A Teacher’s Dilemma: Take a Stand Against Testing or Keep Abusing Children What am I? Seriously. What is it I do for a living? When I wake up to go to work in the morning, am I preparing to be a teacher or a test proctor? Am I engaged in the practice of nurturing young minds…
Tag: teaching
What Chance do Future Professors have in Trumplandia?
What Chance do Future Professors have in Trumplandia? Here I am two months post gradation from my beloved alma mater, Kutztown University, wondering if a PhD in English is worth fighting for now that our country is being run by an avaricious leader. Trump does not appear to acknowledge the value of higher education nor does he…
Pittsburgh Public Schools Advised to Repeat Same Mistakes Over and Over and Over…
Pittsburgh Public Schools Advised to Repeat Same Mistakes Over and Over and Over… “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” -Albert Einstein(attributed) “AAAUUURGH!” -Charlie Brown If I crash my car right into a wall, the worst thing to do would be to get into another car and crash it right…
School Privatization Turns Business Into Predator and Students Into Prey
School Privatization Turns Business Into Predator and Students Into Prey The mother sea turtle struggles to shore to lay her eggs. A typical clutch includes anywhere from 50–350 eggs, which the mother hides under the sand. Her sole contribution to their future complete, she swims away. They incubate underground for 50-60 days. Then just at dusk,…
Why Schools Should NOT Be Run Like Businesses
Why Schools Should NOT Be Run Like Businesses America loves business. We worship the free market. Nothing is more infallible – not reason, not morals, not even God. Money is the true measure of success – the more you have, the better a person you are. This perverted ideology has taken over much of American life….
How Do We Combat Fake News in Our Classrooms?
How Do We Combat Fake News in Our Classrooms? After the election, a larger swath of the population has been discussing “fake news.” Calls for “media literacy” ring out from interviews and articles. For example, at the end of an hour-long NPR interview, fake news researcher Craig Silverman offered this solution almost as an afterthought: [W]e…
Don’t Be Fooled: Betsy DeVos Still Loves Common Core
Don’t Be Fooled: Betsy DeVos Still Loves Common Core Poor Betsy DeVos. President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Education Secretary has spent her entire adult life advocating for Common Core, but now she has to pretend like she doesn’t like it. In fact, if you point out any of the multiple projects that she supports boosting Common…
What Diane Ravitch Means To Me
What Diane Ravitch Means To Me Am I crazy? That’s what many of us had been wondering before we read Diane Ravitch. As teachers, parents and students, we noticed there was something terribly wrong with our national education policy. The Emperor has no clothes, but no one dared speak up. Until Diane Ravitch. We were told…
When Grades Incite Violence: Why I Am More and More Afraid To Be In Education
When Grades Incite Violence: Why I Am More and More Afraid To Be In Education Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Colleen Clemens’s blog, Reflections on Gender and Postcolonial Issues, on June 2. Check out all her great work and tell her that Raging Chicken sent ya! I am shaken this morning. Again. Another shooting…
Fighting for Joy
Editor’s Note: Bryan Sanguinito is the Eastern Regional President of PSEA. I have the great pleasure of teaching a wonderful young lady named Joy. In my nearly 20 years of teaching, rarely have I ever come across a student with as big a heart and as open a mind as Joy. Every day that I…
Juicy Pumpkin Juice 