‘REALities’ Archives
Why Do We Always Talk About Teachers, Not Administrators?
The discourse in education always disproportionately focuses on teachers, as if we are the root of all school evils. We never talk about ineffective Superintendents who make $250,000 a year but still need an $800 a month car allowance in a [...]
All Those Damn Kids Have Cell Phones Though, Don’t They?
My uncle is a Republican. He says he is a Democrat, but then begins defending rich people like they are going to be thrown out of their houses and begin starving any minute now. This is common Republican reasoning—defending people who own most of [...]
Redefining HIGH School
To say marijuana is a problem at my school is a gross understatement. There is a tree next to the gas station across the street from campus where students smoke weed almost every morning at 7:30 AM. I drive by and see groups of wannabes huddled in [...]
REALITY: Punching a Teacher not an Expellable Offense
I’ve been writing this blog for over a year and a half now. I originally started writing to bring light to the REAL face of education in this country, specifically the broken, pale, drawn face of our low-income public schools. Today’s entry, [...]
America’s Real Immigrant Problem
I was recently talking to a teacher from another district who has more undocumented students than my district. His high school has a larger Latino immigrant population, and therefore his students face obstacles in their everyday lives most people [...]
Teaching SLAM Poetry Using Occupy Anger
I am in the middle of a Slam Poetry Unit, and I cannot think of a better way to teach it than by using the Occupy movement to teach social justice. Let’s be honest, Saul Williams, Mos Def, Russel Simmons, and the other founders of Slam Poetry and [...]
Parent Outreach? Not in an Educational Landscape of Opposites
Oprah’s Teacher of the Year, Ron Clark, has an article on CNN.com today about the drawbacks of parental involvement. He gives examples of teachers and even principals who are leaving education because they are so annoyed at having to deal with [...]
Greatest Hits: Accepting the Fact That Nothing Will Change
After a year of blogging, I'm posting some of my most popular posts here at Teach 4 Real. With the middle class disappearing as we speak, I thought this REAL assessment of the state of education is particularly timely. At some point we all need to [...]
Teach4Real Greatest Hits: My Boy Arthur Who Can’t Pass Algebra
After a year of blogging, I am posting some of my favorite pieces. I just re-read this piece on a former student of mine, and it is just as heartbreaking to read as it was to write. Unfortunately, this situation is happening again this year, over [...]
Latino Boys in the Red White and Blue
For the next month I am going to celebrate one year of blogging with some of my greatest hits. Here is one about Northern California gang colors that explains just how difficult it is to be a Latino kid in the good ole' red white and [...]