Last week I saw the film Moneyball. It was a great sports film which is a compliment coming from someone who is NOT a huge sports enthusiast, especially baseball. To approach a sport scientifically, if you will, instead of subjectively was a new concept. It changed the way people look at the Oakland A’s, as well as baseball in general. The movie made me wonder if we are totally missing the mark in other areas. Funny enough, though, I didn’t think about education. Andrew Rotherham from Time Magazine did.

In his article, “Can Education be ‘Moneyball’-ed” he asks if research and quantitative…

As an English teacher, I am often presented with the following question: How can I help my kid be a better reader? As a college-educated and nationally certified teacher, one would assume there is a list of magical strategies to which I hold the key. The thought is flattering. I don’t have access to some magical code. Unfortunately, the answer is quite simple: read. Yep, that’s it! If you want to be a better reader you need read.

I was reminded of this simple solution (the simpler, the better I believe) when I read an article by James Patterson on cnn.com, “How…

With the recent publication of the Nebraska school performances on the math state-exams and report of my own high school’s AYP math and reading scores, I have been thinking a lot about what we can do as teachers, community members, and parents/guardians to help. The most pressing issue found in the results is the disparities between different ethnicity groups.   This of course concerned me as a teacher in the OPS system which is very diverse in all senses of the word. I serve these students on a daily basis. The gap between our state’s various students’ achievement has been on…

 Florida law makers are considering giving parents report cards too. The idea behind this policy change is to emphasize the importance of parent involvement in a student’s education. The report card will be ranked as satisfactory, needs improvement, and unsatisfactory.

Guardians will be graded according to the following standards:  

• A child should be at school on time, prepared to learn after a good night’s sleep, and have eaten a meal.
• A child should have the homework done and prepared for examinations.
• There should be regular communication between the parent and teacher.

How do you feel? As a parent, do you think you desreve to…

Tuesday night President Obama addressed congress and the American public in his annual State of the Union Address. I realized that I am officially an “adult” because I listened to the whole thing with interest! I remember as a kid being so bored when my parents would take control of the television on those evenings. Now, it catches my attention and I sit through the whole thing. There were certain parts of his speech that I was particularly interested in, the first being that of the changing work world: “The rules have changed. In a single generation, revolutions in technology…

The week of Thanksgiving I found out that I was certified! It was so exciting to receive this news, especially since it was during NCTE in Orlando, Florida. I was terribly nervous to check the results as I had to do so after morning sessions. Many of my fellow candidates were emailing their results back and forth. Unfortunately nearly 2/3 of my peers did not pass. Rather than looking at my results right away, I skimmed through all of those emails which heightened my fears even more. After gathering up courage and having the time I paid for in the…

Perhaps one the biggest light-bulb moments of NCTE was something a presenter said regarding a student project: “Whoever is doing the work is doing the learning”. I wrote it down in my notebook, thought “wow, good quote”, and moved on as the presentation did. It wasn’t until later that day while having lunch on the patio of the resort that it really struck a chord with me. Who is doing the work? Who is putting in the time? The effort? Who is learning? Of course! I think we as teachers have become reliant upon control. I admit it! I have…

One of the most influential sessions I attended at this year’s NCTE was “And Justice for All: Teaching Marginalized Students in Urban Middle and High Schools to Write about Self and Society”. My eyes were immediately drawn to this title because the need to connect our students with society. I really do feel that is something I lack as a teacher. My classroom seems very self-contained and self-sustaining. I know my students learn a lot, but at the same time, I know they aren’t necessarily connecting it to non-academic settings. Yes, what we are doing today will prepare you for…

This year’s National Council of Teachers of English conference was held at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. I was asked to attend the conference by my district and I was thrilled! I have heard so many wonderful things about this conference, so I was naturally eager to attend. There were five of us from the Omaha Public Schools to attend the event. The other women in my group were presenting at the literacy-themed conference. I was forewarned that NCTE can be an overwhelming experience due to the large amount of attendees, as well as the hundreds of sessions from which…

My district has switched to Standards Based Grading, a system that focuses on assessing student learning and achievement within curricular standards. Tim Westerberg was our facilitator and guide into this process. The goal of this system is to have grades properly reflect a student’s skill/knowledge-level in a standard so that the student, parent, and future teachers alike can understand what the student has learned and what skill sets they have acquired, based on standards.

Here is a description of how it works. Please go to classroom resources to get ELA-specific rubrics and levels-of-question charts. Speaking of leveled assignments, I have attached…