A bold claim was made to me recently that giving students grades on assignments and tests actually impedes their ability to self-assess their work. It’s a big deal when an educator insists that what you’ve done for years is actually harming the ability for your students to achieve to their potential.
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A Puff of Absurdity: OFSTED Report
OFSTED recently published a report on what works in schools. Some of the ideas were relevant only to the U.K., but other ideas can be used here. They studied schools in a few different ways, looking at types of teaching that’s most effective and what else really matters in a
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On the Covington Catholic School Incident
The best part of this issue, if there can be a good part, where a bunch of high school boys surrounded Nathan Phillips to get a little kick from exercising their power over another human being, is that they’re being skewered on social media. Their action has precedence. It’s easy
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Continuums: ASD, OCD, ADHD, Alzheimers, and Allergies
Since the Aspergers designation was excluded from the DSM V, many people were, and are, outraged that all cases fall under the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) instead of the separate categories of Autism and Aspergers. There is a world of difference between someone who has some mild problems understanding social
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Evaluating Teachers and Edu-Speak
I just went through the final teacher evaluation of my career, since we are evaluated every five years, and I don’t expect to do this for more than another four. I hope I pass!! I’ve said before that the process has room for improvement. I think teachers within the department
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Arguing Facts
It never ceases to amaze me how often I’ll be writing or thinking about something, and then the perfect articles drop in my lap. It might help that I’ve been scrolling through social media endlessly on my days off! In my prior post, I discussed the need for teachers to
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Ontario’s Education: Call for Ideas
Today’s the last chance to tell Rob Ford and the Minister of Education, Lisa Thompson, what we should do with the educational system. As if it matters. At least it presents the illusion of being heard. People revolt less if they have a chance to speak to the political elites.
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Climate Change Education: Maybe Too Little, Too Late?
I’ve been teaching about climate change since I started teaching in 1991. Back then, most students just laughed, and I came across as a crazy person. I was fine with that mainly because my favourite teacher from high school was also seen as a bit looney. Thinking the bearers of
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: What Should Teachers Do to Prevent Gun Violence?
Lots of us have students who don’t quite fit in and spend all their time alone, friendless. They might have been bullied for being different, and we can’t always solve the problems they have trying to better communicate with other people. But the vast majority are completely harmless. Lot of
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Progressive Education
I recently watched a film, Most Likely to Succeed, which has inspired a lengthy post about educational reform. FIRST, A BIT ON DEWEY AND SKINNER: (If educational theory isn’t your bag, then just scroll down to the next bit.) Is it true that, “If we teach today’s students as we
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Extra Time and IEP Designations
We administered the literacy test yesterday with one new twist that most teachers weren’t privy to until the previous evening: There would be no specific accommodations for students with IEPs (Individual Educational Programs) that call for extra time. Instead, we would allow extra time for anyone that needs it. This
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On School Holidays
If we can’t move or shorten the “winter break” because, let’s face it. we’re running on a Christian calendar with lengthy holidays around Christmas and Easter and no time off for any other religion (well, we recognize Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, but would we if they were at a different time?), if
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Anxiety
I just finished John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down, which I read because he claimed it was his way of trying to put words around what it’s like to live with profound anxiety, and then I saw this article asking “Why are more American teens than ever suffering from
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Betsy DeVos in Ontario
Betsy DeVos is coming to talk to the Minister of Education, apparently to learn about our schools. Let’s hope the meeting just goes in that direction. When she was first appointed by Trump, OSSTF warned, DeVos has been a strong advocate for the creation of more charter schools in her
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Having the Lowest Graduation Rates
This recent article in my local paper tells us that our region is lowest in the province for graduation rates. ON FIFTH YEAR RATES They worry that “Students who did graduate also took longer to do so than almost anywhere else.” The graphic shows 68% finish after 4 years, and
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: The Plight of the Millennials
Further explanation here. First, a bit about statistical norms and the normal distribution. In social sciences, for something to be considered a statistically significant characteristic of a group, it just needs to be present in about 68% of the population, or one standard deviation from the norm. There’s tons of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A wacky idea for getting more value from university administrators: pay them less and never mind competitiveness
PHOTOS: Alberta Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt serving pancakes at yesterday morning’s Premier’s K-Days Breakfast on the south lawn of the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton. Below: Just to stick with the photographic theme, even though it has nothing to do with the story, Premier Rachel Notley cooking up the flapjacks
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Petty, Self-Serving Teachers Taking Sick Days
A timely local article (timely for what I’m going through) in the Record, discusses the horrors of teachers who are allowed to have paid sick days – or that’s how it’s being read by a vocal group of commenters. The facebook rants following it are so routine that the insults are
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: If We Could Be as Smart as Frogs
I regularly tell students about our likely future. It’s often met with skepticism, so I provide lots of citations from the IPCC and NASA. Then I sometimes get a lecture on being so doom and gloom. Denial is our go-to defence against reality. But for whose benefit? It’s just for
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Rising Anxiety Rates
A couple weeks ago, CBC ran an article about a high-school guidance counsellor, Boyd Perry, concerned with the increase in anxiety in students, and I’ve been dwelling on it ever since. This is crazy long as I’m just figuring all the angles here. Perry thinks we need to assess anxiety
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