I’m haunted by the Biblical story about leaving the ninety and nine sheep safely in the fold to go rescue the one lost sheep: How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which [...]
Posts Tagged ‘school reform’
Teachers and the Ninety and Nine
Posted in Education, Religion, tagged Bible, Book of Mormon, David O. McKay, educational standards, Matthew 18:12-14, priorities, school reform, teaching on July 13, 2010 | 3 Comments »
My Speech To The School Board
Posted in Education, tagged CCSD, cultural criticism, educational reform, family, Las Vegas, school board, school reform on April 9, 2010 | 5 Comments »
This what I said to the Clark County School Board at last night’s public meeting: My name is Jamie Huston and I am here to ask you to let me serve as the next superintendent of our school district. I was raised here myself and have two children in school now, with a third starting [...]
Huston For Superintendent
Posted in Education, tagged academic achievement, budgets, CCSD, Clark County School District, economy, effective teaching, personal responsibility, school reform, superintendent on April 3, 2010 | 12 Comments »
Last week, the Clark County School District superintendent announced that he’ll be leaving over the summer. As the school board starts searching for a replacement, I’d like to throw my hat in the ring. Below is a list of ideas that I like. I plan to be at their meeting on Thursday, April 8, at [...]
Grade Day of Reckoning
Posted in Education, Politics and Society, tagged cultural criticism, educational reform, failure, parenting, school reform, teaching on March 24, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Third quarter grades were due today, and as I finished entering them, I couldn’t help but notice the big picture for a lot of students. Days like this are sobering and discouraging. Here are two screen shots from my computer, showing what we’re working with here. First, this is a transcript page for a girl in one [...]
50 More Things New Teachers Need To Know
Posted in Education, tagged academic achievement, effective teaching, school reform, teaching on July 18, 2009 | 27 Comments »
“Don’t hit the kids and don’t hit on the kids.” If I had to summarize my best advice about teaching in just one saying, that would be it. However, last summer’s post, 50 Things New Teachers Need To Know, went into a bit more detail and has now garnered thousands of hits, making it this blog’s [...]
An Idea For Teacher Evaluation
Posted in Education, tagged effective teaching, grade books, lesson plans, school reform, teacher evaluation, teaching on March 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Based on some reading I’ve done (such as that covered in some posts a couple of weeks ago), and my nine years of teaching experience, I’d like to suggest a way of more effectively measuring teacher competence. Traditionally, administrators observe bits and pieces of a few classes, and spot check the teacher’s lesson plan book, [...]
More Research On Effective Teaching
Posted in Education, tagged effective teaching, school reform, teaching on February 27, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I’m reading Richard E. Nisbett’s new book, Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count. Its chapter on effective teaching mentions the Department of Education’s web site, What Works Clearinghouse, and its sister site, Doing What Works. I checked them both out, and they look promising. Like most education research, [...]
Two Recent Articles On Effective Teachers
Posted in Education, tagged City Journal, effective teaching, New Yorker, school reform, teaching on February 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
What makes an effective teacher? What’s the meaning of life? What do women want? (Blame Freud for that last one, not me.) These three questions have excited so much postulating and pontificating that many thinkers have given up on trying to answer them at all, instead resigning themselves to the apparent inevitability of resolving such [...]
Liberal Teachers
Posted in Education, Politics and Society, tagged effective teaching, liberalism, parents, school reform on February 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »
It surprises me that so many teachers are liberals. My associations with many dozens of teachers over the years has shown that we’re almost unanimously in agreement on the things that hold back student achievement: apathetic parenting and cultural poison that subverts our efforts. These are both (at least in our current political climate) essentially [...]
It’s Not The Money, Stupid…
Posted in Education, tagged academics, achievement, behavior school, block schedule, budgets, CCSD, school reform, spending, staff development, teacher pay on October 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Clark County School District is facing a budget crisis; after having cut $130 million from its budget for this year, we now find ourselves having to cut even more for next year. Some details are here. Schools are having emergency meetings with parents in the community to discuss ideas for cuts, and my school [...]
Recommended Reading: Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire
Posted in Education, tagged book reviews, effective teaching, Rafe Esquith, school reform, Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire, There Are No Shortcuts on August 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I first read about Rafe Esquith in an article in National Review. After that, I read and enjoyed his book, There Are No Shortcuts. Esquith espouses a teaching ethic that is heavy on emotion and personality, but that is more than balanced out by incredibly high academic standards and a work ethic that would make [...]
On Teaching Literacy
Posted in Education, tagged effective teaching, literacy, school reform, teaching on August 5, 2008 | 1 Comment »
A parent of a student recently sent me this survey as part of her masters’ program, and asked for my input. Following up on my last post (and trying to make up for the deficit of education-related posts this summer), I thought I’d share some of my meager thoughts here. Perhaps they’ll be of interest [...]
Review of Gatto’s “Dumbing Us Down,” Chapter 2
Posted in Education, tagged academic achievement, cultural criticism, Dorothy Sayers, Dumbing Us Down, John Taylor Gatto, school reform, The Lost Tools of Learning on July 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
After reading endless superlative references to him in the columns of Las Vegas Review-Journal author Vin Suprynowicz, I have decided to read a book by renegade educator John Taylor Gatto, Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. Read the first part of my critique of this book here. This essay covers chapter two of [...]
Letter: Tax Breaks For Good Parents
Posted in Education, tagged cultural criticism, letters, parenting, satire, school reform on June 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A shorter version of this letter was published in the Las Vegas Sun on Saturday, October 28, 2006. It got universally positive feedback, including a hand written note of thanks from the superintendent. Near the end, I say that my idea is tongue-in-cheek because it’s impractical: no doubt the law of unintended consequences would turn [...]
An Educational Anarchist And His Baseless Rant
Posted in Education, tagged book reviews, Dumbing Us Down, John Taylor Gatto, school reform on June 4, 2008 | 1 Comment »
To celebrate the last day of school here in Las Vegas, let me share some thoughts about the beginning of John Taylor Gatto’s “classic” work of subversion, Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. Gatto, an award-winning veteran public school teacher, has spent about the last twenty years shrieking about how awfully destructive [...]
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