The Dim Bulb

The Occasional Musings of an Educator

by Michael Keany

#13 - December 30, 2022

The brain is capable of performing 10 quadrillion (that’s 10 to the 16th)…

The Dim Bulb

The Occasional Musings of an Educator

by Michael Keany

#12 - December 26, 2022

The brain is capable of performing 10 quadrillion (that’s 10 to the 16th)…

QED: sight-words cause dyslexia and illiteracy. There's no way out,

If you want to improve K-12, you have to understand this equation.

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Episode 76: …

More on Reading Novels to Teens

Tim Shanahan

This blog entry first posted 30 April 2017 and was reposted on 19 November 2022.

Recently, I’ve received numerous questions about the value of reading novels to high school and middle school students (letters usually from annoyed colleagues). My replies have typically included the following:  “Teaching someone to read without having them read it is a neat…

 Wednesday, Nov. 23, '22

Episode #73 (podcast 7 minutes) about:

Best Gift For Smart People—''Saving K-12"

Most books about education are boring. So let's announce emphatically: this is a well-written, lively book, and fun to…

Teachers and Students’ Postsecondary Outcomes: Testing the Predictive Power of Test and Nontest Teacher Quality Measures is by Benjamin Backes, James Cowan, Dan Goldhaber, Roddy Theobald.

from Larry Ferlazzo

Here’s an excerpt:

Test-based teacher quality measures have more explanatory…

What Changes Kids’ Minds about Poetry?

Teaching Children to Use Context

Tim Shanahan

I’m writing this blog because of the disarray I see over the topic of context instruction and the poor instructional practice that it seems to manifest.

One confusion is already well recognized, but merits some mention here. The other befuddlement usually goes without remark, and yet it, too, has unfortunate consequences for young readers.

Let’s dispatch the first problem…

Constructivism has been a huge fad for decades. I denounce it as much as possible.

First of all, it prohibits teaching...you know, that's what they did in schools until Constructivism came along.

Listen up, peasants!! There will be no more direct instruction!... Isn't that idiotic on the face of it?…

Exercises That Help Students Focus on Reading

Remember the adage, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”. After a 46-year career in public education, 38 as a school and district leader who interviewed thousands of candidates, I believe I can speak with some authority about hiring educators. Be careful about following advice from well-intentioned friends, family and colleagues. Here are a few examples of advice you should not follow, why not, and what you should…