In 2012 Virginia will have both a Republican governor and a Republican-controlled legislature – and 4 charter schools. Given the strictures of current charter school law in Virginia – and given the defeat of Virginia’s last major charter school bill (HB2314) – it’s likely that Virginia will see new charter school legislation passed before McDonnell [...]
Mary Beth Hertz (@mbteach) wrote here about #ISTE10’s “Dissecting the 21st Century Teacher” panel. I commented on a few of the lines that caught my attention regarding curriculum and a teacher’s role in maintaining and delivering content. I’m torn there. There’s so much discoverable content maintained out there that it’s useful for a teacher [...]
So, we’re about to hit our testing window. I don’t have a lot of innovative testing ideas to share, though our school is doing some awesome work to make students feel comfortable and cared for during their three-week ordeal. We’re also going to reinvent our daily schedule after the tests to delve school-wide into what [...]
This past week I rediscovered the UVA Young Writers Workshop. I’ve been looking around for out-of-school learning opportunities that could replace parts of the traditional school day to bring more authentic work into schools without diluting the power or appeal of the programs. Too Quixotic?
Margo Figgins, an associate professor with the university’s Curry School [...]
Here are two quotes I’ve been thinking about all day:
“All I ask of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism – it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere.”
-Conan O’Brien
“The tension between what I’m actually doing in my classroom and what I think I should be doing in my [...]
Last week during a bout of insomnia, I watched The Remains of the Day twice in a row. I had never seen it before or read the book, though I dearly love and frequently sniffle while reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go. The Remains of the Day follows Mr. Stevens, a butler, who serves [...]
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about authentic audiences for my students’ work. Most often, a teacher is the immediate audience, though not always an authentic one. Parents, too, are an traditional audience for student work, but their authenticity waxes and wanes with their children’s relationships with them. Because of communications technology [...]
Chad teaches humanities at a charter school and blogs on reforming classroom practice and democratic education.
