Beginning My First Blog
This is my first blog, so writing, organizing, and using it with others will be an important learning experience. I intend this blog to serve primarily as a means of providing information and materials...
View ArticleIf You Care About Children, You Must Care About The 2012 Election
Although I am a very political person (because politics determines governmental policies, and governmental policies have a huge impact on our lives, for better or worse), I try to minimize the role of...
View ArticleWhy Did Chicago’s Teachers Strike? If You Want To Become A Teacher, You...
It is common for teachers to be forced to defend themselves, their profession, and those they serve – children – against critics and policies that would undermine education. It is therefore crucial...
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Fall Colors in Central MI
I encourage my students in EDU 345 to spend time observing the natural world whenever possible because, in doing so, they can appreciate the beautiful and wonderful things to be found there,...
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Right issue, wrong science
Identify the clear error in this recent environmental cartoon. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/10/20/1053941/open-thread-plus-cartoon-of-the-week-10/
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End of semester stress relief
One of the things my wife and I do at the end of each semester is to bring our two golden retrievers onto campus with a local organization of therapy dogs called Dog Tails. We meet with students at...
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Guns in schools
If you haven’t been following the national debate on guns because you think it is distasteful and doesn’t really effect you, you are both right and wrong. The vitriolic comments and inane arguments...
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CMU energy & inquiry project
Welcome to those participating in our project to assist elementary and middle school teachers in developing understandings and skills involving energy and inquiry. We have thirty teachers from 10...
View ArticleCMU commencement address, spring 2013
I participated in the 9 AM commencement ceremony at CMU’s Rose Arena on Saturday, May 4. I have attended a lot of commencements over the years and heard a lot of entirely forgettable commencement...
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Summer – time for research, writing, and blog updates
I knew when I started this blog that it would take a lot of time to do well. What I did not anticipate was how little time I could devote during the academic year, when most of my time is consumed by...
View ArticleThose who wish to replace public schools with private institutions are full...
Next time you hear or read that public education is failing, or that private schools are doing a much better job of educating children than their public counterparts, read this excellent article. It...
View ArticleThis is how public education is destroyed
For anyone who read my last post and thought I was exaggerating about efforts to destroy public education and replace it with corporate, for-profit schools – consider what is happening right now in...
View ArticleWhat great teachers are (and what they are not)
(by Deborah Chang; originally posted on Medium) Around this time of year, great teachers around the country are meeting their new students for the first time. They are diving into the start of the...
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