Lift the curtain, and see for yourself!
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Monthly Archives: November 2014
Teachers – talk live with someone who is doing more to publicize the issue of bullying by school administrators, and the frustrations that drive good teachers out of the profession, than all the rest of the bloggers, reporters, and authors combined!
The loss of good teachers because their love of teaching is crushed by school administrator who bully teachers, and by mandates that prevent teaching, is staggering. Almost half of new teachers now quit the profession within the first 5 years. … Continue reading
Posted in Charter Schools, Common core, Education, Education reform, High schools, homeschooling, Inclusion classes, Music and arts courses, Public Education, Standardized testing, Teachers, Teaching, Urban High Schools
Tagged D.A. Russell, dumbing down the children, Education problems, educational system, Lifting the Curtain
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/RantOn: Yes, even teachers sometimes get so steamed at trying to teach DESPITE the inept mandates of career DoE mandates that they have to explode! And few things are as frustrating as inane teacher evaluation metrics that cannot possibly work.
(It’s time for one of my periodic “/RantOn” posts. Sorry, right up front, for the tone – this is (hopefully) an uncharacteristic “no more Mister Nice Guy” moment! A /RantOn is always about a topic that deeply frustrates good classroom … Continue reading
Posted in Charter Schools, Common core, Education, Education reform, High schools, homeschooling, Inclusion classes, Music and arts courses, Public Education, Standardized testing, Teachers, Teaching, Urban High Schools
Tagged D.A. Russell, dumbing down the children, Education problems, educational system, Lifting the Curtain, systemic failures
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Five outstanding teachers — the best of the best! The top prize winners in our call for submissions to share teacher views of the REAL problems with education.
There were so many outstanding entries to our call for submissions that selecting the three best was almost impossible. Two of them stood out clearly, but a half-dozen others were excellent candidates for the final prize. In the end, we … Continue reading
Posted in Charter Schools, Common core, Education, Education reform, High schools, homeschooling, Inclusion classes, Music and arts courses, Public Education, Standardized testing, Teachers, Teaching, Urban High Schools
Tagged D.A. Russell, dumbing down the children, Education problems, educational system, Lifting the Curtain, Music and the arts, systemic failures
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Honoring 24 of our teachers by selecting them to be included in the 2nd edition of “Lifting the Curtain: the disgrace we call urban high school education”
It is with great pleasure that I announce the two dozen teachers whose outstanding insights into the real problems with education were selected for inclusion in the 2nd edition of Lifting the Curtain: The disgrace we call urban high school … Continue reading
Posted in Charter Schools, Common core, Education, Education reform, High schools, homeschooling, Inclusion classes, Music and arts courses, Public Education, Standardized testing, Teachers, Teaching, Urban High Schools
Tagged D.A. Russell, dumbing down the children, Education problems, educational system, Lifting the Curtain, systemic failures
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Let’s play the blame game – All the problems in urban high school education are the fault of (select your scapegoat of choice): parents/teachers/legislators/students/career DoE bureaucrats/sunspots
(Author and retired middle school English teacher James Howson, from Connecticut, “gets it.” Unlike so many simplistic views that flood the news and media every day, James recognizes that the problems with education are systemic, and far beyond one easy … Continue reading
Posted in Charter Schools, Common core, Education, Education reform, High schools, homeschooling, Inclusion classes, Music and arts courses, Public Education, Standardized testing, Teachers, Teaching, Urban High Schools
Tagged D.A. Russell, dumbing down the children, Education problems, educational system, Lifting the Curtain, systemic failures
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Inclusion classes — How exceptional teachers try to work around all the problems, and minimize the destructive unintended consequences of inept inclusion mandates
(Two classroom teachers look at inclusion classes. Jeanie Clemmens is a retired high school math teacher from Pennsylvanian. Maryann Schneider is a high school special ed teacher also in Pennsylvania. Their views of inclusion classes follow this introduction. Both passages are … Continue reading
Posted in Charter Schools, Common core, Education, Education reform, High schools, homeschooling, Inclusion classes, Music and arts courses, Public Education, Standardized testing, Teachers, Teaching, Urban High Schools
Tagged D.A. Russell, dumbing down the children, Education problems, educational system, systemic failures
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Parents – A minority is missing in action for their own children, and a majority has no clue what really happens in our classrooms
(Carol L is a retired high school English teacher from Pennsylvania who was recognized by PA for excellence in teaching. Her view of parents follows this introduction.) Few of the problems in education are more frustrating to a teacher than … Continue reading
Posted in Charter Schools, Common core, Education, Education reform, High schools, homeschooling, Music and arts courses, Public Education, Standardized testing, Teachers, Teaching, Urban High Schools
Tagged D.A. Russell, dumbing down the children, Education problems, educational system, Lifting the Curtain, systemic failures
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Fulltime high schools could learn from a common practice in vocational schools
(Monique Anair is an assistant professor and academic chair at a community college in New Mexico. Her view of incoming math students follows this introduction) Compared to traditional high schools, vocational schools only have half the teaching time available to … Continue reading
Posted in Charter Schools, Common core, Education, Education reform, High schools, homeschooling, Music and arts courses, Public Education, Standardized testing, Teachers, Teaching, Urban High Schools
Tagged D.A. Russell, dumbing down the children, Education problems, educational system, Lifting the Curtain, systemic failures
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Counterpoint – A teacher’s moments of joy, and her moments of fear
A book review of an outstanding book for all teachers and parents: Breaking the Silence: My Final Forty Days as a Public School Teacher by M. Shannon Hernandez When a wannabe author like me comes across a book about teaching … Continue reading
Posted in Charter Schools, Common core, Education, Education reform, High schools, homeschooling, Music and arts courses, Public Education, Standardized testing, Teachers, Teaching, Urban High Schools
Tagged D.A. Russell, dumbing down the children, Education problems, educational system, Lifting the Curtain, systemic failures
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What makes a great teacher? Surprise – it has little to do with wasted PDP courses, college attended, degree, following useless DoE mandates, use of technology, suitcases full of new funding, or even experience.
(James Ryan is a motivational educator, homeschool parent, nationally recognized developer of improved systems for major organizations, and a best-selling author with Steve Forbes. His insights follow this introduction.) One of the best things in my life has been sharing … Continue reading
Posted in Charter Schools, Common core, Education, Education reform, High schools, homeschooling, Music and arts courses, Public Education, Standardized testing, Teachers, Teaching, Urban High Schools
Tagged dumbing down the children, Education problems, educational system, Lifting the Curtain, systemic failures
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Lifting the Curtain 