An Essay

The following is the essay I wrote for the Teacher of the Year selection process.  Again, I thank all of my fellow teachers who voted for me. To Emulate the Gardener Henry Adams, President Lincoln’s ambassador to London, once said “a teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops”. Think of all

Common Core Reading Simplified

Since today’s blog must begin with the letter “C”, I must write about the newest craze in education: Common Core State Standards. I have been teaching reading and writing for 15 years and for most of that time I was given a set of standards by the State of Oklahoma called the PASS guidelines.  These

Weekly Roundup 10/12/2012

This week’s articles are an eclectic bunch.  I have written some blog entries this week about common core strategies as well as writing rants, and during that time I managed to find a few articles about writing that might interest both teachers and writers. Here they are: 1. Math Needs a Facelift – This article

Common Core vs. NCLB: Damage Done

Across the U.S., the Common Core guidelines are being rolled out for use in classrooms, requiring students to read and write on a level higher than ever expected of them.  Students in the lower grades will benefit from this if the Common Core guidelines are followed throughout her formative and high school years. However, I

Writing in the Classroom: A Common Core Must

For too long students in public schools in the U.S. have been shackled by the mandates of NCLB, which has recently been proven to be an absolute failure.  Students have been taught to do well on a test because teacher evaluations are based on test scores, which is absolutely absurd.  What job on earth other

Teaching The Lord of the Rings: A Common Core Unit for High School Students

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is probably one of the most important texts written in the 20th century.  It is also a text that most students can read without much difficulty if given proper time.  Most teachers do not realize that the epic saga can be used to teach most of the Common Core