This was sent to me by a colleague.

Enjoy and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

THE DANIELSON GUIDE TO A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE THANKSGIVING



Unsatisfactory: You don't know how to cook a turkey. You serve a chicken instead. Half your family doesn't show because they are unmotivated by your invitation, which was issued at the last minute via Facebook. The other half turn on the football game and fall asleep. Your aunt tells your uncle where to stick…

Are Virtual Math Manipulatives As Good As Actual Manipulatives?

In this article in Teaching Children Mathematics, Justin Burris (a Texas math coach and University of Houston visiting professor) reports on a study of third graders’ mathematical thinking about place value in the Investigations curriculum. Some students used virtual base-ten blocks (part of an enVision software program) while other students used real base-ten blocks. Researchers…

7 proven strategies that WILL help you engage your students...

By Justin Tarte

1. Don't just care...really care!

2. Speak to every student at least once every class period - the more the better!

3. Meet your students where they are; not where they are supposed to be, or where you want them to be...

4.…

NYSRSAS Position Paper on

High-Stakes Testing in New York State

As former school administrators/supervisors and residents of school districts in New York, the New York State Retired School Administrators and Supervisors [NYSRSAS] are concerned about the current state of high-stakes testing in our schools.  

It is our position that the impact of current testing on children, teachers, administrators and…

Is It Better to Have a Great Teacher or a Small Class?

Why America's Prep Schools Aren't Following Arne Duncan's Public School Education Reforms

Good+You

Shaun Johnson

http://www.good.is/posts/why-america-s-prep-schools-aren-t-following-arne-duncan-s-public-school-education-reforms

Using Blogs and Twitter to Improve Teaching and Learning

In this Kappan article, William Ferriter (a North Carolina sixth-grade teacher) and Nicholas Provenzano (a Michigan high-school English teacher) sing the praises of the two-way conversation with fellow teachers around the world made possible by blogs and Twitter (Provenzano’s The Nerdy Teacher has almost 30,000 Twitter followers), and the “unconferences” they…

I originally posted this last year:

I wish everybody in education could read this piece: "Education's Intellectual Machinery Is Broken."

The thesis is that most of what we see discussed in the media is secondary. 

So what is primary? Public schools are handicapped by inferior…

What if Kennedy wasn't assassinated?  Would the U.S. have entered Vietnam when we did?  Would the  Civil Rights Act have been passed when it was?  These are questions posed by Stephen King's 11/22/63.  For time travel, historical fiction, rhetorical questions and even a romance, read Stephen King's 864-page book, 11/22/63.

Happy reading,

Christine…

Russ on Reading: The Common Core in English/Language Arts: A Critically Literate Reading

Test, Punish, and Push Out: How "Zero-Tolerance" and High-Stakes Testing Funnel Youth Into the School To Prison Pipeline

A report by The Advancement Project

Advancement Project is an innovative civil rights law, policy, and

communications “action tank” that advances universal…