BackboneAmerica

Much has been said about the dumbing down of America. One look at the “Let’s Make A Deal” health-care reform process (more…)

My loveable thug, the one I wrote about before, called me this week. When he left our school a month ago, I knew he had an upcoming trial. (more…)

Two recent education pieces have me thinking, and the second with much concern, because I had not thought of our misguided youth (more…)

Thank goodness for B12, or I might’ve collapsed last Friday. My principal and I both discovered that the right hand doesn’t know (more…)

IEP meetings continue, and I may soon turn into a pumpkin. Meanwhile, Denver Public Schools are holding a school board election (more…)

Here I am, back to blogging. Why the hiatus? Partly because of how many special education students without current IEPs (more…)

First week back in the classroom. Our new math teacher is fresh out of college and trained by Teach America. Our returning students aren’t (more…)

The Colorado Department of Education recently unveiled a new measuring tool and made its results available to the public. Without (more…)

There’s a controversy over the enrollment disparity of special education students in charter schools vis-a-vis district schools. (more…)

Talk big and you’d better prove up. After blogging recently about year-round school, I lamented to my principal that we help (more…)

The soon-to-be graduates marched into the World Arena in Colorado Springs while the organist played “Pomp and Circumstance” (more…)

May means seniors looking forward to impending graduation, and we teachers looking forward to no more of their “senoritis.” Maturity blooms (more…)

Cool: I now recruit as well as teach. At my urging, the mother of one of our previous students became a substitute teacher (more…)

Why does the performance of 16- and 17-year olds stagnate in both reading and mathematics, amid a 40-year trend of rising academic (more…)

There’s a personal angle when I read a story like the one today about 20 colleges and universities asking the federal government (more…)