Duke English professor falls into historiography hole
In late April, Duke English professor Cathy Davidson wrote in a Times Higher Ed column, So last century, …the institutions of work and education developed over the past 150 years. People had to be taught the division of labour in all its manifestations, and public education was designed for that purpose. Virtually all the features that […]
Waiting for pension Chicken Littles to admit the sky isn’t falling…
Apparently pensions invest in stock markets, and so the momentary panic that comes with stock dips becomes fodder for those who are afraid that somewhere, some retired teacher is able to pay the bills. So too, when stocks recover, pension assets recover along with other portfolios (hat tip, brim tip). I am not going to hold my […]
Stressed Orlando special educator uses Youtube to document destruction
A Orlando elementary school special education teacher's video, Class of Destruction, is starting to make the rounds after a report on Orlando local television station Channel 2 (hat tip). Since I have known a number of special educators whose students had troubling and violent behavior, I sympathize with this poor teacher. I've met students who […]
Florida Commissioner of Ed sweepstakes
And… the Florida Board of Education named John Winn interim commissioner until it interviews candidates later this month for a regular appointment. There are only a few candidates with state-level experience. Right now, I'd say the Virginia Secretary of Education Gerald Robinson is a slight favorite over the others. As many others have stated, I'm not sure […]
Send in the peer reviewers
Largely in response to Michael Winerip's celebratory article about teacher peer review in Montgomery County, Maryland, Andy Rotherham argues today that peer review is better at sussing out the "observably poor teaching" than "unobservably poor instruction." Rotherham describes what he means by observably poor teaching: teachers who cannot manage a class, cannot organize material or students, etc. […]