Posts Tagged ‘english teachers’
Lesson Plan: Student Identity and Music
A few weeks ago I wrote about a senior workshop I gave about Identity. I wanted to get a group of college-going seniors to think about who they are as urban youth, and how it will affect the way they interact with others on a college campus. The [...]
Weaving Together Valentine’s Day and Shakespeare
Valentine’s Day was a disaster. In all fairness, it’s a disaster every year. All the extra hormones flying through the air really affect a high school campus. Satisfied girls walk around with roses and teddy bears to the detriment of those [...]
Cutting Through Bone: Why Cutting Six Weeks From the School Year is a Worst-Case Scenario
Last night during his State of the State address, Jerry Brown warned of the deep spending cuts ahead as he tries to eliminate California’s $25 billion budget deficit. He also made it clear that the cuts will be much, much worse if voters don’t [...]
A Lesson on Urban Identity
I taught a seminar for seniors this week while their regular teacher was out having babies. It was a class full of low-income urban students trying to get into college. I decided to do three days on Identity, and get them thinking about who they are [...]
Back-Pocket Poetry
Looking back on the year so far, I’ve decided to write about some of the best lessons I’ve done in the hopes it will give you ideas you can use in your own classrooms. I’ve made a category for it called “Lesson Plans.” My plan is to fill [...]
House Republicans Stall School Nutrition Bill- Obviously
All I had to do was read the title above (minus my own addition) and I already knew what was coming. I then proceeded to read the entire article here on Education Week in what has become a numb disbelief.Republicans blocked a bill that would [...]
I Can’t Believe How Dangerous My Job Is
Last Friday, a fight broke out. A kid smacked the walkie-talkie out of the hand of our Assistant Principal. Our security guard and SRO confronted the kid (School Resource Officer, a cop assigned to our campus, we have two of them). The kid attacked [...]
The Importance of Urban Role Models
On Monday, I usually show up to the high school where I teach dressed like I’m about to go to a wedding. Black dress-pants, creased up nicely; a pleasant-colored shirt with matching tie of a slightly different shade; snake-skin leather shoes. I [...]
The Rotten Carrot of Teacher Incentives
With the fresh discussions of incentive-based teaching as the future of education, why is it we are surprised at the new statistics that are coming out? Study after study shows giving teachers incentives, like more money, doesn’t change student [...]
Navigating the Gauntlet
You’ll have to excuse me. I just broke up a fight between two gang members, by myself, without the help of security, so I’m writing this with some adrenaline. I want to keep that going because it is replacing the rage with which I usually write [...]