What are you here to learn? When you do your own writing, You learn who you are And what you stand for And what you stand against And what you love And what you makes you feel alive. When you have someone or something write for you, You learn to lie. You learn to cheat. Read More >>
My mother once saw me guest speak as an author and cartoonist at a young authors’ event at an elementary school near the house she once wintered in here in Florida. In my speech I spoke rather glowingly of my childhood full of feverish enthusiasms and creative endeavors: books, an attempted science fiction super 8 Read More >>
Two strands of the education reform agenda have never made sense to me, because they completely contradict each other: Strand One: We want excellent teachers. We should get rid of bad teachers, and hire and retain excellent teachers. Teachers are the most important determining factor in a child’s educational success. Great teachers can change life Read More >>
I recently wrote about why I love teaching, and why I think my love of teaching benefits my students. I would now like to address how this love of teaching is under attack. I won’t necessarily conjecture why love of teaching is under attack – I simply want to demonstrate that it is. I love Read More >>
I wrote recently about my love of teaching. I shouldn’t have to explain this, but I will: I think that my love of my craft is good for students. I don’t know if that’s true for every teacher. If you love teaching because you like bossing and bullying students, I suppose that’s not good for Read More >>
I been criticized for being too negative about teaching in my comics. I don’t think that assessment is fair. Mr. Fitz is really intended as a Valentine to teaching and teachers. It’s just that there is so much getting in the way of great teaching these days – and much of it is on display Read More >>
This post is about a fateful set of comic strips. They were, I suppose not particularly fateful for anyone else, but for me they were a turning point – professionally, personally, and artistically. When I was my district Teacher of the Year in 2005, I ended my 11 month reign with a speech that included Read More >>
I used to tell my students That it wasn’t about the papers they turned in The grades spread out across a digital grid The products, the GPAs. I would tell them Education is about What’s left after you take away the papers And grades Your brain should be rewired to To be smarter To know Read More >>
Wendell Berry once wrote an essay titled “Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer.” I don’t go as far as Wendell Berry – I am typing this essay on a computer – but on the other hand, I think he has some valid points. Even Stephen King has a section in his book Read More >>