From my blog on Wordpress:  Mr. Pollak's Blog: Reminders of why I became a teacher over twenty years ago

The tagline for my blog is my guiding principle as I share my thoughts with you.  I am trying to focus my words on why I wanted to teach so many years ago.  My commitment to the readers of this blog was to keep my message positive, upbeat, and insightful.  I will try to make it so by the end of this post, but I must comment on my…

What Motivates Educators to Work Harder and Smarter?

In this thoughtful Education Week article, Deborah Stipek (Stanford University) says the theory of action behind America’s current accountability movement is that rewards and punishments will motivate teachers and administrators to do better work. Behaviorism is a well-accepted theory of human motivation, but decades of research have shown that for people to change, three elements must be…

I just wrote an article (I'm shamelessly proud of it) which points out that our public schools have a lot in common with Rube Goldberg contraptions. Bizarrely complicated and they don't achieve much. Seriously, this is funny.

http://www.examiner.com/article/rube-goldberg-contraption-our-public-schools

Wait, there's more:

As I was…

Here is a link to my current article on Bedtime Stories for Big Kids.

Happy reading,

Christine

bookgirlblogger.blogspot.com

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Being happy in my classroom, it has been years since I have had to search for a job and go through the whole interview process.  Thinking back on it though, my stomach does a little flip as I remember cover letters, resumes, gathering my college and grad school transcripts, teaching certificates, building a portfolio, interviews, second interviews, writing samples and sample lessons. 

A friend of mine recently went through this whole process as she went on her first job interview…

Long-Term Benefits of Music Lessons

By SINDYA N. BHANOO

Childhood music lessons can sometimes leave painful memories, but they seem to carry benefits into…

There is hardly a bigger issue in education: should teachers actually teach, or should they stand around pretending to be furniture?

Modern progressive education constantly praises Constructivism, Discovery, student-centered learning, et al. Conversely, progressive education is absolutely indignant about the thought of a teacher directly telling a student anything.

But ask yourself these questions and answer in a personal…

Rethinking the Rise of Inequality

By …

My favorite book to read on Veterans Day is a book that several years ago, I sent to my father-in-law, a veteran.  The Wall, by Eve Bunting is a picture book with the simply beautiful message that although it is an honor for a child to see their grandparent's name on a memorial, it is better to have the grandparent here, telling you to button-up your jacket.  Read it with your students, or read it with a veteran that you love.

Happy…

 New Math and Reform Math have many things in common. They seem to have been designed by smart, very cynical people who did not actually want children to advance in mathematics.

So lots of complexity was created. Lots of distractions were created. Lots of tiresome difficult algorithms were created. Teachers are not supposed to teach. Children are supposed to sit around a table in little groups and figure out mathematics for themselves. When they have questions, they…