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What We Say/What We Do: Constantine’s Sword and A Student Testing Assembly
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I recently finished reading James Carroll’s epic 2001 history book Constantine’s Sword: the Church and the Jews. The book traces anti-Semitism through church history, from the very early days of the church, through the Roman Emperor Constantine’s vision of a cross on the Milvian Bridge in Rome, all the way up to the Holocaust and Read More >>


A Teacher Monologue (A Tribute to Barbie – with apologies to Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach)
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It suddenly struck me that the now-famous and oft quoted monologue performed by America Ferrera's character, Gloria, could be adapted to be about teaching and teachers. So I did. Read More>>

An Open Letter to Education Reformers, Reform Cheerleaders, and Others Who Have Tried to “Fix” Education
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I am addressing this open letter to education reformers, most of whom will never see or read it. Mostly my fellow public educators will read it, and if it brings them some comfort, it will be worth it. I hope some reformers might read it and actually listen instead of getting defensive, but my hopes Read More >>


Teaching: Openness and Responsiveness vs. Rigidness and Paranoia
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In his book, You Are Not a Gadget, Jaron Lanier, “programmer, musician, and father of virtual reality technology” examines the effect the synthesizer had on music. MIDI is the Musical Instrument Digital Interface that makes the synthesizer possible. Lanier says, “Before MIDI, a musical note was a bottomless idea that transcended definition. It was a Read More >>


The Magic of Finding Your Flow
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As I approach a new school year in two weeks, I will probably be facing a week of pre-planning that almost inevitably focus too much on data, tested standards, and compliance to curricular conformity. Our focus will be on standardized curriculum, standardized tests, and standardized out comes, with the requisite talk about meeting the individual Read More >>


I Want, They Want
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I love reading and writing and want to pass that love on to my students. I want them to love reading and writing because when you love doing something – you do it better. I want them to dive deep into pages And lose themselves in colorful worlds Created from black and white text. They Read More >>


What’s Happening In Schools?
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I see many news articles about what is happening in schools. I see social media posts from people who think what’s happening in schools is great. I see posts from people who think Satan has taken over the schools and is going to turn every students trans or gay or liberal or furry or all Read More >>


A Nation At Risk Indeed
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Forty years ago the study “A Nation At Risk” was published. The report called out American public schools for their rising tide of mediocrity, and said that we we needed to improve our educational systems by improving our test scores. Now, forty years later, we have been waging a war to push test scores higher Read More >>


Tech Wars: What Star Wars Could Teach Us About Our Obsession With Technology (12-28-15)
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I have Star Wars on the brain, and this afternoon doing some reading, viewing, and thinking about Star Wars gave me a new insight about education. I recently finished drawing comic strip parodies of Star Wars in my comic strip; I’ve gone to see Episode 7 twice (opening night and the day after Christmas); and today I had a chance to Read More >>


Adventures in Censorship: The Adventures of Schloomphy Boopher!
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As the march toward censorship moves onward in my district and around my state and country, I found myself thinking about my editor at Scholastic Professional Books, Gloria Pipkin. Gloria “discovered” me when I wrote a piece about writing tests for the Orlando Sentinel. My two books were among the last she edited before she Read More >>


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