Sara Bennett

The Book Whisperer Makes Fun of Teaching to the Test

I love Donalyn Miller’s blog, The Book Whisperer, as well as her book with the same name. Her most recent post, Best Book Awards for Teaching to the Test, satirically offers an award to the writer whose book most effectively will help teachers prepare their students for tests: Best Book Awards for Teaching to theContinue reading “The Book Whisperer Makes Fun of Teaching to the Test”

Moms and Dads on a Mission – Sharon, Connecticut

Fred Baumgarten, the father of two daughters in public school in Sharon, Connecticut, began talking to other parents in his daughter’s fifth grade class about homework after he read The Homework Myth, by Alfie Kohn, a college classmate. Fred, who has a M.S. in Education from Bank Street and is currently a director of Foundation,Continue reading “Moms and Dads on a Mission – Sharon, Connecticut”

“I Have Banned My Child from Doing Homework,” says English Mum

Rosie Scribble, a freelance writer in the U.K. who specializes in mental health issues and blogs about life with her 6 year old, wrote a wonderful piece about why she doesn’t make her daughter do homework. Many of the commenters also wrote that they didn’t make their children do homework, either. Now, if they couldContinue reading ““I Have Banned My Child from Doing Homework,” says English Mum”

Playing to Learn

Yesterday’s New York Times had a wonderful op-ed by Susan Engel, Playing to Learn, about the pressing need to completely overhaul the education system. Instead of schools focusing so much on standards and facts, the author writes: So what should children be able to do by age 12, or the time they leave elementary school?Continue reading “Playing to Learn”

A Blast from the Past

I love this editorial from 1910, posted in yesterday’s Calgary Herald. (Thanks to Vera Goodman, author of Simply Too Much Homework, for sending it to me.) Hope For The Children published in the Calgary Herald on January 26, 1910 and reprinted on February 2010 The Herald has frequently urged the abolition of home work inContinue reading “A Blast from the Past”

ADHD – Medical Problem? Parenting Problem? Teaching Problem?

Listen to this interesting discussion on ADHD on BAM! Radio.

Interview with Alan Shusterman, founder of School for Tomorrow

(This is the latest in a series of interviews I’ve conducted with educators and activists around the country who are on my radar as people who are doing their best to change policy and practice in their communities.) Alan Shusterman, who lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland with his wife and three children, is the founderContinue reading “Interview with Alan Shusterman, founder of School for Tomorrow”

Recess Before Lunch

Yesterday’s New York Times had a piece Play, Then Eat: Shift May Bring Gains at School about the importance of having recess before lunch. I couldn’t help but wonder, once again, why something so commonsensical requires experts to weigh in. And, even more, I couldn’t help but wonder why so many kids don’t get recessContinue reading “Recess Before Lunch”

Video Op-Ed on AP Classes

Vicki Abeles, the filmmaker of Race to Nowhere, had an excellent video op-ed in yesterday’s New York Times about the problems with Advanced Placement Classes. Watch it here and then let me know what you think. If you’re a parent of a high schooler, or a high schooler, I’m curious to know what, if anything,Continue reading “Video Op-Ed on AP Classes”

The Trouble with Kindergarten

If you’re not aware of what students are required to do in kindergarten these days, be sure to read this article in Rethinking Schools titled “Testing Kindergarten: Young Children Produce Data, Lots of Data.” A teacher with 6-years’ experience in the Milwaukee Public Schools writes about how little recess and nap time her students getContinue reading “The Trouble with Kindergarten”