February | 2024 | educationrealist
1 post published by educationrealist during February 2024| educationrealist
1 post published by educationrealist during February 2024| educationrealist
I sit my kids in groups. But I don’t like “group work”. No, that’s not a paradox. Sitting in groups isn’t “group work”. Group work is an activity that fall…| educationrealist
1 post published by educationrealist during July 2025| educationrealist
I originally planned on following up on my group projects assignment within a week, but got distracted by semantics. I’ll probably put that in another piece some day. Like many people, I conflate t…| educationrealist
While a lot of “group work” is forced, group projects are an essential part of education. And while freeloaders are a problem, they aren’t the only personality type that needs han…| educationrealist
Original publication: 01/02/25 In late October, The Free Press published Abigail Shrier’s1 article Kindergarten Intifada. Shrier’s charge that “[t]here is a well-coordinated, national effort between teachers, activist organizations, and administrators to indoctrinate American children against Israel” would benefit much from a better understanding of important issues in education.2 So I thought I’d explain how to read […]| educationrealist
(originally published: 12/25/24) I first noticed Abigail Shrier when she made the podcast rounds to discuss her first book. I didn’t like her style, but didn’t think much of it. Then she wrote a series of blog posts that claimed to show how “activist teachers recruit kids” into….being transgender, I guess. I wrote about her articles and their shocking ignorance on basic school policy, because it […]| educationrealist
Originally published on substack: 11/3/2024 A third of teachers like their jobs, and while that’s a little less than the half of Americans who enjoy their work, it’s not so far off that we shouldn’…| educationrealist
“OK, today in focus we’re going to read Grandfather’s Journey together. We will find new words on each page, talk about vocabulary and meaning.” “Grandfather?” …| educationrealist
So my new “year” has started with the onset of the new semester. I am, oddly, teaching only 50% math. My school couldn’t find a new English teacher (note, again, the pain point fo…| educationrealist
So the first semester is coming to an end, with its three different preps and an ELL class. Up next: three trig classes. Normally, I kvetch at the idea of teaching three classes in a row. By time t…| educationrealist
The last time I taught US History was in spring 2017, and it was the shit. Trump had just won and as my readers know, I live and teach in deepest of blue blue lands. Thirty students who’d nev…| educationrealist
I promise I won’t routinely spin off from substack columns, but when Freddie DeBoer asked his readers what the best configuration for a 4-day work week would be, I was really surprised that n…| educationrealist
Every year, right around now, I deeply regret transitioning into a teaching career. I speak, of course, of the end-of-the-year checkout. This is a miserable process and my hatred for it deepens e…| educationrealist
It was a rare treat to see back-to-back great good education sense from a Marxist and a neoliberal. I subscribe to Freddie DeBoer, and a friend gifted me a subscription to Matt Yglesias (not as Ed)…| educationrealist
Bless me Father for I have sinned. It’s been four and a half years since my last curriculum article. My entire teaching career has been spent navigating a student ability gap that got noticeably wider sometime before the pandemic. The strongest kids are getting better, the weaker ones spent middle school not learning a thing […]| educationrealist
The reactions to Charlotte Cowles’ decision to give scammers $50,000 in the belief she was protecting her income with a CIA agent range from object lesson that could happen to anyone to roili…| educationrealist
Here’s the thing: I only have one prep this year. The whole year. I have a lot of credentials. I can teach any subject except science. (OK, language and PE as well, but they’re not real…| educationrealist
