I recently published a short, reality based novel about two fifth grade teachers in Chicago's inner city who face the challenge of helping their students get beyond the emotional damaged inflicted by the frequent gun violence on the inner city streets. You can find a description o the work at spencerbarnardauthor.com
K-W-L in its own right is one of those nifty practical ideas that teachers can pick up quickly and start using the following morning, probably explaining why it became so popular. But, like other teaching strategies that are deceptively radical in their implications, K-W-L is also easily corrupted – and often implemented so poorly as to undermine any meaningful benefit.
Why do I say that K-W-L, used properly, is actually radical?
"I don’t worry as much as I did before. I worry less because I let my students do more stuff than in the past. Here is a list of 7 things that I currently permit my students to do that I would never have allowed as a first year teacher."
This is a rare moment in the history of our Postcard Exchange. I always look for teachers in the summer, but this year I didn't. Please join our exchange, now in its 15th year! I promise you will receive a postcard from every state!
Reply if you are interested and your state is listed above.
You send 51 postcards out, and you will receive a postcard from every state, Canada, and Washington, DC.
With more than 70,000 dream flag K-12 student participants in 38 US states and 18 countries including Australia, Belize, Canada, China, Costa Rica, France, Honduras, Japan, Kenya, Morocco, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda, Romania, Russia, South Africa, and Zambia, the Dream Flag Project is catching on in many schools.
Click over to learn how to conduct the project in your school!
Teachers.Net teachers listed 3 (sometimes more) attributes of a great principal. (We were especially struck by the 2 shortest entries, those posted after "Mutual respect and trust needs to be nurtured," about 3/4 of the way down the page.)