TheText Itself    by Thomas Newkirk  

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Newkirk argues that the writers of the Common Core have adopted a sterile view of reading that does not…

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How many of you on this site have benefited from an NWP site or from someone associated with one (or read books on teaching writing by someone associated with one)? Here is a copy/paste from  www.nwp.org about the issue and how you can make your voice heard.

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http://www.edutopia.org/blog/center-teaching-learning-internship-gaetan-pappalardo

I was grateful for the perfect blue sky and sunshine yesterday. It made for an enjoyable drive home from class. Unfortunately, the today's forecast calls for rain and gray skies. I guess it's better than the extensive snow fall we recently found ourselves buried under the past two months. I really feel the worst is behind us and March is turning out to be a glamorous prologue for a perfect springtime story.

I have been reading a lot of Elmore Leonard lately. My aging…

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It may seem corny or even creepy

But I have loved you since I first saw your name

Printed on white paper.

Permanently etched in my mind:

Henrietta Jones, Erin Plasiance, Maya Jones,

Christopher Holloway, Justin Jack, Kierra Hart --

The list is infinite.

Even when your names escape my tongue,

Your prepubescent faces remain.

Stained upon my heart. Unchanged by time.

There is just something about a teacher's students.

Once assigned to a… Continue

No Child Left Within

Paul Epstein, November, 2009



I had too much test today

Need some time outside to play

Get homework done before I can

Math, Spelling, read about England



What don’t kill me make me strong

My mom says they teach me wrong

Big boys outside dealin’ drugs

They got bling, we got bedbugs



Don’t want to be child left behind

But sick to death of daily grind

They say school a waste of time

No decent jobs… Continue

Over eighty-five seventh graders participated in my AVID English Language Arts class last school year. On the first day of class, I drilled into them the gospel of great writing—a perilous and exhilarating thrill ride full of challenges, pitfalls, and triumphs. The image of a psychotic English teacher ripping apart a TAKS Exit Level exam in front of their eyes punctuated my message with an exclamation point. Since I’m a firm believer in hands-on learning, I ordered each student to snatch the… Continue

The dictionary is just not big enough to say all the things we need to say. That is why we depend on creative thinkers like you to coin new lingo. In the clip below, Aaron, a sophomore in Gretchen Bernabei's class at Holmes High School makes up "Outstonishing" a cross between Outstanding and Astonishing. Or in other words: Outstonishing.



Here is your chance to make up your own new words to describe your life. Write the word and the definition as you would in a dictionary. Have fun… Continue

Today the president made a speech on education and raised the issue of merit pay as a way of improving teaching. The logic goes that you reward the teachers that have the most success. My experience has been that merit pay divides teachers and erodes collegiality. I am not a classroom teacher now,so I would like to know what you think.


Barry