Transitions in Teaching, Lenten Reflection #12

Probably the most significant change that took place within the last year is that I changed schools, changed classrooms, changed students, and moved. So the past seven months or so have been spent getting to know an entirely new population of students: teaching years 1-3 were spent in an MD classroom with a variety of…

Book Review: How We Learn

Title: How We Learn Author: Benedict Carey Publisher: Random House Year: 2014 Pages: 200 (e-Book (Nook), ARC; hardcover book 272) [Disclaimer: I was provided an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my fair and unbiased review of this book. I was given no compensation and I am not required to write a…

Math Sorting Game: Addition

I am happy to say that I did not make this task. One of the paraprofessionals who worked in my classroom did. All I had to contribute was a 'seal of approval' and a grateful heart that she put her skills to use and make something wonderful and useful for the students. This was not…

Book Review: Schools in Crisis (Barna FRAME Book)

Title: Schools in Crisis Author: Nicole Baker Fulgham Publisher: Zondervan Year: 2013 Pages: 90 Barna Group FRAMES on Twitter: @barnaframes FRAMES Be Undivided [WE BELIEVE building strong community means making sure kids and schools thrive. Be|Undivided is churches investing time and effort year-round in students and schools. Whatever the need. And without agenda or strings…

Book Review: Myth of the Spoiled Child

Title: The Myth of the Spoiled Child Author: Alfie Kohn Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books Date: 2014 Pages: (preview copy e-book) via netgalley: 282 Author Page: Alfie Kohn [You need to read this before you take another glance at this page: the FCC wants you to know that it is imperative information that I received…

500 Words Per Day: Changing

I've been reading this book called The Myth of the Spoiled Child by Alfie Kohn. I'll be reviewing it on this blog soon so I won't spoil much with this post, except to say that if what Kohn is saying is true, and at this juncture of my reading I'm leaning towards that particular assessment,…

500 Words Per Day: No Math, No Calculations, No Counting

There I was: at work, not so much enjoying my day. The day didn't start off too well. It didn't continue too well either. There is so much to do and so many distractions. People coming in and taking students off for therapy, phones ringing, school psychologist stopping in and handing me a stack of…

500 Words Per Day: Long Days at School

Today was a long day at school, hence the title of this post. It was a long day of teaching that began as most of my days do: waking up from a night of restlessness and nightmares. The day ended with me sitting here at my laptop writing about what a long day it was…

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.

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…

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…

Learning to Read Faces: A Sorting Task

Everyday, typically developing students and adults absorb and interpret thousands of pieces of data. Students in special education classes absorb these data too, but oftentimes have a great deal of difficulty interpreting their meaning. This, in turn, makes daily communication a chore for most students. Furthermore, not knowing how to interpret the data received often…