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.
Category: Braindroppings
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Huffington Post published a blog entry by Gay Groover Christmus recently that resonated with me as a retired educator who taught pre-NCLB. The article, “4 Things Worse Than Not Learning to Read in Kindergarten” is well worth the read time for anyone wondering about the current state of education policy, and I would encourage you to…
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Within the past week, our United Teachers of Lowell organized and hosted a FirstBook “Books on Wheels” event where over 2000 students and their families received free books. As we sorted and organized 40,000+ books, we heard about a fire in a near-by Lawrence school, the Bruce School, and the impact of the loss on…
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Massachusetts, one of the highest regarded public education systems world-wide, is embroiled in a ballot initiative, Question 2. Question 2 proponents want to raise the current cap on charter schools to include 12 new charter school each year. Opponents – and full disclosure, I land in that category for a number of reasons – want to…
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With the election about 8 weeks away, there’s a lot of available “information”, and I use that term lightly, about Ballot Question 2 (Balletopedia website for detailed text and Pro/Con Arguments). For anyone who may have missed it, Ballot Question 2 favors lifting the current cap on charter schools allowing up to an additional 12 new charter schools…
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It is back-to-school time here in the City in which I taught for nearly 30 years. You can sense the anticipation in the breezes that flow down the Merrimack. There is an almost unidentifiable change to the air. We are changing seasons; we are changing routines. I loved the first day of school when I was…
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Fans of music and festivals know to keep the last weekend of July free for the Lowell Folk Festival. This year marked the 30th year for this stellar event and, for me, it was one of the best in recent memory. The weather was outstanding and the performances a treat. Did I mention the food? If…
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Sometimes what appears to be an inventive solution to a time-consuming problem slips into place without the thorough scrutiny that it needs. Enter Exhibit 1: ClassDojo. ClassDojo is an application which, according to the application website, “connects teachers with parents and students to build amazing classroom communities.” Who wouldn’t want to do that? As an…
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Put yourself back in elementary school and imagine your reaction to a classmate calling you a name or hurting your feelings through action or word. Would you speak up or would you allow that hurt to fester and grow into something more significant? Would you feel listened to? And if you caused the hurt would…
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Recently, the Boston Globe published a letter from Joy Robinson-Lynch positing that if Boston needs more available spots in classical education schools (like Boston Latin), the school department might consider creating them. After all, Boston Public Schools certainly know how to run a successful classical education institution – they’ve had years to practice and refine that. Framing that…
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The New York Times carried an interesting story about Kansas conservatives and the effort to demonize education even further through linguistics. The article “Public Schools? To Kansas Conservatives They’re ‘Government’ Schools“, really confused me for a bit. Don’t most schools – unless we’re talking about private schools, have some government oversight and funding? As it turns…
After An Educator's Journey 