"Adversity, how we handle that, determines what comes forward." -Frank Martin (South Carolina Mens Basketball Coach) (This is a series of posts sharing the quote I write on my whiteboard each week. As an English teacher, I feel responsible to point out that, technically, "quote" is a verb, but colloquially, it's generally accepted as …
Category: Reflection
What Bloom Would Say About My Curriculum
Now that the school year is coming to a close, I'm starting to reflect on the year as a whole, what I will keep the same and what I'll change. This year was a big step forward for me in terms of curriculum development. I created a standards-based curriculum in which I analyzed the learning …
Memorization in Moderation
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 …
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 …
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 