Loooooong article in the StarTrib (via TWIE) on Minnesota charter schools and lease aid. The gist: A few hacks are profiting off of it.Our school would not be able to operate without lease aid given the type of lease we have [...]
Loooooong article in the StarTrib (via TWIE) on Minnesota charter schools and lease aid. The gist: A few hacks are profiting off of it.
An illustration of how an activity can bomb in one class and rock in another:
Hint Hint! Any students lurking out there? Hehehehe.
After six years adjusting to the climates of Bolivia, New York City and Minneapolis, the School of Bloggers will now return to where they first met: Washington, D.C.
Five Reasons A Smart Middle Aged Woman Loathes TWILIGHT | Psychology Today
I can't remember how it came up, but in history class today one student claimed that "Barack Obama is the antichrist." This statement prompted angry outcries from several other students. I simply responded, "Barack Obama is Christian."
Slate on a new album and "the most exquisitely unsettling episode in the history of music" it concerns: the use of castrati starting in the 16th century. The tradition rose from an unholy trinity of religion, money, and art. The church forbade women to sing [...] 
Two students were telling me today about a new video game they'd played and how it "crossed a line" for them. This game, Modern Warfare 2, includes an incredibly graphic and realistic scene of terrorism. What really got to my students was the fact that the' [...] 
I'm starting to realize that I LOVE being an advisory teacher. In a job that makes me miserable almost all day every day, it's the part I look forward to most. I love having daily routines, I love seeing little moments of progress week by week. [...] 
Allow me to indulge in a rant.
Recently Larry Ferlazzo linked to a London Telegraph story about a study on "lucky" vs. "unlucky" people.
Some incredible old photos of Duluth, Minn. at Shorpy.
From NY Times: Lawsuit over the release of documents from the NYC Board of Education about a chilling chapter of Cold War history, when nearly 400 city teachers were fired for "affiliation with the Communist party."
I kept meaning to send something to Mr. D, but never did - so now that I have a sec, here's a lesson I'm doing this week in my early American history class:
Good example to use when kids ask "why study history." From TPM, a new Kreep out to undermine a Democrat using bald-faced lies.
Recently I've been re-reading a few pages of the Wongs' The First Days of School each day over breakfast. The book has a lot of great suggestions for classroom setup and management. But I think it's corresponded with a steadily dwindling confidence in my effectiveness' [...] 
... wow. Still blown away by Shorpy. And by these "prep-school gymnasts from Orange, Virginia." Can you imagine how still they must have been to keep the image that sharp back in 1910?
I'm not quite getting what all the chatter is about re: this "new" way of teaching reading reported in the New York Times. This method has been around for so long, I thought it was basically standard operating procedure.
A district not far from my school was just ordered to award $25,000 to a student as a settlement in a case of harrassment by a teacher. She had been making repeated comments about his perceived sexual orientation.
One of the most commonly searched phrases that ends up sending people to this site is "college isn't for everyone." I guess it goes to one of Chris's posts about his experience in an after-school program.
Dwight D. Eisenhower Radio and Television Address to the American People on the State of the NationSometimes you feel, almost, that we can be excused for getting a little bit hysterical, because these dangers come from so many angles, and they are of such different [...] The Pew Charitable Trust studied black children in the top 60% of [...]
Just when I thought I'd never post about Yassky again,
For the past two years I've team-taught a humanities class with one of the school's founders, a veteran language arts teacher. We bill it as a college-style seminar. The first year we tackled disease in history and read Guns, Germs and Steel. Last year we examined' [...] 
A beautiful piece of social commentary:
Some have argued that charter schools "skim the cream" of student populations because students have to apply to get in, rather than simply being geographically zoned in.
[...]
Oh, Ben! In college we learned to revere the man, so I was excited to find 
