Joanne Jacobs
A first-grader goes deep
Bret Turner (@bretjturner), who teaches first and second graders at an Oakland private school, saw this tweet go viral. The first guess...
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Joanne Jacobs
Dec 26, 20172 min read
Teacher prep trains for mediocrity
A traditional teacher-preparation program qualified Ryan Williams-Virden to be a mediocre teacher, he writes. He “half-assed” his studies...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 14, 20172 min read
Roll-your-own curriculum is overrated
Letting teachers choose their own curriculum is a bad idea, writes Kathleen Porter-Magee, who taught middle-school science as an...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 28, 20172 min read
Soft discipline is bigotry of low expectations
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos appears to be gearing up to rescind Obama-era discipline policies. A 2014 “Dear Colleague” letter warned...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 15, 20171 min read
Cherishing kids for who they are — and could be
“The heart of our job as teachers is to know and honor children’s full selves,” writes Justin Minkel, who teaches first- and...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 15, 20171 min read
2 + 2 = ???
Is this too broad? Or right on target? #math #teaching
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 12, 20171 min read
Vets’ students don’t care about war
Students don’t care about America’s wars, writes Tyler Bonin, a Marine and combat veteran who now teaches history in North Carolina. When...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 9, 20172 min read
More disabled students, less time for teaching
Teachers spend less time on teaching — and more time maintaining order — if they have lots of students with disabilities in their...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 7, 20172 min read
Teaching ‘social justice’ — or propaganda?
St. Louis teachers are turning their classrooms into “hubs of social justice,” reports Kristen Taketa for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 20, 20172 min read
Achievers don’t want to be teachers
High achievers don’t want to be teachers, reports Madeline Will for Education Week Teacher. “Around the world, students who want to go...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 13, 20172 min read
Teachers, beware the ed-tech trap
Education technology can be a waste of teachers’ and students’ time, argue two teachers in a new book, Screen Schooled. Joe Clement and...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 12, 20171 min read
Too much ‘screen time’ in school?
Technology hasn’t transformed teaching and learning, notes Education Next, but some believe that’s due to “implementation problems — or...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 27, 20171 min read
Best state for teachers: New York
New York is the best state for teachers, according to WalletHub’s analysis. Arizona ranked last. WalletHub analyzed 21 metrics, ranging...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 25, 20171 min read
No time to teach
Education reformers should pay attention to the time demands of their reforms, writes Rick Hess in Education Next. “Every hour that’s...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 20, 20172 min read
Computers enable mastery learning
Mastery learning — enabled by technology — is gaining popularity, reports Kyle Spencer in the New York Times Moheeb Kaied, a seventh...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 26, 20173 min read
Here We Go Again With Algebra
As a math teacher I’m often presented with what, if you think about it, is blatant rudeness: Other: What do you do? Me: I’m a math...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 17, 20172 min read
Pass ’em along — or mastery learning?
Teachers can raise graduation rates — and their own performance ratings — by giving D’s instead of F’s to poorly prepared students,...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 16, 20172 min read
When a student calls the teacher ‘racist’
His advice ranges from the sensible (don’t get defensive or cite all the black people who think you’re not racist) to the insanely “woke”...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 28, 20172 min read
It’s the teaching, not the technology
Teaching — not technology — drives success at blended-learning schools, writes Thomas Arnett, research fellow of education at the Clayton...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 24, 20171 min read
Third-grade teacher: Prepare for disaster, Trevor
Myra Helms, a fourth-grade teacher at Meadowlark Elementary in Waverly, Nebraska was warned of the “unspeakable malevolence” to come by...
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