The events in Charlottesville, VA have rightly begun crucially important discussions about politics, race, and racism in the classroom. I am still thinking through my own thoughts about this topic, though I am (and have been) firmly of the opinion that responsible discussion of political issues absolutely must be taken up in English classes. A… Read More »Two Books All (White) English Teachers Should Read
Read Part I First. Teaching Fail #6: Being a Pedantic Hard Ass The Story: This story goes way back to when I was student teaching in East Hampton, New York in 1988. My cooperating teacher had a speech class that he asked me to take over. I used his assignment for the students, which required a speech of between… Read More »My Top 10 Early-Career Teaching Fails, and What New Teachers Can Learn From Them, Part II (6-10)
Teaching Fail #1: Oversleeping During my first year of teaching high school English full-time, I had a few recurring fears. Oddly enough, one was that I would be incapacitated by a 15-25-sneeze-long sneezing fit and completely lose control of a class. This didn’t happen in my early years of teaching (although it since has, and was fine).… Read More »My Top 10 Early-Career Teaching Fails, and What New Teachers Can Learn From Them Part I (1-5)
Below is a statement I sent on the morning after the US Presidential election to my colleagues at Stony Brook University. Perhaps other educators might find it useful. As always, my views do not necessarily represent Stony Brook University or any of its agents or subsidiaries. Dear Colleagues, Last night the nation spoke and elected… Read More »A Statement for Educators on the 2016 Presidential Election
There’s simply no question that one of the primary challenges of teaching is coping with the constant barrage of grading and responding to student writing. I love teaching and I even love reading student writing; but like every teacher I know, I HATE having a stack of papers waiting for me. Those papers weigh on… Read More »5 Tips for Managing the Grading Grind
“You’ve been late to class several times recently. Are you OK? “You seem to be in a really bad mood today. Are you OK?” “Your score on that exam isn’t showing how smart you really are. Are you OK?” “Your behavior in class today was really poor. Are you OK?” When I have a problem… Read More »“Are You OK?”: Caring for the Whole Student
The massacre in Orlando has spurred many complicated thoughts for me and for everyone I know. It’s a time of sadness, anger, unity, energy. It can feel overwhelming. Can you imagine what it’s like for school-age children and adolescents? A former student asked me recently, what goes through a teacher’s mind in a situation like… Read More »Teaching After Tragedy
Check out this post I published on the Writers Who Care website. Is Your Child Getting a Good Writing Education? Four Questions to Ask Your Child
I’ve been teaching the first-semester course in a teacher education program since 2003. This is the very first course that students take after they’ve been admitted to the teacher education program. On the first evening of class, I always ask the students to work in groups to answer the following questions: What are you most… Read More »Parents: Allies, Not Enemies
Measurement in capitalism is pretty easy: It’s profit. You can tell how effective something is by how much money it makes. Education is actually just this easy. What we should measure, the only thing we should care about, the only discussion we should have, the only thing we should fund, the absolute bottom line is:… Read More »The Bottom Line in Education: Real Student Learning
