[This essay is now a chapter in my new book, The Ironies of Schooling.] Professionals, by definition, are more skilled than amateurs in any given field, but they both experience failure. And to an average observer, they appear to fail in similar ways. The practitioner is moving along nicely in carrying out his or her … Continue reading Failing Like a Professional: Professionals Choke, Amateurs Panic
This post is a piece I published in 2021 in Kappan. Here’s a link to the original. It is now a chapter in my new book, The Ironies of Schooling. In this essay, I explore an issue about the “grammar of schooling” that bothered me over the years as I was teaching about this subject. … Continue reading The Dynamic Tension at the Core of the Grammar of Schooling
This post is an essay about academic writing by Steven Mintz, which was originally published in Inside Higher Ed. Here's a link to the original. It speaks for itself. January 23, 2024 Writing With Style, Force, Flair and Impact How to get your students to love language and take pleasure in writing. By Steven Mintz Hamlet … Continue reading Steven Mintz — Getting Students to Write with Style, Flair, Force, and Impact
This post is a persuasive essay by Jeremy Glazer from the latest issues of Kappan. Here's a link to the original. The core insight from this piece is that teachers cannot succeed based solely only on their own pedagogical skills. There's only so much that can be accomplished by better teacher training and professional development. Why? … Continue reading Jeremy Glazer — Teacher Expertise Isn’t Enough
This post is an essay by Michael Ignatieff published in the most recent issue of Liberties. Here's a link to the original. What he's talking about is independent thinking. Universities are supposed to be places where we teach people how to think for themselves, he says, but all too often we teach people to think like … Continue reading Michael Ignatieff: Epistemological Panic, or Thinking for Yourself
This post is a piece I wrote for the 1989 book, American Teachers: Histories of a Profession at Work, edited by Don Warren. Here’s a link to a PDF of the original. A slightly different version appeared as a chapter in my 1997 book, How to Succeed in School Without Really Learning. I agreed to write the chapter a … Continue reading Career Ladders and the Early School Teacher: A Story of Inequality and Opportunity
This post is a lovely op-ed by Walter Parker, which appeared recently in the Seattle Times. Here's a link to the original. Walter is an emeritus professor of civic education at University of Washington. This essay draws on his forthcoming book, Education for Liberal Democracy. The topic could not be more timely. Democracy dies without … Continue reading Walter Parker — Democracy Dies without Trust or Truth: Shore Up Civics in Schools
This post is an essay by Larry Cuban about how educational policy is a mix of policy from above and the pedagogical orientations of individual teachers and the choices they make in the classroom. Here's a link to the original. Kindergarten Teachers as Policymakers Larry Cuban Watching a policy travel from the White House, a … Continue reading Larry Cuban — Kindergarten Teachers as Policymakers
This post is a paper I published in Journal of Teacher Education in 2010. Here’s a link to a PDF of the original. This is a summary of the argument: Teach For America is a marvel at marketing, offering elite college students a win-win option: By becoming corps members, they can do good and do well at the same … Continue reading Teach for America and Teacher Ed: Heads You Win, Tails We Lose
This post is a piece by Larry Cuban, which he recently published on his blog. Here's a link to the original. It's all about how some things never change in schools. Despite the enormous disruption of Covid shutdown and Zoom classrooms, American classrooms remain in the age-old format of teacher-centered instruction. SKIP TO C Timeless … Continue reading Larry Cuban — Timelessness of Teacher-Centered Instruction
