upon a time, I taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. Now I’m retired and working on new ventures.
Category: Braindroppings
-
This week I was asked at a Team Meeting what I thought about particular student’s participation in MCAS (this student has serious health issues which limit school participation). Was there an alternate way to assess this student that would enable us to know what had been achieved? And that got me thinking about what I…
-
If you have been reading the postings of the Massachusetts DESE, you may have noticed their new campaign for “Amazing Teachers”. This appears to be a recruitment program to entice teachers to work in the Tier 4 Schools — those who are being carefully scrutinized because test scores haven’t moved out of the sub-basement. So,…
-
I’m not sure I really appreciated Lowell’s place in history. We live immersed in the history of the Industrial Revolution here in Lowell, and oftentimes we don’t see or appreciate it. Carved out of Chelmsford, Lowell traces its beginnings to the 1820s. Lowell was a planned manufacturing center for textiles. This week, my third graders…
-
Forty years ago – on the first Earth Day – I was still in high school. Today, 40 years later, have we come any closer to a sustainable environment? In my family, we do our best to separate recyclables and garbage. Can we do better? I am sure that we can. For starters, we could…
-
One of the warmest days since last summer crept up on us today. We’re not even in April’s double digits yet and the thermometer read 85 degrees. How wonderful it was to throw open the front door of our school building and go out into sunshine and warmth this afternoon! Because the weather was so…
-
1. Don’t make me stop this car 2. Do you think we own the electric company? 3. Do you think money grows on trees? 4. Wait ’til your father gets home 5. If <insert name here> told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it? 6. There are thousands of people in <name…
-
I have long admired people who can see things artistically in this world. To be able to capture a mood or a moment and relay that feeling to another is, well, magical. A great-great uncle of mine was Alexander Wyant, a tonalist, whose work hangs in several museums. When I was in junior high school,…
-
Around 9:00 last night, I got sucked in to watching C-SPAN of all channels. And yes, I was watching the Health Care “Debate” — if you can call that circus a debate. I am a supporter of national health care and, frankly, I think this particular round of legislation is a pale shadow of what…
-
Does it seem odd to you that all year long, we tell our students to use the word wall or whatever else we have available for students to use in a classroom, but when it comes time to do standardized testing we effectively tell them “just kidding” ? Yesterday, I was giving my students a…
-
Personally, I’d give most Ed Reform a failing grade. I’m certain that someone reading this is thinking that’s a no-brainer because I’m a teacher (and a union member). But that is not why I think reform is failing students. That’s right, I said Ed Reform is failing students – not taxpayers, although taxpayers hold a…
After An Educator's Journey 