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.
Tag: education
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School Committee Meeting: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 All members present. Item 19, a motion by Ms. Martin meant to highlight innovative curricula in the Lowell Schools, was taken out of order. The featured school, The Pyne Arts (link here), is a Grades PK-8 magnet school. It is unique because of the grade span that the…
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School Committee Meeting: Wednesday, March 2, 2016 All members present. This meeting, the first since February 3 due to the Winter vacation week cancellation, was extra lengthy – 37 items. The highlights are posted below. Special Order of Business: Spotlight on Youth Mental Health First Aid This new program was funded through a $100,000…
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So, what would you say an unexpected by-product of ed reform might be? With loss of autonomy in what to teach when, emphasis on high-stakes standardized testing and little control over just about anything else in the educational day, teachers are leaving some districts for transfers to more affluent schools and for other careers. I…
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Ludlow Superintendent Todd Gazda posed this question in a recent Commonwealth Magazine article: What is equity? Because, as Dr. Gazda points out, current education policy tends toward equalizing education for all students with standardized curriculums proven by standardized assessment and incentivized “business systems” for implementation. Equity, like fairness, is not treating every student the same, but rather focuses on…
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As a writer and, as a teacher, I value collaboration with peers. I know that my writing is made more clear, more interesting, and more precise when I rely on a trusted “critical friend” to offer constructive feedback. And so, when the Commonwealth’s writing standards included peer revising as well as adult conferring, the inclusion of critical friends in…
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School Committee Meeting: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 All members present. Subcommittees The Subcommittee on Policy, chaired by Mr. Hoey, met on January 27th. The report from the meeting suggested a change to the LPSD school purchasing policy so that LPSD purchasing aligns with the City of Lowell purchasing policy. Much discussion about the threshold of…
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School Committee Meeting: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 All members present. Twenty-seven items were posted on this agenda which included an Executive Session to discuss contract negotiations and consideration of contract extensions for two Assistant Superintendents. Although most of the meeting was routine, there were two points that caused longer discussion: STEM at Lowell High and…
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Our local CBS affiliate posted a public opinion question this morning. The “No Nonsense Nurturing” is rearing its ugly head once again because teachers and schools using this program (see link ) have gained some news cycle traction: teachers are being told not to use “please” or “thank you” with students. As Amy Berard, former Lawrence…
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Project Learn Recently I had the pleasure of talking about education with LZ Nunn and Brittany Burgess from Project Learn, a nonprofit supporting education and educators. LZ recently accepted the challenge of becoming the ED of Project Learn. One of the topics we tossed around was grant writing, and ways Project Learn might offer support to…
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School Committee Meeting: Wednesday, December 16, 2015 All members present. This is the last meeting for 2015 and therefore, the last time this particular group of members will meet as a School Committee. The published agenda for this meeting was 33 items long, and given some of the topics, I thought we all might need…
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