Teachers are Babysitters!? Really?

I recently posted at my blog that part of a solid education reform package would be keeping kids out of school until they are developmentally ready–say 6 or 7 (granted that some are developmentally ready at 5, but that none are ready at 3 or 4). I posted this to my LinkedIn account and got…

$chool Reform and Common Core

A friend of mine posted a link to this essay on facebook. I thought I would expose it here since the author of the essay mentions several thoughts and ideas that I have also had quite independent of anyone else. The essay is here: The Coming Common Core Meltdown. Probably the most important thing about…

Book Review: Jesus, My Father, The CIA, and Me

Title: Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me Author: Ian Morgan Cron Publisher: Thomas Nelson Page Count: 257 Date: 2011 Conversations on Courage and Faith [Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for a review on my blog. Go to Booksneeze for more information.]  I received my copy of…

Thoughts on Education Reform, pt 3: True Education Reform Starts at Home

True education reform will take place when we all work together to make certain every single child is given the best, free and appropriate public education available. And that starts at home.

9 Tips for (new) Special Educators

There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about the work I do and how I do it. More than once I have heard from other staff, who have spent any time in my room, that all teachers ought to spend a day in my self-contained, multi-disability resource room. I…

More Government Interference & Zero Tolerance

School should be a place of learning and joy and good memories, but when students have to live in constant fear of suspensions and expulsions for minor offenses–well, it takes its toll on everyone involved. It certainly isn’t helpful when everyone from the principal to the pre-school is at defcon 5 every minute, of every day.

Book Review: The Case for the Psalms

Title: The Case for the Psalms Author: N. T. Wright (Unofficial) NT Wright: Amazon Page Publisher: Harper Collins; HarperOne Page Count: 200 Date: 2013 There are many preachers and theologians I admire to the point of buying anything they write and listening to anything they preach. Among them are Eugene Peterson, D.A. Carson, Frederick Buechner,…

Thoughts on Education Reform, Pt 2: Government Meddling in Education

What I think most educators want, at least it’s what I want, is for the government to get out of my classroom and let me teach. What I think would be great is if the government, the ones who control the money we send them, woud spend some of that money actually asking educators what WE think would be some necessary reforms for education. But I don’t think they will because they do not want to hear us tell them to get out of our way and let us teach.

Teacher Resources: We are Teachers

A quick post to alert readers to a new resource (new to me that is). The website is called We Are Teachers and from a quick look, there is a lot to enjoy. There is a brief registration one must follow in order to access all aspects of the website. It took me about 3 or…

Book Review: Lord of Opium

I thought this was a fairly interesting book. The author covers many topics: cloning, education, immigration, drugs, drug cartels, farming, the nature of evil, freewill, murder, freedom, religion, mythology, death, ecology, hope and a lot more besides. Sometimes the plot was a bit thin for me and I wanted the main character to to be…

Raising Awareness for People with an ASD

I saw these links in my Twitter feed today and thought they were important enough to repost links here. The first deals with suicide and isolation among people with Asperger's. When I googled the terms "suicide" and "asperger's", I was surprised at how frequently the subject seemed to be treated with confusion – why would a person…