Joanne Jacobs
On first day of school, think big
Think big, she writes. For now, plan grandly, not precisely. Think about the things students need to know for the next decade, not the...
top of page
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 19, 20182 min read
Teachers may not know how kids learn to read
How do children learn to read? Most states don’t require new elementary and special-education teachers to show they understand the...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 10, 20181 min read
Enrollment falls at teacher ed programs
Enrollment is down at teachers’ prep programs, reports Ed Week‘s Madeline Will, but there’s still a surplus of would-be elementary...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 7, 20181 min read
Best teachers ask for help the most
The most effective teachers are the most likely to ask colleagues for advice on improving their teaching, according to a recently...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 3, 20182 min read
Going AYP
Roxanna Elden’s Adequate Yearly Progress is an entertaining — and often infuriating — novel about a Texas high school coping with a...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 2, 20181 min read
Who wants to teach
Only five percent of high school students who took the ACT in 2017 plan to major in education, according to a new ACT report. That makes...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 22, 20182 min read
Look lively: Big Brother is watching
A Chinese high school installed cameras that monitor students’ facial expressions, reports Don Lee in the Los Angeles Times. Artificial...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 1, 20183 min read
A shiny new school fails
San Francisco spent $54 million to build and equip a new STEM-focused middle school to serve low-income black students — and lure...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 28, 20181 min read
Teaching citizens: How are we doing?
High school students observe a moment of silence outside the North Carolina Capitol in Raleigh in memory of the victims of the Florida...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 25, 20182 min read
‘No big payoffs’ to teacher evaluation push
Teacher-effectiveness programs funded by the Gates Foundation didn’t improve students’ achievement, reports Madeline Will in Ed Week. A...
Joanne Jacobs
May 16, 20182 min read
Core confusion
The switch to Common Core instruction was annoying, intriguing, inconsistent and sometimes unnoticeable, concludes a survey of 54...
Joanne Jacobs
May 14, 20181 min read
Glitter jars, bean bags and progress
At a Columbus, Ohio school in a high-poverty neighborhood, teachers use different strategies to help children learn to calm themselves,...
Joanne Jacobs
May 10, 20181 min read
2 + 2 = 4, intolerant teacher tells kids
A Muncie, Indiana teacher told her kindergarten class that “two plus two equals four . . . no matter how anyone feels about it,” reports...
Joanne Jacobs
May 4, 20181 min read
Let teachers teach
Teachers teach better than students, writes Alex Tabarrok on Marginal Revolution. “A slew of research shows that direct instruction...
Joanne Jacobs
May 3, 20181 min read
Tried-and-true vs. innovation
Educators are obsessed with innovation, while ignoring the tried and true, writes Mike Schmoker in Education Week. For example, “ongoing...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 22, 20182 min read
Failure is educational for teachers too
Being “the worst” in his weight-lifting class made Ryan Sprott a better teacher, he writes on Ed Week Teacher. “Remembering what failure...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 20, 20182 min read
Mental illness in school: What can teachers do?
A high school teacher might see eight to 30 students a day with serious mental health issues such as bipolar disorder, depression and...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 18, 20181 min read
‘Learning styles’ debunked — again
Olga Khazan take a whack at the learning styles myth in The Atlantic. In the early ‘90s, a New Zealander named Neil Fleming developed the...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 12, 20181 min read
Parents, stop coddling your kids
Students and parents disrespect teachers, complained Julie Marburger in a Facebook post that went viral. She teaches sixth grade in a...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 4, 20181 min read
Teach ‘science of learning’ to teachers
Teaching teachers the “basic science of learning” probably would improve teaching and student outcomes, writes Dan Willingham in...
bottom of page