Sunday, December 1, 2013

Nerdlution

I have never in my life managed to keep a resolution, but the folks at Nerdy Bookclub have created #Nerdlution as a way to inspire us to create habits. So, here goes, for the next 50 days, every day I will: Do something each day to improve my health-park farther away, make extra trips up and down the stairs, or skip the junk food. Read for pleasure. Not for personal, professional development, not for making recommendations for others (though I will-if I love a book, you're going to hear about it!) Make progress on my school website. I think that's enough. Any more, and I'm afraid I'll feel overwhelmed and get discouraged. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Unless You're a Kid, Stay Out of My Classroom

I've been angry lately. Angry and frustrated. I am sick to death of people whose only knowledge of education comes from the fact that they once attended school, telling teachers how to teach. We would not tolerate for one second having these people tell our coaches how to coach, or expect coaches to take advice from the dad who once played middle school football, but when it comes to the classroom, everybody, except the teacher, seems to be an expert. Well, I am an expert, and I'll tell you what needs to be done in an English Language Arts classroom. Kids need to read, teachers need to provide interesting, valuable material for them to read, deep, relevant discussion of the reading needs to happen, and writing needs to happen. THAT'S IT. Any second that one of these things isn't happening is a complete waste of time. Money spent on anything else is money wasted. In addition, if parents will read, if parents will discuss the ideas in books with their children, the literacy rates will skyrocket. It's that simple. Read. Talk about it. Write about it.