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: teaching
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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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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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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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Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Lesley University Professor Emerita, recently stated the following during an acceptance speech for the Deborah Meier award. Dr. Carlsson-Paige cites a statistic from the DOE Department of Civil Rights which reports that 8,000 Preschool students (!) were suspended at least once in a school year. “There is a connection, I know, between these…
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Like a lot of ideas, Teach For America sounds good, but in actuality? Well, that’s a decision you would have to come to on your own. As a nonprofit, TFA’s stated slogan is “One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.” Who could argue with that? Creating a…
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One of the joys of teaching elementary-aged students is receiving a card emblazoned with #1 Teacher or similar sentiments. A few weeks ago, one of my students wrote out a card telling me I was “the best teacher on Earth.” I’m not sure I feel about how deserved that honor is. You see, lately I…
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This weekend, our grade level was asked to give some feedback on communication, or lack thereof, in our school. As further proof that everything in life can be explained by movies, these lines spoken by Stother Martin in Cool Hand Luke popped into my head immediately: What we have here is a failure to communicate. Communication…
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Our current Assistant Principal is retiring as is our Superintendent of schools. Selection Committees, Blue Ribbon Panels, all are busy vetting candidates to find the best possible match for our school(s). So even though my own career days are numbered (and no one listens to the “old guy” anyway), I have a few thoughts. One.…
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We were asked that very question during a faculty meeting presentation yesterday. Oh there are layers and layers of accountability in the education world in which we live: administrators, students, parents. Yes, we are all accountable to them. Family members, significant others? Those people too. My answer? I am accountable to me. I am accountable to me…
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On December 30th, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan posed a question to the Twitter-verse: What if every district committed both to identifying what made their 5 best schools successful & providing those opps to all their students? I’m not sure Mr. Duncan was prepared for the response he received from U.S. educators. But then,…
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