In grad school, we focused a lot of attention on what Paulo Friere - one of the all-stars of educational philosophy - calls the "banking model" of education and, specifically, how to avoid treating students like "empty vessels" within which we as teachers simply disperse knowledge. With this mindset, I entered my first year of …
Author: Josh Ecker
Virtual Classroom Tour
This school year is our first in our brand new building, meaning that everyone on the teaching staff set up their rooms all over again. I remember one teacher in particular, who sat in her room for hours, mulling over potential set-ups, "listening to the space" to determine how to most effectively organize her room. …
Leaving Space in Teaching
In my second year of teaching, I feel like I have more insights and suggestions to share with my students. I've had a year's worth of teaching experience in my own classroom and, over the course of that first year, I've honed many skills that have made me a significantly better educator. I do believe that experience is …
An In-Depth Look at the Year Outline
A couple weeks ago, I explained how I came to use the English Anchors as the "backbone" of my curriculum planning. In this follow up post, I'm going to dig into the details of this outline and explain why and how I mapped it out as I did. It isn't totally finished, but it's bound to …
Comparing Year One to Year Two (Part 1)
As an English teacher, I often ask my students to compare and contrast. (Side Note: Does anyone else agree that "compare and contrast" is redundant?) I wouldn't be a very good teacher if I didn't model the skills I expect from my students, so I'm starting a series of blog posts in which I compare …
Learning and Teaching in the Modern Age 