We are social distancing to avoid the spread of something bad. But I also feel that we are intellectual distancing, and doing so is preventing the spread of something good, or rather, of a multitude of good things. I’m not talking just about the “distance learning” that teachers around our country have been asked to Read More >>
I left for Spring Break, as many of us did, expecting to be back in a week. Obviously a week became two, and then two weeks became a month and a half, and that is likely to become the remainder of the year for us here in Florida as it has for much of the Read More >>
After my recent announcement about moving from six strips a week to just three, I received a message here at this blog from someone who loved the strip. Interestingly, the series he brought up as his favorite was a series from three years ago that wasn’t even set in the classroom or at school. It Read More >>
Many years ago I worked at a summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains called Skye Farm. I was a counselor, and one of the group-building activities we did there was called Quicksand River. It involved a group, in this case my cabin group, trying to cross a fictitious river of “quicksand lava” as I recall. Read More >>
As my students will attest, I am a Star Wars fanatic. I have been since I was 10 years old in 1977 and saw the original movie from the front row. As I began to think about the politics within the Star Wars universe, the role the Jedi Knights played in the Old Republic, and the role Read More >>
There is an epidemic of teacher depression, demoralization, and stress in this country, and for a while I was part of it. The series of comic strips I have assembled below, is, at least for me, the most important series I have ever done. Drawing it meant I was past the events that inspired it. Read More >>
Back when I was still in the classroom (it seems like months already), I taught a unit I’ve been using for several years about the power of definition. One of several things I allow students to discover in our reading is that definitions help us to see to the essence of something. Using an exercise Read More >>
This week will mark the 20th anniversary of Mr. Fitz, the comic strip. I won’t be having a party. It goes without saying that we are living through a strange and historic time right now – including in education. My spring break ends tonight, and tomorrow I take the first steps into the world of Read More >>
(Another fictional take on education that I’m still pretty happy with… DLF 2-20-20) It’s fiction time again. In case you hadn’t heard, the Gates Foundation is one of the investors in experimental bio-metric bracelets that would measure student engagement and attentiveness through electrical signals in their skin. As Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up.They Read More >>
I recently wrote about my journey, my experience with the Common Core, by turning the stages of grief upside down and beginning with Acceptance of the CCSS and ending with Denial. I’d like to delve into a few additional ideas in my next few posts. In this post, let’s take a look at the future Read More >>