I was recently part of a discussion of educators from all walks of life – new, novice, elementary, secondary, higher education – and the topic turned to nursery rhymes and someone mentioned that with today’s “results driven” requirements and assessment-based measurements, nursery rhymes were rarely, if ever, taught in schools anymore.
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I have been blessed in my ten years of experience as a school counselor to work alongside two principals who both understood the importance of a collaborative partnership between school counselors and principals. What I appreciated most about our relationship was that each principal, one at the middle school level and one at the high school level, had a high level of respect for my position and training as a school counselor.
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Today I received a text message from the daughter of a family friend that I think deserves a wider read. To demonstrate a trend in education, sometimes anecdotal evidence can shed light on an issue in ways that thousands of pages of hard evidence can't. Although I read tons of articles on service learning, it's a conversation with a student that really gets my attention.
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The recent case of Fox v. Traverse City Area Public Schools (2010 WL 1948203) serves as a good reminder that the speech of public school employees is not always “protected speech” as most of us have come to understand that term in the context of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
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This past semester I was able to better see the importance of university-school-community partnerships to improve the preparation of teachers. While teaching the ‘Transition Practices’ course, I was able to integrate the principles of service learning by implementing an after-school mentoring program to teach transition skills and strategies to K-12 students at Rogers High School in Wyoming Public Schools.
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A new report created by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), an organization created by 30 countries including the U.S. that focuses on providing data for governments, indicates that the U.S. has fallen behind most other industrialized countries in social mobility.
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It is commonly known that some professions - like those in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields - have traditionally been typecast as 'masculine,' with women often being socialized away from these areas in our patriarchic, male-dominated society. Likewise, some careers - like nursing and K-12 education - have been viewed as traditonally 'female' work.
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This semester I’m teaching Adolescent Literature for the first time . . . and loving it. As a former 8th grade Language Arts teacher, I was immersed in the texts that my students were reading. We would talk about texts, share book suggestions, and laugh/cry together over the characters’ predicaments.
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Sep 17
2009
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This semester I’m teaching Adolescent Literature for the first time . . . and loving it. As a former 8th grade Language Arts teacher, I was immersed in the texts that my students were reading. We would talk about texts, share book suggestions, and laugh/cry together over the characters’ predicaments.
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Oct 20
2008
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I recently read an article in the New York Times and was struck by the debate over online reading versus printed-text reading. Reading is constantly changing in this world of technology. Many fear is that book reading may be a lost art. Students seem to be shifting their reading patterns and habits from books to online texts.
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Sep 24
2008
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What is reading? I feel I must address this question first before embarking on this blogging journey.
