More “propaganda”
A new post written @huffingtonpost on the #commoncore
April 25, 2013 By 6 Comments
I don’t know, some things are appropriate for the Huffington Post. This came from conversations I’ve had with proponents of the CCSS. There is a rabid insistence that it’s not a curriculum, it’s just standards, as if that makes it less intrusive or more palatable. If that insistence is ideological, I get it. But if […]
Pulling back the curtain. #CCSS
March 13, 2013 By 10 Comments
by Bianca Tanis, New York educator and parent. The more I learn about the new, Common-Core-based ELA exams and APPR protocols, the more I wonder who, exactly, is running the show. Who is the “man behind the curtain,” and what is his real agenda? Certainly, it is not someone with a background in child […]
Just as I compliment @educationweek…
January 23, 2013 By 3 Comments
Some thoughts from New Orleans
November 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Both, BOTH, hosts of at the chalk face are in New Orleans, right in the heart of the French Quarter, at the Curriculum and Pedagogy conference. I first want to thank a friend and colleague for setting this up and gifting us the opportunity to speak. It’s a privilege I don’t take lightly. Basically, our […]
The problem with unfunded mandates and the #commoncore @educationweek
March 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Education Week gets to a fundamental problem with unfunded mandates: the scramble for resources. Teachers and curriculum developers who are trying to craft road maps that reflect the Common Core State Standards can find themselves in a dispiriting bind: Their current materials fall short, and there is a dearth of good new ones to fill […]
#Classroom management and #curriculum, a connection?
October 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I had an epiphany yesterday, so I need folks out there to help me if they can. I’ve really been getting into this idea that curriculum can heal most management wounds. If what you’re teaching is worthwhile, interesting, relevant, and joyful, then you can trim a lot of management issues right off the top. Lately, […]
#Coal… it’s what’s for dinner
May 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Good for all those, including Rethinking Schools, for pushing Scholastic for ridding us of that coal sponsored curriculum. There’s some great reporting on the matter here as well. A couple of things that get me thinking. One, it’s no coincidence that it was designed for fourth graders. Typically students study their state histories in fourth; […]
DC schools bet the farm and then some on #commoncore. Good luck with that.
DC loves its reform. Especially those based on faith, not evidence. Education Week writes about what they call the “common core era.” Wow, I thought, you know, at least six months had to pass before we’re officially in an era. In a year, it might be an epoch. How well the school district can reach […]