tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22810863973511892472024-02-20T14:51:28.472-08:00The Paper GradersA blog about education in all its forms, by two practitioners.Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-52701943122302684812011-09-20T13:46:00.000-07:002011-09-20T13:51:38.711-07:00We don't live here anymore!Hi folks,As promised (threatened), we have moved to a more permanent home. You can now find the papergraders at thepapergraders.orgWhere will will continue our occasionally sputtering stream of thoughts, large and small, on education. We will keep this here for historical purposes, so that when we are rich and famous you can say, "hey, I know about them when they were just on blogspot!" However, Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-15794120471677103272011-08-24T17:36:00.001-07:002011-08-24T17:41:11.442-07:00New School Year...And change is a-comin'
We are working on a new website with our very own domain. That sounds all fancy doesn't it. It isn't, but I like that it might sound that way. When we make the switch all our old content will migrate with us- so none of our ramblings, musings or inter-office banter will be lost. Also, it will be easier to to a lot of things we can't do right now. And we will have sweet Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-71742456340858581942011-06-28T21:44:00.000-07:002011-06-28T21:59:46.425-07:00Another view of FinlandI recently had a conversation with a teacher from Holland and a teacher from Kansas City.We were talking together about education and the big issues that seem to be at the forefront of the conversations about it in the US vs. Holland. The teacher from Holland indicated that his country discusses the same issues we do--assessment, standards, funding.I made some crack like, "well, we can't all be Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-41812224221238013662011-06-07T08:48:00.000-07:002011-06-07T10:11:29.847-07:00What would trust look like?There is a great article in the NY Times from June 5 about the Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland (thanks to Schools Matter). They have developed a teacher evaluation model based on peer review. I guess the thing that struck me about the article (other than the fact that the superintendant is turning down RTT money because it would obligate them to give up an evaluation method that Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-64614080932997592702011-04-20T11:49:00.000-07:002011-04-20T11:54:26.725-07:00Words from Linda RiefJust a tidbit from my reading today. It articulates well the problem with the runaway train of our educational policy today. But how do we fix the problem? Still trying to figure that one out...“While we see our students as individuals, and while we recognize the strengths and weaknesses of each one, policy mandates often seem to view students through the same myopic lens, treating all students Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-38004072217522287312011-04-07T09:53:00.000-07:002011-04-07T10:03:25.962-07:00Story time with TeacherSabrinaWe talk a lot in this office about how to get the message out. We talk about constructing narrative, and how the 'school reform' movement has done a good job of constructing a narrative that is simple and clear (wrong, but simple and clear). And we think, "in what ways might WE work on constructing narratives that are effective in telling our story as educators, that can convey to the public a Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-22934536370594142692011-04-05T08:03:00.001-07:002011-04-05T08:26:12.962-07:00Story map homework breakdown 2.0I wrote a while back about my daughter's frustrations with the story map homework she had been given from her second grade teacher. I wondered why she was so paralyzed and unable to complete the story map that simply asked for her to list the characters, setting, problem, solution, and mail plot events of a book off of her shelves at home. I did what I could to help her work through it. I tried Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-86037623102849724572011-03-14T07:55:00.000-07:002011-03-14T08:21:56.209-07:00Words with Friends obsessionOur students are obsessed with Words with Friends, a smart phone app for a Scrabble-like word game between you and anyone else who has the app. I signed up on Thursday last week, and I've already got about nine games going with students and colleagues. Prior to downloading the app and joining the frenzy, I encountered several students struggling to play a word--even helped a few of them out when Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-43825961091464148652011-03-10T12:05:00.001-08:002011-03-10T12:33:25.310-08:00what to do while "actively protoring" a state-mandated testF. Scott and I have just survived the yearly proctoring duties for the state-mandated test. It basically kills two weeks here at our school. We take two full mornings in two weeks in a row and to accommodate these testing blocks, the entire schedule for the week is a mess. But I can live with that. A little variety in the weekly schedule is probably good for us. The worst part of it for me is "Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-79641021443108405702011-03-08T12:46:00.000-08:002011-03-08T21:42:22.445-08:00an example of how research positions teachers...In the quasi-rant about educational research that I posted last evening, I mentioned that I thought the research I was asked to read and study during the first year of my doctoral program (and use as an example of quality educational research) tended to position teachers in such a way that devalued them as knowledgeable professionals possessing valuable expertise.I read a research article today Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-87345291998547350602011-03-07T19:29:00.000-08:002011-03-07T20:05:37.132-08:00Frustrations with researchA conversation with F. Scott today sent me into a bit of a tailspin. This and a string of conversations I've had over the last week, hearkened back to the thoughts I expressed a while back after my experience presenting at the American Educational Research Association conference.I'm taking a great risk here that readers will assume I'm writing off educational research as a whole. I'm not. I'm an Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-6736807370982951922011-03-07T18:09:00.000-08:002011-03-07T18:45:17.141-08:00reading ruined already?I'm sitting here helping my 2nd grade daughter with her homework. She is to complete three story maps, each on a book from her shelves here at home that she has read and knows well. This task has paralyzed her. And that's what I find fascinating. With as natural as stories are to us as human beings, how is it that a task to map out a story paralyzes my child? How is it that identifying the Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-56726704324692882132011-03-05T12:41:00.000-08:002011-03-05T13:00:17.611-08:00What if?You'll be seeing a lot from the book I'm currently reading, Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice, edited by Kylene Beers, Robert Probst, and Linda Reif. This book is becoming highly relevant to the work I need to do to contextualize the pilot the district has supported me in running next year with my seniors. In short, in order to more effectively differentiate to meet my students' Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-78176156277592396232011-03-05T08:50:00.001-08:002011-03-05T09:00:10.625-08:00Quantify this!In a week where I spent a good chunk of my working time watching 9th graders take a state mandated test that does not help them and tells us very little that we didn't already know, maintaining a positive attitude is tough (we had conferences as well- so additionally an exhausting week).So I smiled this morning to read this great vignette from Joe Bower at for the love of learning.I won't repost Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-85095563263371927322011-02-28T20:41:00.000-08:002011-02-28T20:54:48.298-08:00and another view of the landscape...This one courtesy of Carol Jago in her 2010 NCTE Presidential address: "To Cherish the Interests of Literature" from February's Research in the Teaching of English. Jago says:"Speaking in a commencement address to graduates of the Stanford School of Education, Elliot Eisner (2006) argued that, 'Imagination is the neglected stepchild of American education. Questions invite you in. They stimulate Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-40575136384284415622011-02-28T07:30:00.001-08:002011-02-28T07:40:05.653-08:00Our landscapeI've finally started reading a book I've had on the shelf for a few months now: Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice, a recent edited volume by Kylene Beers, Robert Probst, and Linda Reif. They invited the leading teachers of and thinkers about adolescent literacy to write about what that means now in the 21st century. In the introduction, Beers shares the letter that the three Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-42235192547058514382011-02-23T10:36:00.000-08:002011-02-23T10:44:01.462-08:00Wisconsin...Just sharing some reading on the situation in Wisconsin and what it says about the state of the career of teaching in our country today.Diane Ravitch wrote an opinion piece for CNN this week entitled Why America's Teachers are Enraged.She wrote a follow up to that piece today, responding to the feedback that she got from readers--most of which she said came from teachers saying thank you for whatRandom Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-10121679384930916252010-11-17T19:21:00.000-08:002010-11-17T19:41:40.854-08:00The runaway train of educational policy...This opinion piece in the NYTimes made me think. It's about the economy, but I see parallels to what's happening in education lately too. Brooks argues: "The economic approach embraced by the most prominent liberals over the past few years is mostly mechanical. The economy is treated like a big machine; the people in it like rational, utility maximizing cogs. The performance of the economic Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-365526444227057242010-11-05T16:43:00.001-07:002010-11-05T17:05:22.438-07:00Where did the semester go?Greetings blogosphere.It feels as if the school year just started, and now we're down to four weeks of classes left before semester finals. I'm not sure exactly where all the time went. And the cold weather hasn't really hit here yet (we're waaaaay overdue for our first snow of the year and we're looking at record breaking warmth this weekend) so it doesn't feel like we could possibly be on the Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-60231026483595915622010-10-28T21:28:00.000-07:002010-10-28T21:31:21.813-07:00I'd be laughing harder but...I'm too busy crying at the same time. Many folks have posted this- I'd like to credit them all. But I'm just gonna' post tha thing.It has been a very looooooong week.F. ScottRandom Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-12872248467574898672010-10-15T16:56:00.000-07:002010-10-15T17:03:12.543-07:00Sir Ken Robinson at RSA Animate!Some interesting comments on paradigm shift, school structure, creativity, and divergent thinking. Thanks to Joe Bower at Love of Learning for putting this up. I love the RSA Animate videos, I even show them to my classes when appropriate. Hadn't seen this one yet. I don't know what I think about Robinson's comments on ADHD, but the general theme is right on.Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-90341923164783597382010-10-12T18:30:00.000-07:002010-10-12T18:51:09.472-07:00I really needed this...C.R.A.P.I am feeling so depressed about 'school reform' that I've found it really hard to pay attention to this blog. Plus, I'm teaching a prep I haven't taught in a while (Creative Writing- its awesome), so I am as busy as I can stand (aren't we all). Then I ran into this. I laughed my ass off, and it really hits the nail on the head. Diane Ravitch tweeted it.Posted at Failing Schools, by Sabrina. She Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-62176115447972358492010-09-15T20:27:00.000-07:002010-09-15T20:37:58.587-07:00Time to get wiredI told F. Scott today that I was fired up to figure out how to get laptops or ipads into the hands of my students. The more immersed I get in the Google universe (or the Googleverse as my students have suggested we call it), the more frustrated I get with the obstacles: having to take my whole class down the hall if I want them all on computers, and having to share this one lab with all of my Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-19116610694385707022010-06-28T23:03:00.001-07:002010-06-28T23:48:40.136-07:00The Elephant in the Room at TEDx Denver EdI had the opportunity this evening to attend the TEDx Denver Ed event, in conjunction with the current conference for the International Society for Technology in Education. On the whole this event was inspiring. The talks were all compelling, and the hosts were full of personality. I walked away with thoughts about how I could get my students working on relevant problems in their community in Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281086397351189247.post-66864925194808801582010-05-30T09:24:00.001-07:002010-05-30T09:50:35.126-07:00Soldiers of LoveGreetings from my favorite local cafe. Finally I've carved out some time to write what has been rolling around in my head for a few weeks. I walked in my PhD graduation ceremony a few weeks ago. I finished everything for the program last summer, but my school only runs its graduation once a year. So nearly a year later, I got the pomp and circumstance to make it all feel complete. The keynote Random Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739991971162406279noreply@blogger.com0