Like most teachers, I struggled my first year. My mentor, a veteran teacher, told me before my first day of classes to not show too much emotion, be overzealous, or do too much on the first day. As I walked away from his classroom door, he shouted, “Don’t smile until...
“Okay, so how can we describe Kenny’s brother Byron?” the teacher asked. The class had just started reading Christopher Paul Curtis’s amazing novel “The Watsons Go To Birmingham–1963.” They were in the middle of the first chapter, and the...
Pop quiz: What do the teachers in the Atlanta cheating scandal have in common with Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds, and Tonya Harding? Answer: They all wanted results. As an educator, I have a unique perspective on the mess unfolding in Atlanta. While I don’t condone...
Sibme has been in the works now for a couple of years, and has been entirely self-funded. Just like building a great school or becoming a great teacher, building Sibme has been a total team effort. We couldn’t have done it without hard core technologists and a...
In my 11th grade AP Euro course, each class would begin with an oral review of the previous nights’ reading. I had my notebook open to pages of outlined facts as I waited anxiously for Mr. Hoffman to call on me. Clipboard in hand, he paced the room methodically and...
I love Cesar Millan. Even before I adopted my dog, Orbit, I was a devoted Dog Whisperer aficionado. If you’ve never seen his show, stop reading and go find it on Netflix or Amazon. Basically, Cesar takes out-of-control dogs, and flips them into well-behaved household...