Blogs

It has been a memorable week in the schools for Hispanic Americans. On March 30th the inspirational teacher Jaime Escalante died, and March 31st was Cesar Chavez’s birthday. Both of them are enduring role models for all of us, but especially for Hispanic students, who comprise the largest minority in our classrooms.   read more »

with intermediate stops at Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Las Cruces, Dallas, Mount Pleasant

When I was a classroom teacher, as I walked to the office from my room I would occasionally gaze out at the traffic and think: Look – people banking, going to the car wash, shopping! You get bound by the four walls sometimes. Many years ago, I heard Al Shanker say that teaching is a profession where you go into your classroom and close the door – for the next 35 years.

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Lots of us became teachers because we loved school.

On Long Island we went back the day after Labor Day, in new fall clothes that were too warm for Indian summer, but of course we had to wear them because they were new. We had reinforcements pasted onto our notebook pages and sharpened yellow Number Two pencils. We could hardly sleep the night before.
Would our friends be in the same classes with us?
Would we like our teachers?
Do we have to wear a gym uniform?

As educators ourselves, the beginning of school has an equivalent excitement. But as we stare at our planning books and curriculum outlines, our thoughts are deeper and more reflective.   read more »

Graduation day. Nothing like it. There they are, the scholars and the jocks and the popular kids and the shy ones, the ones who loved American History and the ones who slumped in their seats every day and you had to wind them up like mechanical toys to get them engaged. The girls have anchored their mortarboards with bobby pins and despite what the principal said at rehearsal, they’re wearing brand new stiletto sandals. The boys are tall and they are men, in their rustling rayon gowns from Josten’s. You are worried about the students who chose to enlist instead of to enroll in college. It hits you in a wave how much you care about these new adults, and this particular June you’re fearful about the dashing of their hopes in the recession world they will confront tomorrow.   read more »

April is National Poetry Month, but not to worry. It’s the English teachers’ inning, right? They’ll have a school-wide poetry contest, they’ll invite a local author to visit, and the principal might even read his favorite poem during announcements (mostly “Invictus” or “If” by Rudyard Kipling).

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Well, yes, I got a ticket. I attended the Arizona Defensive Driving School one Saturday morning, from 7:30 AM until 1 PM. My experience modeled how we should never teach anything, and I will share my commentary – though I suspect I will be preaching to the choir if you are reading this.   read more »

Social studies excellence occurs when every student, k-12, has equal access to deep, engaging, thoughtful social studies instruction on a daily basis. Important among the factors that go into achieving this excellence in instruction is that the bridge between research and practice remain strong and vibrant.   read more »

Two hundred years ago today, our greatest American was born.   read more »

One of my best memories from the 88th annual conference of NCSS is having Firoozeh Dumas as one of our keynote speakers.   read more »

On this bright, cool Saturday morning in Scottsdale, I’m writing a lesson for the Lehrer NewsHour website for teachers and students. It’s called “Write Obama’s Inaugural Address.” There’s a jigsaw of inauguration readings as a lesson set: Lincoln’s in 1865, Wilson’s in 1917, FDR’s in 1933, JFK’s in 1961.

So I have been picking through the words of our most spectacular speakers, already.   read more »