Category Archives: Uncategorized

Over the past 30 years I’ve thought a lot about teaching and teacher training. I’ve worked as a trainer for TFA and also for The New York City Teaching Fellows. Many of the teachers I trained, I’m happy to say, … Continue reading →

Most people probably suspect that students spend too many hours learning Math in school. From Kindergarten through twelfth grade, it seems that most students learn some Math pretty much every day. The same can’t be said of other things like … Continue reading →

Today the US Attorney’s office for the southern district tweeted this: The description of the charges gets pretty graphic so I will not quote it all here, but part of it says: From at least in or about 2002 through … Continue reading →

Since my own TFA training thirty years ago in the summer of 1991, I have spent as much time as anyone thinking about what the best advice is for new teachers — particularly new teachers in short term training programs … Continue reading →

The first book I wrote, ‘Reluctant Disciplinarian‘, was published in 1999 and it is still in print. That book was mainly a memoir about my rough first year and some advice about classroom management mixed in with it. In 2008 … Continue reading →

In 2011 I was invited by ASCD to adapt a chapter from my second book ‘Beyond Survival’ and make an article for their new teacher issue. I noticed that the link to that article is no longer working so I’m … Continue reading →

I think the secret to happiness is to unfollow Twitter accounts that make you angry. About a year ago I realized this and I unfollowed most of the ‘reformers’ that I followed. This also meant that I would have less … Continue reading →

Though I am most likely known to those who read my blog as a miracle school debunker, a TFA watchdog, or a education research number cruncher, the thing that I do most with my time is do math, think about … Continue reading →

For the past ten years public education has been under assault by the self-proclaimed education ‘reformers.’ Strong personalities like Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, Michael Bloomberg, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Corey Booker, and others led the movement that gave us Race … Continue reading →

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I’m a math teacher. Math and teaching are two of my life passions and they are two things that I have some talent for. I would say that I’m a ‘very good’ teacher … Continue reading →