While the Institute is away at a corporate retreat, far, mostly, from the interwebz, I've arranged for some dips into the archives.
TNTP first crammed the discussion of education with the Widget Effect, one of those faux white papers that thinky tanks pop out. Their new attempt to "inform" everyone's conversation is Th Opportunity Myth which, sadly, I see quoted far too often. Here's what I hd to say about it when it first reared its head.
The Opportunity Myth Myth
Who are these folks? TNTP used to stand for The New Teacher Project; She Who Will Not Be Named created it as a spin-off of TFA, designed to put older career-changers into the classroom. At some point it changed into an advocacy group pushing a redesign of teaching (current slogan: reimagine teaching). TNTP is led by Daniel Weisberg, who started out as a lawyer and then served as a labor specialist under Joel Klein in NYC. The board is packed with entrepreneurs, PR specialists, and reform CEOs. You can hunt through the whole list of TNTP leaders and find that this organization devoted to teaching has no teachers in leadership positions (just a few TFA temps and other alternative paths to one or two resume-building years in the classroom).
So this report comes straight from the heart of reformdom.
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Archives: Teacher Time
While the Institute is away at a corporate retreat, far, mostly, from the interwebz, I've arranged for some dips into the archives.
Teacher Time
Every profession measures time differently. Doctors and lawyers measure time in hours or vague lumps. Teachers measure time in minutes, even seconds.
If a doctor (or his office) tell you that something is going to happen "at nine o'clock," that means sometime between 9:30 and Noon. Lawyers, at least in my neck of the woods, can rarely be nailed down to an actual time. Anything that's not a scheduled appointment is "sometime this afternoon." Even a summons to jury duty will list a particular time which just represents the approximate time at which things will start to prepare to begin happening. Further up the Relaxed Time Scale, we find the delivery and installation guys for whom "Between 8 AM and 3 PM Tuesday," means "Not at all on Tuesday."
Teacher Time
Every profession measures time differently. Doctors and lawyers measure time in hours or vague lumps. Teachers measure time in minutes, even seconds.
If a doctor (or his office) tell you that something is going to happen "at nine o'clock," that means sometime between 9:30 and Noon. Lawyers, at least in my neck of the woods, can rarely be nailed down to an actual time. Anything that's not a scheduled appointment is "sometime this afternoon." Even a summons to jury duty will list a particular time which just represents the approximate time at which things will start to prepare to begin happening. Further up the Relaxed Time Scale, we find the delivery and installation guys for whom "Between 8 AM and 3 PM Tuesday," means "Not at all on Tuesday."
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Archives: Not Loving Personalized [sic] Learning
While the Institute is away at a corporate retreat, far, mostly, from the interwebz, I've arranged for some dips into the archives.
Of course it's being pitched heavily, again, as a solution to Covid woes. But...
8 Reasons Not To Love Personalized [sic] Learning
As we roll into 2019, it becomes increasingly clear that much of the education debate is going to center on Personalized [sic] Learning. I've poked at various parts of PsL at length, but I'm going to respond to someone who just wanted me to lay out the problems in a simple list. Challenge accepted.
Of course it's being pitched heavily, again, as a solution to Covid woes. But...
8 Reasons Not To Love Personalized [sic] Learning
As we roll into 2019, it becomes increasingly clear that much of the education debate is going to center on Personalized [sic] Learning. I've poked at various parts of PsL at length, but I'm going to respond to someone who just wanted me to lay out the problems in a simple list. Challenge accepted.
Archives: The Hard Part
While the Institute is away at a corporate retreat, far, mostly, from the interwebz, I've arranged for some dips into the archives.
The most-read thing I've ever published, with close to a million hits on HuffPost. As noted, I would have been a little more careful if I'd known this was going to be so widely read.
The Hard Part
They never tell you in teacher school, and it's rarely discussed elsewhere. It is never, ever portrayed in movies and tv shows about teaching. Teachers rarely bring it up around non-teachers for fear it will make us look weak or inadequate.
Valerie Strauss in yesterday's Washington Post put together a series of quotes to answer the question "How hard is teaching?" and asked for more in the comments section. My rant didn't entirely fit there, so I'm putting it here, because it is on the list of Top Ten Things They Never Tell You in Teacher School.
The hard part of teaching is coming to grips with this:
There is never enough.
The most-read thing I've ever published, with close to a million hits on HuffPost. As noted, I would have been a little more careful if I'd known this was going to be so widely read.
The Hard Part
They never tell you in teacher school, and it's rarely discussed elsewhere. It is never, ever portrayed in movies and tv shows about teaching. Teachers rarely bring it up around non-teachers for fear it will make us look weak or inadequate.
Valerie Strauss in yesterday's Washington Post put together a series of quotes to answer the question "How hard is teaching?" and asked for more in the comments section. My rant didn't entirely fit there, so I'm putting it here, because it is on the list of Top Ten Things They Never Tell You in Teacher School.
The hard part of teaching is coming to grips with this:
There is never enough.
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Archives: Teacher Merit Pay
While the Institute is away at a corporate retreat, far, mostly, from the interwebz, I've arranged for some dips into the archives.
Again from seven years ago, and again, still completely applicable today.
Why Teacher Merit Pay Is Stupid
Sometimes we forget the obvious, so let me spell it out. Here's why teacher merit pay will never make sense.
Again from seven years ago, and again, still completely applicable today.
Why Teacher Merit Pay Is Stupid
Sometimes we forget the obvious, so let me spell it out. Here's why teacher merit pay will never make sense.
Monday, July 20, 2020
Archives: Defending Music Education
While the Institute is away at a corporate retreat, far, mostly, from the interwebz, I've arranged for some dips into the archives.
An important idea to bring up, now that districts are looking for things to cut.
Stop "Defending" Music
Today I ran across one more xeroxed handout touting the test-taking benefits of music education, defending music as a great tool for raising test scores and making students smarter. It was just one more example among many of the "keep music because it helps with other things" pieces out there.
I really wish people would stop "defending" music education like this.
An important idea to bring up, now that districts are looking for things to cut.
Stop "Defending" Music
Today I ran across one more xeroxed handout touting the test-taking benefits of music education, defending music as a great tool for raising test scores and making students smarter. It was just one more example among many of the "keep music because it helps with other things" pieces out there.
I really wish people would stop "defending" music education like this.
Archive: Schools Don't Serve Businesses
While the Institute is away at a corporate retreat, far, mostly, from the interwebz, I've arranged for some dips into the archives.
Hard to believe it's been seven years since the Gates Foundation mouthpiece set me off. But this still applies (and he wasn't the last to suggest this.
The Wrongest Sentence Ever In The CCSS Debate
At Impatient Optimists, a Gates Foundation website, Allan Golston recently wrote a notable piece entitled "America's Businesses Need the Common Core." It's a notable column, not because it has anything new to add to the discussion (it's a rehash of the usual pro-CCSS fluffernuttery), but because it contains this sentence:
Hard to believe it's been seven years since the Gates Foundation mouthpiece set me off. But this still applies (and he wasn't the last to suggest this.
The Wrongest Sentence Ever In The CCSS Debate
At Impatient Optimists, a Gates Foundation website, Allan Golston recently wrote a notable piece entitled "America's Businesses Need the Common Core." It's a notable column, not because it has anything new to add to the discussion (it's a rehash of the usual pro-CCSS fluffernuttery), but because it contains this sentence:
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