08 Oct 2012
As the days get shorter and the air chiller, the leaves of summer are turning from green to gold. How can teachers incorporate the arrival of fall into their lesson planning? Check out this idea from the Kitchen Pantry Scientist for a seasonal treat the whole class can enjoy! Using a few odds and ends [...]
20 Sep 2012
This past week’s Chicago Teachers’ Union strike has once again drawn public attention to teachers and their work. In a great blog post this week on Education Week Teacher, teacher Sandy Merz talks about the need to clarify public perceptions of what teachers actually do and their roles in influencing education policy. “Most everyone recognizes [...]
10 Sep 2012
Last spring I read Searching for Hope: Life at a Failing School in the Heart of America by Matthew Tully, a journalist who wrote a weekly column in The Indianapolis Star while spending a year at Manual High School in Indianapolis. Having taught at a “failing” inner-city urban school, I am always amazed at how [...]
30 Aug 2012
I’ve heard of an old military saying: “Amateurs talk strategy, dilettantes talk tactics and professionals talk logistics.” It’s not clear who said it first (perhaps Gen. Omar Bradley), but that doesn’t make it any less true. In the classroom, you can have phenomenal content knowledge (strategy), amazing lesson plans (tactics), but if you don’t have [...]
24 Aug 2012
That red hat on the first day of school should have been a clue. On the first days of the school year, students introduce themselves, but with their personas in full effect — the image they want to project to the world. But at some point, the masks fall. Only then can we get to know [...]
20 Aug 2012
Not long ago, someone following the WW Teaching Fellowship on Facebook posted this question to our wall: “Any suggestions to a potential applicant? Really looking for a positive career change from being a corporate scientist.” Every year the opening of the WW Teaching Fellows competition —and yes, the application is now open—inspires hundreds of phone [...]