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This will be held at San Jose State University in California, June 25-27 2014. The application deadline is April 1. Go to  www.instituteforteachersofcolor.org to register.

I’m in the midst of commenting on grad students’ lit reviews submitted electronically. This is our online class for the week. Many students profusely thank me for “helping” them. I reply that what I’m doing is teaching. Of course this is a different paradigm of teaching, one made possible by e-learning. Specifically what I do…

I’ve just started researching the history of CCSS and standards in general because I’ll be teaching a special topics class about them. In the pre-standards days, textbooks determined curriculum. I started teaching  high school in the 80’s, and when I asked the department chair what the curriculum for earth science was, he said, "Well you…

I’ve had a bit of an epiphany in the last few days. It started when I attended an NSTA regional conference for science teachers. All anyone could talk about was standards, especially Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). I attended a forum on NGSS and diversity. I left skeptical. The only ones who are likely to…

My intellectual commitments derive from Jean Lave, Courtney Cazden, Fred Erickson, Kris Gutierrez–social practice theory. Linguists such as James Crashen come to the same conclusion from a different angle.  Teachers who  actually use an alternate definition of learning in their classrooms see students thrive as learners. That makes the scholarly work worthwhile. How then do…

The issue of tracking-streaming-leveling, whatever you call it, is a knotty one. One thing we know for pretty much certain is that tracking hurts kids on the bottom. Once a child is placed in the bottom level, it’s almost impossible for them leave it, because opportunity to learn is decreased for the low-track students. I…

Click here to get a PDF of the paper.

Well, it was frustrating because I didn’t have the right camera. The best shots are slightly out of focus. I used them anyway, especially the red sphere shots. They give me the feeling I didn’t know I was hoping for. Funny because I wasn’t really going for beauty with the installation, or expecting it. I…

Click here for flyer.

I’m attaching a lesson plan I wrote for a student teacher to think about. It’s a procedure I used with high school science students. This is my response to the paradox of trying to prepare students for standardized tests in ways that are consistent with what we know about how students learn. Please click here…