Group items tagged

Standardized testing cripples cirriculum. It greatly limits the scope and breadth of knowledge. In fact, true knowledge isn't even really gained from this form of education. Not to mention, the idea of a standard in nearly all other areas of society is looked down upon. For instance, say that everyone should be held to the "Christian" standard. This would cause a frenzy, as"Chrsitian" ethics are not held in esteem by all. Yet when dealing with education, the opposite is assumed.

Effective teacher behaviors

Article addressing a form of assessing teacher effectiveness that is becoming more widespread, but that is problematic.

Websites useful to educators.

List of teachers willing to Skype into your classrooms.

This article is a little older but I felt the experience was important. Dirk Koorstra explains his experience as an educator and how teacher tenure has protected him in difficult processes.

Marc Bernstein opposes teacher tenure and describes how the quality and effectiveness of educators is how administrators should determine its staff.

Rhee discusses her proactive approach on weeding out bad teachers and improving the quality of education.

This article follows the experiences of a first year teacher in a school that utilizes scripted curriculum

The Following is a simple breakdown of how NCLS is to be implemented, as well as all the requirements that come attached with it regarding teachers, students, and funding.

The title is a little misleading, because it is not necessarily "brief." However, it offers a history of teaching English. In case anyone needed more of a historical background of how teaching English was developed. The article explains how the trend shifted from the teacher as an omniscient know-it-all, to a classroom focused on the students.

This is a Wiki page I use when I present to English teachers at Fresno State during one semester of their student teaching class.

Interesting article about Gov. Brown's vision for education.

Developing a professional learning network on Twitter. Good video explanation of how two teachers use Twitter.

Teach rhetoric and banish the classics from HS English classes? What do you think?

This is the Expository Reading and Writing Course that many of us are adopting. It actually doesn't have to be an either/or. Yes there is less literature and more expository writing; however, most of us also incorporate some literature. I teach Things Fall Apart in a Socratic Seminar format, Macbeth in a more traditional format, and some poetry. The modules from the Expository Reading and Writing Binder are open-ended and need some updating, but they give students an excellent variety of college-like readings and writing instruction. Students learn to critically read passages and interpret their own thinking in writing. The writing instruction is key and not as well defined as the reading instruction in the modules. Teachers need to creatively design the lessons to prepare students to write argument with ease.

I am reading this in my CI 151 class. An actual teacher who is concerned with student voice and making his class relevant to his students. Good description of his classroom and 'success' story.

This article discusses texts taught in English classrooms.