The most important words a student can hear from their teacher or parent are, “I want to hear how you think and feel about this.” Helping students express themselves through writing is critical in every class at every grade level. Self-expression is so important today that I felt compelled to write about one of my […]
How Dwindling Human Interaction in Public Schools Hurts Us as a Society
Look at the picture above. Is the boy going to pick on the girl, or will he invite her to play with the other children? In today’s impersonal school climate, how do students learn about those around them? When there’s no chance of bringing students together in school, how will children better understand their peers? […]
NCTQ’s “Case Closed” Brain Image Post Plugs Pearson’s RICA Reading Te$t for Teachers. Fails the Smell Test!
Kate Walsh, President of the astroturf National Council of Teacher Quality (NCTQ), a group that pretends it’s for teachers and schools when it’s really about privatization, recently published an article “Case Closed” implying that teachers are “science deniers” when it comes to teaching reading. But Walsh’s brain imaging illustration is taken from a research article […]
Fake Play and Its Dangerous Alignment to Standards and Data
Where does pretending come in? It relates to what philosophers call “counterfactual” thinking, like Einstein wondering what would happen if a train went at the speed of light. ~Alison Gopnik, “Let the Children Play, It’s Good for Them” Smithsonian Magazine. July 2012. There’s a troubling phenomenon happening in early childhood education. It involves aligning standards […]
Force and Flunk, Tougher Kindergarten Lead to Parental Dissatisfaction with Public Schools
When children aren’t reading according to the corporate time frame set by Jeb Bush and his ilk (non-educators who want to privatize public education), parents become dissatisfied, even angry with public school officials and teachers when their children fail. The goal of many corporations is to end public education. They want privatization. To do this, […]
The Science and Science Labs that Students Miss at a Time When Science is Critical
Why are students being held back from being the best they can be in science? Making scientific advancements through exploration involves good preparation of the ninety percent of students who attend public schools across the country. We need good scientists to fix our problems. Climate change, antibiotics, drinking water, pollution, overpopulation, diseases, microplastics and garbage, […]
Human Interaction & Picture Books vs. Waterford Upstart’s Preschool Phonics Online Video
Last Sunday, The New York Times described Waterford’s Upstart online program for preschoolers, describing it as better than nothing, or, as “closing a gap.” They described communities that could not (or would not) raise money for preschool, so, online instruction seemed like the default choice. Who’s reviewing these programs? Waterford Upstart is flawed. This can […]
Social-Emotional Learning’s Transformation of Schools is Worrisome
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is being pushed into public schools. It could mean many things, restorative justice, meditation, anti-bullying programs, and much more. But SEL is not just an add-on program. It’s whole-school systematic change from teaching academics to focusing on students and personality formation. Books and online programs galore are being written about SEL and […]
The Candidates: How Will They Solve Society’s Problems Without Great Public Schools?
Here we go again. Two nights of Democratic debates and public schools were only mentioned in connection with other issues. The candidates discussed climate change, gun control, health care, foreign policy, free community college, and more. They never tackled the issues surrounding for-profit colleges. There were no questions about the privatization of public education in […]
After the Confession: How Will They Fix the Damage Done to Public Schools?
Nick Hanauer is described as “founder of the public-policy incubator Civic Ventures.” His piece in The Atlantic called “Better Public Schools Won’t Fix America,” is an admission that the corporate message we’ve heard for years that schools will fix the problems of the economy and society is false. Most of us knew this. Here is […]