‘Matt’s Ed Blog’ Archives
Remembering Why We Do It
Photography by Jeremy SchulzI’ve said it before. In public education, there are more sad stories than happy endings. Even so, after graduation this year I have to admit that the happy endings might outweigh all that bad stuff. Well, not [...]
Ending the Year on a Real Note
With all the pink slips going out this year, I can’t help but being reminded of a story my mentor told me about when she first began her teaching career. She received her first pink slip in the mail from our district “Postage Due.” That’s [...]
Black Boys and Shakespeare
I once asked my students to write about the cultural differences between them and the other cultures they see around them. I don’t remember the exact book I was teaching at the time, but I do remember one student’s response. We’ll call him [...]
Blame the Parents — I Do
Last year at Back-To-School-Night, I was pleasantly surprised to see both parents of a struggling student show up. The student was in my accelerated 9th grade class. She had an F, she didn’t do any homework, and always came into my classroom [...]
Let’s Make a Deal: How to Help Fading (and Failing) Students at the End of the Year
Everyone loves the end of the school year, especially the teachers and students. The parents, maybe not so much.The reason I like the end of the year so much is because it is such a clean break. At no point during the regular school year do I [...]
Giving Homework in Good Conscience
Two years ago I taught a “Strategic” 10th grade English class. “Strategic” is the No Child Left Behind term for students far below basic. Before that it was called “Sheltered.” A hundred different schools have a hundred different names [...]
Music—Probably the Worst Thing Out There
I was in Argentina for three weeks this year. My wife and I were checking into a hotel, and the young man helping us behind the counter was in his early twenties. There was a radio on behind him, and when a new song began to play, he smiled and [...]
The Myth of the After School Conversation
Six Tips on How to Have the Talk I love it. I love it love it love it when I hear people give their two cents about how we should handle our worst students in our worst public schools.Whether it is idle chat I overhear at Starbucks, or on a [...]
Having a Little Ghetto in You
Honing the Proper Persona for Public School New teachers often express the same sentiments over and over when they take their first public school teaching job:I can’t believe these kids! They don’t care about anything!They are amazed at [...]
The Elephant in the Classroom
When Are We Going to Talk About Poverty? I’m just going to say it, even though in our current educational climate it might at first seem to be unpopular — I just ask that you hear me out to the end:I am getting tired of hearing about Race [...]