Toy Story

By BILL…

Not Feeling the Love

In this Chronicle of Higher Education article, Allison Vaillancourt (University of Arizona) tells about a colleague who is thinking seriously about leaving the university despite having an important role, being exceptionally well regarded, frequently hearing validation from colleagues, enjoying his work, and having strong ties to the university and the community. Why? Because the senior leadership doesn’t tell him that his…

Ten Pieces of Advice for a Job Interview

In this helpful Chronicle of Higher Education article, Robert Sternberg (University of Wyoming) offers suggestions for those about go before a hiring committee:

• Ask in advance if there are concerns about your record. Most interviewers have one or more questions about your credentials or suitability for the job, and it’s wise to find out about them before the…

This weekend, my children and I finished reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck.  Filled with middle school humor and Greg Heffley's continued antics, this book is just as perfect for reluctant readers as is the rest of the series.  Read it with a boy who thinks he hates reading and you'll both be clutching your bellies from laughing so hard.  For my other book picks for reluctant boy readers, click…

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…