andrewce

11 ms·

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by andrewce 16y ago
Most do, yes. It doesn't matter if you're in a private charter school or a large public school, with large classes or small classes, if all that is going on is the lecture-then-test that limits itself to rote recall. If that's all that we'r
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by andrewce 16y ago
This might not be a correct assumption, but the difficult part about it is defining "quality", and should there be a difference, identifying the culprit. I suspect that the "back to the basics" ethos of NCLB has done more harm than good (it
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by andrewce 16y ago
I worked with a teacher a few years back who would repeat the mantra "Learning is not fun. Learning is never fun. The only time you can have fun is after you are done learning." But you're right; honest engagement with a discipline is a bri
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by andrewce 16y ago
Seconded! If you're working 19 hours a day, there aren't many hours when you're not working. As such, there's no reason to put too many limits on when your 1st employee can work (so long as those 40 hours/week are met and stuff is getting d
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by andrewce 16y ago
I agree with the general premise of the article (that school's purpose should be to help children become adults who know their talents (and have talents)), and will ignore the notion of "discovering" purpose (as acknowledging it requires th
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by andrewce 16y ago
I had a calc teacher in high school who did the "recommended homework" thing. It was amazing, as I could devote however much time I needed in order to be able to identify and then efficiently and effectively solve a given problem type. This
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by andrewce 16y ago
When I taught, I was working 10-12 hour days (some of this was due to my own inefficiency, and some of it was due to the massive inefficiency of the school in which I taught) and pulled in about $30k/year. Our salary schedule was such that
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by andrewce 16y ago
I run a non-profit organization; we aren't yet in position to need much in the way of software, but when we get there, it's gonna be open-source all the way unless it's clear that doing otherwise is in the best interest of the organization.
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by andrewce 16y ago
It should be noted that 30-50% of teachers leave the profession within the first 5 years.
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by andrewce 16y ago
I make my living by substitute teaching right now, as well as running creative writing workshops for K-12 students in the state in which I live (I'm in the midwest). In the last calendar year, I've been roughly 25 different schools. In addi
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by andrewce 16y ago
I'll gladly concede that getting rid of incompetent teachers (or otherwise having some ability with which to help those who want to improve improve), or at least securing the ability to do so, is an extremely necessary start. Particularly w
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by andrewce 16y ago
It's not just being able to fire/reward teachers (depending on quality). The definition of "good teacher" they seem to be using is some variant of the "value-added" model, by which teachers are evaluated based on how much the test scores of
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by andrewce 16y ago
Frankly, either will do you some good. The key thing to take away from this is not the course matter itself, but the implicit, generalizable lessons from it. In both, you learn how to put words in their best order. It is just that each genr
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by andrewce 16y ago
I've heard the same thing about "The Da Vinci Code". Doesn't necessarily mean that a majority of people hold such a view (that said: a sizable enough minority is not too far from being a majority).
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by andrewce 16y ago
" I'd be fine with showing some scenes from the Wire in a course on urban inequality, but I'd really hate to give students the impression that the Wire is the final authority on what life in Baltimore is like." Hopefully, students will be s
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by andrewce 16y ago
For communicative purposes, rhetoric is an amazing field of study. Many of the texts I used in college were crap, but Jay Heinrich's "Thank You For Arguing" is pretty phenomenal as far as being a quick and accessible primer to rhetorically-
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by andrewce 16y ago
I worked in a similar situation, though with a group of people who wanted to form an arts venue in the largest city in my state (I'm in the midwest). When I agreed to come on (after leaving teaching), there was promise of salary. The salary
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by andrewce 16y ago
Then figure out, in terms of expenses and whatnot, what you'll need to get to demo and beta and beyond (should this prove feasible). From there, it gets trickier, but if you've built a good product that relieves some need without causing to
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by andrewce 16y ago
Business plans can be extremely useful, or not useful at all, depending on how you use them. The biggest questions they should answer are: "What are we doing, how will we make money from it, and how much money will we make?" (It should also
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by andrewce 16y ago
William Faulkner claimed to have written "As I Lay Dying" in one draft over the course of 6 weeks. He was almost certainly lying.
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by andrewce 16y ago
I spent my summers (as a child) doing more or less what you've described. Looking back, my parents did a few major things that helped make this a successful venture (or so I like to think, given my belief that I can do the things you've out
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by andrewce 16y ago
The best editor is one who is insightful, constructive, and absolutely merciless toward your writing. Your responsibility as a writer is to your reader; give them the clearest and most direct path to follow that you can (via the most access
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by andrewce 16y ago
I have my students do this, from middle-schoolers who are just learning the language to high-schoolers in advanced placement English classes. Reading your own writing aloud works wonders, so long as you're willing to edit mercilessly while
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by andrewce 16y ago
It could be that he looks at all the things that need to be done, goes "Aw crap. Where do I even start?" and then gets frustrated and overwhelmed, leading to inaction and the subsequent guilt over inaction. In the non-profit I run, I find t
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by andrewce 16y ago
Generally, I'll make sure to map out complex tasks by breaking them into simple components/milestones, each with a clear deadline. More specifically, I've been using Google Calendar for about a year to great effect to keep track of my freel