We are both storytellers. Lying on our backs, we look up at the night sky. This is where stories began, under the aegis of that multitude of stars which at night filch certitudes and sometimes return them as faith. Those who first invented and then named the constellations were storytellers. Tracing an imaginary line between [...]
The last few days before break, Peter* – the tenth grade English teacher & senior Homeroom teacher in our SLC – spent time after school engaged in leading dance lessons. His vision: have all of the seniors of the School of Communication and Global Awareness waltz at their prom in five months’ time. Starting small, [...]
I fear that maybe in thinking about counter-narratives and the role of storytelling, I’ve been thinking too small. Maybe we need to start with a macro-vision of life in the classroom. What would it look like for students to develop their own creation myths? In disrupting the “single story” of their neighborhoods and various cycles [...]
In the past two days, I’ve received no less than five emails asking me if I’ve seen this article (I have now … thanks to each of you!). Apparently my research interests have been made pretty explicit at this point. In any case, I was reminded of a couple of impromptu lessons I created that [...]
After getting an email largely excerpted below, I asked friend and colleague Kate, an elementary school teacher, if I could share her story here. Below, she spells out an exciting activity she conducted, which I’m thrilled about adapting for students that are nearly twice the age of her 10 and 11-year-old students. Enjoy! [Kate's words [...]
This Daily News database of all LAUSD salaries is accurate. If you’re wondering how I feel that anyone can search and find out to the cent how much money I make, I can’t say I’m angry or upset. Frankly, teacher salaries have never been much of a secret. The real value here is peeking into [...]
I’ve been struggling for some time, trying to come up with a more elegant way of presenting this argument. I don’t think I’ll be finding one anytime soon. In any case the revelations here are neither of the shocking nor groundbreaking variety so I’ll be taking a steadfast out-out-damned-spot, full-steam-ahead, approach: Since really focusing on [...]
With B-track back in session, a daily silent reading period of 15-20 minutes in each of my classes means I’m able to tackle some of the random books I’ve been accumulating. Strange as it may seem, I get through a bit more leisure reading while I’m full-on teacher mode than while I’m off track with [...]
Before I get into the meat of this post, I wanted to mention that the schedule for the Beyond Pedagogy group has been revised – our last meeting was canceled at the 11th hour and will be rescheduled at our next meeting on May 8th. The full schedule is found here. Now then, having recently [...]
I’m thinking about what’s missing in our current high school course offerings (hint: a lot). I’m brainstorming the classes I feel are most urgently needed by my current students. I want to use this as an exercise to see what I can fold or further adapt in my own classroom, within my SLC, and what [...]