Warning: my diatribe below consists of mostly rant, with excerpts of real-world writing samples from previous students. I will also indict most of Kindergarten through High School Education. I say most as the factors with the least blame, in my opinion, are the teachers themselves. However, my attitude towards K-12 teachers is changing, too. I…
A good friend of mine lived abroad when she was of middle-school age. Her mother was in the military, stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Living abroad when old enough to notice the life going on around you, having a life in the States to compare to, and being old enough to appreciate the details and differences…
I have been really challenged lately trying to put into words a teaching philosophy I have been struggling to promote. A good friend of mine helped me put this philosophy into words, which has helped me put them to paper. Teacher evaluations are mostly bullshit. I say that because the evaluations I have seen do…
I read an article recently about the difficulties of choosing digital content in K-12 education. I think the article was miss-titled. The author didn’t really discuss choosing digital content, more about managing digital content. But the author’s comments did spur some thoughts of my own. K-12 education may have some special issues related to digital…
Without ever having taken an education class, I suspect the over-arching theme of all education course is the training of a person to help him/her learn techniques they can use to help a child become “self-actualized” – to become all they can be. I had an interesting conversation with my neighbor yesterday. As many of…
Let’s begin with a definition: stove-piping refers to the creation or development of ideas in isolated environment, with no contact or input from other groups, agencies, or departments. Governments are notorious for stove-piping. Agencies develop databases for their own use, databases that may not be connected to other databases, may not be designed to hold…
I’ve been harping on this topic for many a moon. Now, Diane Rehm (The Diane Rehm Show) and Neal Conan (Talk of the Nation) are both hosting shows on precisely this topic and exactly the same day. Unfortunately, Diane Rehm’s show was somewhat a waste of time. Her guests did little to list the real…
I have a number of philosophies I suggest students should adopt for success not only in this course, but in all courses, and perhaps life, in general. I tell my students to stop thinking about themselves as merely a student. Or, rather, stop thinking about themselves as only a student. Bring your life to class,…
Australia Includes Sign Language in National Curriculum. Australia is getting “it.” Australia is recognizing the importance of having a multilingual society. Thus, Australia’s legislature has passed a new national language curriculum that includes Sign Language plus 14 other languages. According to the new plan, first and second graders would be exposed to a new language…
Red Clay building Chinese program | The News Journal | delawareonline.com. I am a big fan of educators developing relationships above and beyond the normal day-in/day-out learning models. Americans need to be more receptive to all sort of learning experiences. Whether these new learning experiences come from nearby businesses showing students new business trends, or…
Constant Geography 
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