Giving Reading and Writing Instruction a French Twist

These days, teachers of elective courses realize that their continued professional existence depends on how well they support the overriding academic goal of building students' reading and writing skills. That is no longer just the…

Sending Out an SOS

News coming in from various districts around the state of New York anecdotally indicates that increased stress levels with the new, longer state assessments have been affecting both students and teachers alike.  Stories of an uptick in the number of students who have actually become sick— vomiting directly on their test papers in…

This evening I had the pleasure of participating in the weekly #PTChat facilitated by Joe Mazza (@Joe_Mazza). What does PTChat stand for? Where did this chat take place? How long did the chat last? What was discussed? Well, the answer is simple... everything took place in my own Twitterverse while sitting on my couch! The power of Twitter can best be described in one word - AWESOME! This social media/micro blogging site helps me to connect with like-minded educators to…

Hi Mike!

Today's poll on students' reaction to testing excludes the possibility/probability of students becoming apathetic towards testing, especially given all the pre- and post-tests that will be added to their load, in addition to all the NYS assessments.  I predict that the law of diminishing returns will be in effect and that the more we test, the less meaningful to students these tests will become, and the results will not be indicative of the goal of the tests.

Long tests are even longer for some special education students

by Jessica Campbell, at 4:37 pm

Why school principals need more authority

By Chester E. Finn, Jr. / April 10, 2012

A venerable maxim of successful organizational management declares that an executive's authority should be commensurate with his or her responsibility. In plain English, if you are held to account for producing certain results, you need to be in charge of the essential means of production.…

Twitter Ethics 101

Douglas Reeves on the “Buy-In” Myth

From the Marshall Memo #431

In this thoughtful American School Board Journal article, author/consultant Douglas 

Reeves challenges the widespread notion that “buy-in” from all stakeholders is a prerequisite 

for important change. “What community members need are leaders and policymakers who will listen and also…

The Imprint We Leave

By Don Sternberg, Ed.D.

Principal, Wantagh Elementary School

Reprinted with the author’s permission from the SAANYS Journal (Winter…

Every educator knows what their school is like, but few really understand what Twitter is like. The Twitter experience, like school, is different for everyone. One’s contribution to the effort in either of these endeavors has a great deal to do with producing the outcomes. Simply put, the more you put in, the more you get out. That at least is the theory.

I am fortunate to have a very large base of educators that I follow on Twitter and an even larger number of educators follow me.…