We MAKE School Happen

To call it a disappointment isn’t quite strong enough. I’m never a fanboy of futility…I think there’s always something that could be done. My issue is that the people who seem to me to be the ones who are positioned to really do something don’t, and I’m left to wonder why. Befuddled, I suppose. Yeah, befuddled. So sure, Trump won. That’s no surprise to me, I mean the Democrats have been…

10/13/2024 Usually when I am out and about this time of year I end up struck in the moment by the way view and vista hit my eyes. Winding and rolling roads framed by treelines and a glimpse of a distant horizon can make what I’m seeing look like a painting I want to paint. That was the primary reason for the picture above. I pulled over and put the camera I’d borrowed to good use because I saw…

A year ago today I sent the following message to NYSED. On this matter (i.e., narrow focus on standardized test scores as the measure of value in education) I have been writing, calling, mailing, and emailing newspapers, and various publications for more than a decade. I’ve met with legislators, educators, and union folk for over a decade, attended appearances by edu-folks out on “listening…

I don’t want to start calling Twitter “X”… …but I also don’t feel like dirtying the memory of Twitter by using her name for whatever she has become. I might be leaving her, but is there a decent alternative? It’s me baby, not you-I swear. I do remember something happening, in terms of creating an alternative gathering place for free and sometimes regrettable speech. Just before or around the…

“Lie to them, Jack. If you do it half as well as you lie to yourself, they’ll believe you.” Bam.  John Locke (played by Terry O’Quinn) delivers this line to Matthew Fox’s character, spinal surgeon and perpetual hero and soul-tortured martyr Jack Shephard. Didn’t take me long to tire of Jack, and yet he was one that endured while others I liked more got killed off on LOST. Dr. Responsible seemed…

My name was used as a verb recently. The person that did it told me so. She even described the context in which she used my name when I asked. Maybe she was going to tell me anyway but I was so excited I jumped in and asked to hear the whole story. I mean to think: my name as a verb! Like a force of nature almost. Like some dynamic that might influence the world or instigate some movement or…

It was ten years ago at least. Maybe close to fifteen. I was vacationing with my wife then and we decided to do something Virginia-beautiful. Something that would take us on a scenic drive, along winding mountainside roads that might offer up a spontaneous stop-n-bite meal someplace that serves tasty southern roadkill sandwiches or critter fries. Or a winery? Yeah. A winery. We were given an…

Once young learners become adept at engaging with stories and making all those connections with the others around them, of seeing how stories and characters evolve and how their own stories develop, they also become more prepared to generalize the skills

Chloe was home from college on break. This past Thanksgiving, maybe. She and I were watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and near the end, at the point where Hector Barbosa gets shot, and is first dismissive of Captain Jack Sparrow, almost condescending-believing his undead status provided him protection at that moment from such foolishness as being shot. “Ten years you carry that…

Preface: I tend to bring in a lot through a feelings filter. And I don’t just attach my own personal feelings, sensing my way through some situations when it might be better for me to just take a deep breath and “slow my roll” (as people way cooler than me might say). My thing is I sense the feelings of others and sometimes think into that a little too much. Sad songs, sad movies…Ohmigod when…

I’m starting this at around 10 AM on Tuesday, February 28th, 2023. Normally at this time, I would be wrapping up an activity with two students who qualify for extra support services to reinforce their skills in the area of mathematics. Instead, I am home in my pajama bottoms and a favorite St. Lawrence University t-shirt, with my tootsies wrapped in thick wintry socks that are like soft little…

It is a good idea to read Part 1 (an event from the Spring, of 2022) before this piece if you haven’t. Even though this post is about an event that happened prior to that (the previous fall), the setup of the two is me providing this one as a backstory for Part 1. IF YOU HAVEN’T, GO READ IT NOW. Fall, 2021 The return to live and in-person learning in the fall of 2021 was sure to be an exciting,…

Spring, 2022 “Well kids, we did it,” said Mr. McConnell leaning back in his teacher’s chair looking exhausted and relieved at the same time. State testing was finally over. “You all handled that well. It throws a little bit of a wrench into our days, and believe me if I had my way you’d show your learnin’ on the McConnell Hilltop Compound Academy wearin’ some work gloves and pickin’ rocks,…

The shadow cast by NAEP

Following the October 24th release of “The Nation’s Report Card” by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), it’s no surprise that the rhetoric of education reform is once again on the rise. In reality, the tide of assault on public education had only receded a little in the quiet between “Race To The Top” and COVID.  Now, on the heels of the pandemic, if you choose to believe…

We are expected to accept "the economy" as the measure of our success as a people, and in schools that economy has become standardized testing data. The norming of results to take that data and further dehumanize a human endeavor has turned our eyes furth

I don’t know that this quote has been accurately attributed to Mother Theresa, but some time ago I came across a meme that did. The quote was: “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” Think about that concept.  It’s unlikely that an individual or individual actions are going to create a world-changing difference. There are standouts in…

Real Educators and Real Education Reform

This might just be the first segment of the first episode. Hello all, welcome. Come in, find your seat, or I guess find a seat- I won’t be assigning any yet so it’s okay, just grab the spot you want for now and if there are any problems I’ll move people around. Just know that if you choose to sit next to your besty I’ll be watching to make sure you can do that and still make good choices. Let’s…

Little Danny stepped up to get his sled. His cousin Brian stepped up with him onto the other track as the two prepared to rocket into the record books on the “Alpine Slide”. And to think that only an hour ago they were getting ready to just run around Gram and Gramps whacking the bee tree and waiting for someone to get stung. This was way cooler than that. Not that the bee tree thing wasn’t…

As an educator, I saw an opportunity in the return to school after that COVID-induced stretch of remote learning. Not that COVID is really over, as much as people want to pretend it is. Right now it feels like we are fudging our way through the positive tests and the obvious illnesses. Back to knowing that if a parent has no daycare options, a sick kid might be sent to school. Onward,…