Elementary Rat

I cannot express my contempt for folks who could never do my job who've spent years pushing a deficit-based, dubiously scientific but de...

The New York Times  has noticed that there's something of a substitute teacher crisis . Alas, it's the Times, so they're mostly ...

One of the most frustrating things about my field is how impervious it is to data. No matter how much evidence once can marshal, certain the...

 In SFUSD, right now: Third year of payroll drama (current issues: second year of mistake-laden W2s, folks on leave are not getting paid, ra...

 I am going to start blogging again, for real! I've been on a social media hellsite but the Nazis there are getting me down. Also, in De...

If I were making two or three times' a teacher salary and still on work from home I would probably make an attempt at, like, not sending...

The BoE was presented with two budget plans for a final vote last night: Management's Plan:  All Cuts to Sites and Direct Services, But ...

Wow, I find myself with so much rage about SFUSD during a pandemic that I think I'm going to blog again.

Like many Kindergarten teachers in the District, I occasionally find myself checking the local parent blogs and sites.  It's hectic for ...

(Seriously, come Thanksgiving at least 23% of all teachers are actually undead.) It has been such an exciting and jam-packed couple of yea...

A few things you may not know: In SFUSD, teachers get three days of professional development before one work day.  This isn't enough ...

And so it begins! Here's my advice for the big FIRST DAY.  As a reminder, I am actually a teacher at a public school.  I do not merely...

I am leaving town tomorrow for two weeks of professional development, partially about writing.  And also, I'll be visiting with some of ...

As a devoted Enronista, I've been following John Arnold for years  and  years. I'm happy to say that his continued campaign to des...

For this year's 4%, District teachers are doing way more than 4% new work: We are required to use two new data systems.  Neither was r...

There has got to be a better way to handle the wait pool than a three week carousel roster.

Yay, one week of Kindergarten under the bridge.  My class is enormously cute and bright.  I am hoping that my roster is stabilizing, but I s...

Is there a Kindergarten student in your household?  Then read  this  before school starts, and think about how you can help Kindergarten be ...

In February, it seemed like a totally great idea to apply for an out-of-state professional development taking place the week before I report...

Pay for performance is a very popular education reform plan.  The fact that pay for performance doesn't seem to work very well - I give ...

Families Get Ready! Using a permanent marker, write your child's first name in a prominent location on all items of clothing your chil...

This morning, I read  this  article in the  Mercury News  about a database of school district employee salaries. The database is a littl...

It's a good thing Proposition 30 passed, because California's schools are going to need it.  Honestly, we had better start the campa...

FACT: Chi Tschang was found to have physically and mentally abused children while principal at KIPP Fresno. FACT: KIPP attempted to kee...

Soooooooo I have been enjoying this really delightful holiday from education news (well, most of the time), SFUSD factoids (haven't read...

My general method of classroom set-up is to pile everything up in the middle of the room.  This makes it easy to hang fadeless, and I make s...

My iPod died spectacularly this summer.  Having recently received my paycheck, I took myself off to replace it and found that the iPod Touch...

So I took the summer off from blogging. Truth be told, I took the summer off from teaching.  Other than two planning days at my new school...

In today's New York Times , there's an entire article on  how naughty educators aren't protecting student data . The article f...

This article - from the New York Times  series "Teachers are Crazy Lazy" - irritated me. I mean, there are some interesting cult...