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Assorted anecdotes

  07/07/2020       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

This is the start of a new category I’ve been meaning to put into my blog. As the description says, it is an assortment of (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes
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Rigor as homework

  11/13/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

I ran into a young girl last night who asked me if I had taught at her old high school, a private one. I confirmed (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

Opening up

  10/15/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

Over the years I’ve engaged in intense discussions with teachers about how to conduct yourself in the classroom. On another listserv a group of us (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

When is technology good for students? (and where?)

  10/01/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

This report was copied to the Diane Ravitch blog. I copy out only part of it. The upshot seems to be that moderate, not high, (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

Response to Mike Cox’s post

  09/25/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

Mike’s post forces us to look very closely at what happens when we interact and in that interaction, someone learns. As the late departed Yogi (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

It’s how you start.

  09/06/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

Think of doing this with a class of high school freshmen: taking each one as an individual. I am sure, Jody, when you approached each (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

Education vs pleasure

  08/27/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

Stephen Krashen wrote: Why is pleasure reading always the last resort in language education, especially when it is so effective and pleasant? key words: pleasure/education (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes, Teaching & Learning

regarding the sociology of depts & what next: resp to Chris

  08/12/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

Chris, you are truly courageous. Simple disagreement is seen as hostility and unkindness. Everyone’s cute new trick for the week has to be praised even (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

(No Title)

  08/10/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

Diane Ravitch quotes Fareed Zakaria” “In truth, though, the United States has never done well on international tests, and they are not good predictors of (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

The teacher drain

  08/09/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

My son is going into administration and my son-in-law is moving to Portland, in a blue state. I retired two years ago and would not (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

Who will pay?

  08/05/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

Few people would argue that the invasion of Iraq was the right thing to do and I use the word “people” advisedly because Bill Kristol (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

Professionalism

  08/05/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

One day I was mopping the floor and a family member advised me to open a counseling business in my home as a tax write-off. (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

(No Title)

  08/01/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

This one gets to me. I recall the way non-members at my school would badmouth the union but gladly take the benefits we won and (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

Abilities versus skills – the death blow to practice

  06/14/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

From Joining the Literacy Club, first p. 49: “The word ‘skill’ is extensively misused in education. There is a tendency to define everything to be (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

Nice attitude (sarcasm(

  06/13/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

Look at this great attitude: If they are going to give me the tech (and I love my techy toys, no matter what people say (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

Teaching style

  06/12/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

Here’s one where someone in a foreign country asked about my teaching style: That’s a deep subject. It is EXTREMELY culture-bound (tahziz ka paaband ?? (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

Technology and me

  06/12/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

It’s one of the reasons I left teaching. Admittedly, at 73 I’m low-tech in everything, but what I did was observe how teachers used technology (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

a good summary of our situation

  05/13/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

This comes from Michael Hynes, one of the best superintendents on Long Island, Néw York, epicenter of the Opt Out movement: Public Schools Work- We (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

Step back, Robot!

  04/13/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

This from an ACTFL Smartbrief: In the 2014-2015 school year, nearly 12 million K-12 students in public districts will take college readiness assessments online for (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

Will Dr. K never learn?

  02/28/2015       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

Sent to the Los Angeles Times, Feb. 28, 2015 Paul Peterson (Op-ed, Feb. 23) asserts that yearly testing done under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

What gets in the way of good teaching

  12/22/2014       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

Stephen Krashen wrote: “I think that for other learning, the concept corresponding to the Comprehension Hypothesis is the hypothesis that we learn facts and concepts (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

Letter to person touting Common Core

  10/19/2014       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

Ms. Susan Carlson, Exec. Director Arizona Business & Education Coalition 3030 N. 3rd Street, Suite 965 Phoenix, AZ 85012 1957 E. Victoria St.Chandler, AZ 85249 (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes

Letter to neighbor re Pioneer Institue piece on CC

  10/19/2014       Pat Barrett      Add Comment

I note the phrasing of the admonition to be sure not to do training of educator personnel on the cheap: “Inadequate training, instructional materials or (Continue Reading)

Anecdotes
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