Avenue4Learning

When someone asks you to recommend a great educational leader, whose names come to your mind? [CC image credit: Leo Reynolds]   Next question… how many of them are currently in the classroom? Please don’t get me wrong. This is not a post* that is about bashing administrators, educational consultants, or others whose names often [...]

Student-centered learning. Do you know what that really looks like?   Sometimes I feel like a lazy teacher in this student-centered world at Anastasis Academy… but that’s only because the majority of my teacher training in undergraduate (and most of my graduate) classes prepared me for a TEACHER-centered classroom. You are the teacher. You are [...]

Over winter break, I saw a couple of local news segments about a teacher who had won an award for her great teaching. The phrases used to describe her: “tirelessly giving of herself” “works late nights and weekends to do whatever it takes” “selfless and saint-like” My first impression was that she must be a [...]

That’s what it’s coming down to… class wars in our schools. With the budget cuts at the federal, state, and local levels, politicians are creating class wars in education. Our ‘illustrious’ Secretary of Education states that we in public education will have to learn to do more with less funding. This is tagged as “The [...]

As a teacher and parent, I’m constantly reminded that children learn at different rates. Sometimes, it’s an issue of what is developmentally appropriate and, other times, it’s about their readiness. For some kids, there are occasions when they simply are not ready to learn something new. It might be due to some current event in [...]

I love the natural curiosity of children. Today, my nephew (who is 5 and in kindergarten) looked at his dad (my little brother), and asked him about a song they had heard this morning in church. He said, “Daddy… will you teach it to me?” He knew the words already, but he wanted to learn [...]

My parents brought me up to say “please” and “thank you” all the time. I insist on this with my own children as well as with my students. I also prefer to say “You’re welcome,” instead of “No problem.” But I really I love the French response, “avec plaisir,” which means “with pleasure.” Have you [...]

My apologies, Mr. President. It has been over a month since I wrote Part I of this post. To be completely honest, I have put off writing the second part because I’ve been too angry to write it.  I’m so frustrated with what I hear coming from our government, with so-called “experts” who have not [...]

Dear Mr. President: In the past two weeks, I have read more about schools, teachers, and accountability than I have ever seen in my nearly 20 years in education. Sadly, I can’t say that what I’ve been reading is encouraging. The one word I see over and over again is “accountability.” Accountability IS a good [...]

Today is Blog Action Day 08, and I started thinking about experiences I had while I was in the classroom. I taught in a very small school, and there were very few families of “average” socioeconomic status. There were many well above average, and many well below. It was an environment somewhat foreign to me, [...]