The operative theme this week was straining under the crush of a mountain of grading. I had around 70 long essay question responses from my US History I Honors students and 39 AP US Government and Politics tests to grade. I also had to do a fairly comprehensive review and critique of all the materials …
Continue reading “The Week in Review (October 27-November 2)”
Ryan Pierson joined HHS Debate in her freshman year, so I already knew her going into US History I Honors last year. I knew she had excellent verbal skills, but I was even more impressed by her writing once I had access to regular samples of her work. I knew her visual essay project would …
UPDATED… and corrected after Jim Angiuli provided video evidence. In the early days of my career, I went to virtually every single school event, including sporting events and various dances and fundraisers. Part of this was to demonstrate my interest in my students, and part was to curry favor with the school administration as a …
In the last decade, an educational trend has taken root: no more graded homework. This change has occurred for several reasons, which I’ll frame as the arguments I’ve heard: Students are burning the candle at both ends with extracurricular activities in an effort to distinguish themselves in an increasingly competitive college market, while other students …
As part of the fourth unit of study — which I do out of order because that’s the way I roll — students are expected to gain an understanding of political ideology in the United States and how it has changed over time. A major component of that is political socialization, which in turn, can …
When I was in college and trying to figure out what to do with my life, there was a prime directive: make the world a better place. I didn’t have an entirely clear mindset of what that would look like, having abandoned my original career goal (lawyer), and not finding a way to do that …
This was a week that was dominated by physical discomfort, unfortunately. Issues with my back and especially a series of headaches are nothing new here, but it was a pretty bad week where I managed to do my job as best I could through a pretty unpleasant lens. Sunday – Eileen and I went to …
Daisy Martin suggested I compile a list of questions that I faced recently as a teacher as a topic for a blog. It’s a really interesting idea that could give people some insight into the many things teachers have to think about that outsiders would be totally oblivious to. I like the idea enough that …
Thursday is nostalgia/reminiscence day for this blog. I’m in my 27th year of teaching, so there are certainly no shortage of stories. I realized that some of these stories are extensive, but others are fun little anecdotes. I’m not getting paid by the word here, so once in awhile these are going to be very …
Last week I wrote about student growth objectives, which comprise 15 percent of a teacher’s annual evaluation (if their students do not have particular standardized tests that can also be figured into a teacher’s effectiveness) in the Stronge+ evaluation system. That leaves 85 percent to be based on observations by administrators combined with documentation that …
Continue reading “A chain is only as Stronge+ as its weakest link”
Fenster on Education