TEACHER TALK

The Wanderer

(from the February issue of the Virginia Journal of Education) What happened to Andrew? one of the girls asked. I had lost track of time, and the bell was about to ring.  “Andrew is missing,” I told the office. Missing? Lost? I wasn’t sure how to word it. It wasn’t that much of a shock, [...]

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Silent

In the November issue of the Virginia Journal of Education – my story about Joonbum, the student who never spoke. Read it here.    

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Narratives from the Classroom

My latest piece for the Virginia Journal of Education is out. It’s a small dent in a larger conversation. You can read it here: Demographics Change; So Must We

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Narratives from the Classroom

My latest article for for the Virginia Journal of Education is out. Pass it along to a teacher in your life! HANDLE WITH CARE

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Letter to the Editor

The following letter appeared in the New York Times Sunday Dialogue: How to Rate Teachers. My response follows. Oh pshaw, here we go again, another educator decrying objective student testing in favor of subjective “evaluations” by school leaders and peers. And then these educators lament the imprecise and subjective nature of the evaluations. The only [...]

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Pay Me Later

I recently brought my winter boots to the shoe shop in my neighborhood. They wouldn’t clean them for me, but suggested I purchase a suede cleaner. I turned the bottle over to read the fine print. Every material but suede seemed to be listed. I questioned the owner. He looked at me with pity, turned [...]

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Oh Yes She Did!

I was filling out a rather rigorous job application for DCPS. It’s great they are being thorough, and trying to bring in a certain caliber of teachers. But, the personality assessment made me wonder. I mean, who would check strongly disagree on questions like, “I am flexible”? Would someone really check, agree a little to [...]

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Teachers Are Not Volunteers

When friends talk about community service, I find myself saying, “I used to volunteer a lot before I became a teacher.” What does this say about my profession? On the positive side, we feel fulfilled in our daily contribution to the community.  On the negative side, we don’t earn enough money, so we feel as though [...]

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