Jessica was one of my all time favorite students. When she asked me to write a letter of recommendation for her, I answered quickly, easily, “Absolutely!” Jessica left, leaving me at my desk paralyzed with fear.

There you stand trying to get the attention of your thirty-four students. Each one is so different from the others that it would take hours to list their physical, mental, emotional, and cultural differences. Yet, your job is to impart to this group a very specific body of information and skills in a prescribed amount of time using pre- scribed texts and materials – and you are to keep them quiet, attentive, and on-task after you give them an assignment. Totally impossible to do hour after hour, day after day.

It was not until I acquired my first teaching job after college that I gained access to where no student had gone before; I had earned my V.I.P. backstage pass to the legendary teachers lounge. But like an innocent child learning for the first time that Santa Clause or the Tooth Fairy were fictitious characters, my previously held notions were sadly and quickly rejected. I felt like Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone’s secret vault hoping to find gold or dead gangsters but only to discover dirt and empty liquor bottles.

This is THE place to watch during the month for frequent updates, information, opportunities and other breaking news from the editorial staff at Teachers.Net.

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March 31, 2010

In Steve Kushner’s Where No Student Has Gone Before he …

Our society has adopted some dangerous ways of thinking in terms of relationships, bullying, and conflict resolution — but you CAN break the pattern!

by Susan Fitzell

*****Throw Out Patterns of Thinking that Accept or Excuse Bullying

We have reached …

An established engineering curriculum program is now positioned to help Texas principals and superintendents challenged to fill fall schedules with expanded science and math classes to adhere to new 4X4 graduation requirements.

Over 180 Texas high schools already offer The …

Don’t continue to perpetuate the antiquated “taskmaster” style of teaching. This style is where you fill the students with information and expect them to sit still and memorize information. The authentic relationship allows the student to become an active rather than a passive participant.

This month Marjan Glavac, teacher and author reviews a diverse collection of sites of special interest to educators. Topic this month are Science, Curriculum, Deafblind, Internet Safety, and Free the Children – a site dedicated to the notion that children and young people themselves can be the leaders of today in
creating a more just, equitable and sustainable world.

The more one wants kids to love learning, the more one is inclined to oppose extrinsic inducements, which have been shown to undermine it.

“Mr. Frisk, I skipped second hour and I’d like to come in and make it up this hour.”

I was standing in the hallway as a sophomore at the local high school went on to explain that, with the year …