Category Archives: General

The Importance of Allowing Your Children to be Ordinary

I really like this piece, Pushing for Perfection–A Poor Choice in Parenting, sent to me by northTOmom, who often writes interesting comments here. Pushing for Perfection–A Poor Choice in Parenting The importance of allowing your children to be ordinary by Joanne Kates (from postcity.com) I was talking the other day to a woman who describedContinue reading “The Importance of Allowing Your Children to be Ordinary”

Send a postcard to Michelle Obama – End High Stakes Testing

Time Out From Testing and other organizations and individuals from across the country are launching a May 29th postcard campaign asking First Lady Michelle Obama to encourage the President to put an end to the use of High Stakes Testing. On the campaign trail, Michelle Obama stated: No Child Left Behind is strangling the lifeContinue reading “Send a postcard to Michelle Obama – End High Stakes Testing”

High Schoolers and Cheating

A small study of 100 high school juniors from a mid-Western high school, published in the Mid-Western Educational Researcher, shows, yet again, that cheating is rampant. According to Kenneth Kiewra, professor of educational psychology at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, and one of the study’s authors, “Students generally understand what constitutes cheating, but they doContinue reading “High Schoolers and Cheating”

Draft Homework Policy from Davis, California

In Davis, California, a committee that had been working on a draft policy submitted its report to the Board of Education for review last week. Take a look at the report. It has many family friendly recommendations and, where the people in the committee disagreed with each other, they wrote their own dissents. Here areContinue reading “Draft Homework Policy from Davis, California”

Two New York Schools Drop Standardized Testing for Pre-Schooler Admissions

Pre-school applicants to New York City private schools have long had to take a standardized test used for screening purposes. Now, two schools have dropped the requirement, in part because many parents are prepping their young children and in part because the test isn’t a useful admissions’ criteria. Steve Nelson, the head of the CalhounContinue reading “Two New York Schools Drop Standardized Testing for Pre-Schooler Admissions”

American University in Cairo Teaches Students to Think

According to an article in last week’s New York Times, first year students at the American University in Cairo have to go through a year of “disorientation” where, for the first time, many of them are allowed to think, analyze, and be creative. The students — 85 percent of them Egyptians — have been throughContinue reading “American University in Cairo Teaches Students to Think”

Epitaph for a Young Teacher

I read this piece, Epitaph for a Young Teacher, in Teacher Magazine. Epitaph for a Young Teacher by Anthony Mullen Virginia Monticello Grounds Hamlet teaches much. The play taught me that the dead depend upon the living to tell their story. The dead, after all, first linger in our thoughts and prayers and then disappearContinue reading “Epitaph for a Young Teacher”