“There is no fence around time that has gone. You can go back and have what you like if you remember it well enough.” — Richard Llewellyn I look at the teachers around me and wonder what they were like when they started their teaching career. Where they this cynical in the beginning? Did they [...]
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” — Marcel Proust One of the focuses of my teaching has been viewing the world through different eyes. I have met many people in my life and the ones that piss me off the most are the ones that [...]
In educational circles, I often run into PjBL or Project Based Learning. The more I learn about it, the more I love it. I really wish others would get on board with the idea. We need a pretty serious shake up of our educational system if we want to truly reach students. This philosophy has [...]
Lately there has been much talk about budget cuts. The local school district put a “suggestion box” on their website. They responded by looking into the suggestions and sorting them into “suggestions taken,” “suggestions not taken,” and “suggestions being researched.” Among the more interesting “suggestions not taken” was cutting field trips. The district responded by [...]
I don’t care who you talk to, teaching is at least 30% entertainment. I have become quite the actress over the last three years. How do you make kids want to learn economics? You cannot appeal to their inherent desire to learn about economics. You cannot appeal to “the information will become useful at some [...]
Disclaimer: This blog entry is specific to private schools. I spent all of my education in the public school sphere, but have been teaching in private schools. I find some of the quirks of private schools interesting. This entry is an example of that fascination. So what’s up with admissions standards in private school? Or [...]
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” — Einstein I do not have all the answers. It’s true. I am not omnipotent. I am still learning. And actually there are certain things that no historian knows. There are mysteries in history. Such [...]
Love this cartoon. Even though it has to do with dating, I feel the same method can be applied to teaching. Everyone has their own personality and it would be useful to at least know said personalities and even maybe align similar ones. Let’s start with some basics. There are many personality tests out there. [...]
“Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” — Will Durant Why are we so scared of Fs? Why are we so scared to let ourselves, our students, our children fail? Should we always win? What does constant success teach us vs. an occasional failure? Unfortunately our society has evolved into this “every one’s [...]
“I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” — Lily Tomlin What should students ultimately get out of class? Should they know how to find the area of a circle? Or know the exact start and end dates of the Civil War? Or know that from is [...]