Posted in uncategorized on January 28th, 2007 5 Comments »
Previously:
4. Eric – Dan and I are Having a Moment
3. Dan – Axes to Grind
2. Eric – Response to "In Defense of NCLB"
1. Dan – In Defense of NCLB
An Open Letter
Thanks, Eric, for reading into my last letter accurately and for refraining from willful misinterpretation. I felt treated fairly, in any case, and regretted my forays into levity there at the end.
Posted in uncategorized on January 28th, 2007 13 Comments »
Previously:
2. Eric – Response to "In Defense of NCLB"
1. Dan – In Defense of NCLB
Editor's Note
This is getting the full-service post on several accounts: a) it's too large to toss into a comment; b) I skipped lesson planning in favor of writing this response to Eric's response so, in my arrogance, I feel like it deserves an audience, c) the moments where you, Internet reader, call me out on my logical fallacies and naiveté have been invaluable lately; d) it's a blog; we let quality control go in the first round of layoffs.
An Open Letter
Eric, thanks for opening this up a little more.
Posted in uncategorized on January 25th, 2007 21 Comments »
Like saying Biggie Smalls' name three times into a mirror, I worry that even this small citation will give too much power to Sarah Puglisi's anti-NCLB rant. Once again, it doesn't matter to me (or the cross-section of eager, hardworking young teachers I claim to represent) what you believe on NCLB (whether to scrap it or keep it), rather why you believe it and how you go about believing it. (Todd Seal, ladies and gentlemen, on getting the difference.)
Drag your mouse over any random swath of Puglisi's polemic and the selection fails on both measures. Here's one:
… [NCLB] wrestled the ART of teaching reading away from the instructor. Hooked onto Phonics and playing the phonics scripted tape, even if you read at the 6th grade level and sit in a 1st grade room. We are doing LONG A today kids. No one is special, you are all robots and I know what you need. Open up that worksheet.
Posted in uncategorized on January 25th, 2007 6 Comments »
Tupper's Self-Referential Formula is sick, y'all. Tupper was crazy. Any of you hardcore mathematicists (paging Dr. Marain) know what to do with this in a high schoool math class? [via Kottke]
Posted in how i work on January 24th, 2007 9 Comments »
I aim for portability and scalability. I want the freedom to pitch a lesson to a small classroom and then walk up the hall to a 500-student auditorium and deliver the same lesson without a loss in returns. So I try to keep things portable and scalable. Here's how:
