Students Matter

What If Your Students Don't Like You?

By Renee Moore

5/4/13

Fawn Johnson, at National Journal/Education Experts blog, asked guest bloggers to respond to an intriguing post that ended with these questions:

What are the best ways to foster honest student-teacher relationships? How do teachers mask dislike for students? How should they deal with their own problems while teaching? How important is the passion in teaching? Are there practices that can help compensate for a not-passionate teacher? How can schools encourage professional camaraderie among teachers? Do students really need to like their teachers in order to learn?

Here’s what I shared:

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Better Ways to Evaluate Teaching and Learning

By Renee Moore

4/29/13

Across the country, parents, teachers, and students are beginning to pushback—hard—against the misuses and abuses of standardized testing in our educational system.

First, most people do not understand what standardized achievement tests are actually designed to measure. They are not designed to measure what students have “learned” over a specific period of time or from a specific teacher. Therefore, attempts to use them for that purpose are at best misguided, at worst, deceptive. For more on this point, I recommend listening to the recent interview of Jim Popham by Steve Hargadon at Future of Education.

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Writing in spite of

By Renee Moore

4/6/13

Much of the discussion today around writing at the secondary and community college levels focuses on remediation or developmental writing (aka getting students ready for “college-level” writing).  Never mind (for now) that there is much debate within higher education over what college-level writing is. Too many people, even within the teaching profession, equate good writing only with having technical proficiency in using grammar conventions.

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The Big Lie of School Choice

By Renee Moore

3/22/13

As a parent (we have raised 11 children and put them through public school) and as a public school teacher, I deeply resent much of the rhetoric being used to promote so-called “school choice.” 

Much of this rhetoric is aimed at parents in communities that have been historically underserved by public education systems. Therein lies the hypocrisy.

I’ll use my own community as an example; you can change the names to fit your situation.

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Read This: Obstacles to College

By Renee Moore

2/27/13

A wonderful piece from Hechinger Report on the often overlooked, unaddressed, and largely avoidable obstacles that prevent qualified students from entering college.  

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Lessons From My Fathers

By Renee Moore

2/25/13

This is about education.

Lately, there have been increased references to the absence of Black fathers as a cause, possibly the cause, for all manner of social and economic ills in the Black community, including poor academic performance, especially by black boys.

Well, this is a case study about a Black family [and there are many of us] in which the fathers are present.

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Teachable Moment

By Renee Moore

2/16/13

Been a long while between blogs, not because there hasn't been enough to comment on, but maybe too much. 

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Spend A Year at Mission Hill

By Renee Moore

2/2/13

This week a marvelous project launched, and I'm excited to see it develop. Ten videos (one per week) and related resources will follow a year at one of the nation's most exciting schools: Mission Hill in Boston. 

The first video asks a compelling question: "What if every school used our founding principles as a nation as their design principles for learning?" It would be the difference between going to school and getting an education.

Watch, discuss, and decide for yourself. 

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SOS for Schools Affected By Sandy

By Renee Moore

12/5/12

The Save Our Schools Coalition is sending out this timely reminder that the affects of Hurricane Sandy are not over.

While life went on as usual for people throughout the nation, for the victims of Sandy days and weeks have passed with great difficulty. Many homes and schools remain severely damaged or in ruins. And while countless individuals and organizations have contributed time and money to the relief effort, thousands of children and families are still in desperate need of our support.

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Read This: "I Used to Think..." Teacher Reflections

By Renee Moore

11/20/12

In a beautifully candid and beautifully written piece for PLP Network's Voices from the Learning Revolution, Canadian teacher Shelly Wright examines how her thinking and her classroom practice have changed. 

Here's a slice: 

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