My Thirty-Year Educational Crusade
Please join me in my celebration. Stories will be posted for every student contact day this school year. The first will be elementary stories and will cover my time as an elementary teacher at Montview. The remainder will be stories from my 21 years at Rangeview High School.
Today I landed in Orlando, Florida getting ready to present at the PLTW Summit for the next three days. I have been to many conferences in the last 30 years. This weekend will be the last one as an APS teacher. I think back to Read more
I am a big fan of planning. There exists a group of people that spend money like there is no end and that they will always have money. The other piece is that people often look at the new shiny toy and feel the need Read more
Microworlds and Logo programming was my first step into programming with kids. I was doing this with students in the third, fourth, and fifth grades at Montview. As I compare to students coming into my class today, those elementary kids were miles ahead of the Read more
Welcome back from Fall Break. Today is one of the ways to break up a staff meeting. Any teacher who has been to a staff meeting understands. Unfortunately, they can't be leveled like we are asked to do in our classrooms. The ideal would be Read more
Some Sam Cooke to go way back. It was all about love! Read more
I think every child ought to visit Disneyland. It really is the happiest place on earth. I have many stories about Disneyland and they will come up when I transition to high school. My first time at Disneyland was as a teacher at Montivew. I Read more
Teaching has given me the good fortune to meet many influential teachers over the last few years. One of my favorites was meeting and talking to Donald Graves. Donald Graves was a leader in the reforming of writing. His books stand out as beacons of Read more
It is not what you know but who you know. This will be a repeating theme in my story. On September 6 or Day 18, I spoke about getting hired. This is about the interview before getting hired. The first time I encountered this was Read more
Opportunity and flexibility are important in elementary classrooms. Too many teachers teach their lesson plans and often don't teach their students. You sometimes have to seize an opportunity and let the planned lesson fall by the wayside. These are often the best learning days. I Read more
Rock and Roll High School by the Ramones Read more
In the words of that great philosopher Kermit: "It isn't being green." Most elementary teachers use themes to enhance their rooms and build the sense of family. My first few years saw me use a frog and green theme. It was at this time that Read more
Usually, businesses and other organizations make sure not to have spouses working together. In our case at Montview, we were looking to hire a special education teacher. My principal asked me if it was okay to hire my wife away from the private school where Read more