Friday, November 14, 2008

Teaching In The 408: Author's Index

It's a strange thing, to posthumously reflect upon and involve yourself in a blog – this undertaking that chronicled an unparalleled, unequaled period of my life. It's a strange thing to have those thoughts and ideas existing outside of your direct focus and control, and outside really, what's happening now. You read something and it comes echoing a little out of the past, this person you used to be, this life you used to live. But don't anymore.

And still, folks find their way here, now, in the post-departure period, and maybe it is unclear what this place represented and why some found it special. The thematically categorized links below are an attempt to close that gap, an index and a primer, as well as a response to blogger's poor navigational tools, and an attempt to address my tendency to intersperse high-level writings and intensely held beliefs with reflections on grading while hungover, which captured the attention of a particular US News & World Report journalist, but probably isn't terribly representative of this body of work as a whole.

Thank you for reading, both now and in the time before.

Metaphysical first principles for teaching and learning
∆ Three ways to build professionalism
∆ Rhetoric aside, this is why many of the best of us are leaving
∆ What the achievement gap is not
∆ What's worth caring about; why it's hard

NCLB, merit pay, and other things union reps aren't supposed to support
∆ A primer on merit pay
∆ A primer on NCLB
False dichotomies: The ways NCLB does and does not affect our work

English Language Learners and their discontents
∆ How we set up ELL kids for failure
∆ Why Ana succeeds where Jorge fails
∆ Leveling the field and ensuring success for the Jorges

Tainted love: TFA and me
∆ TFA's (lack of) commitment to teaching as transformational force
∆ How that lack of commitment becomes enshrined as something great
∆ I repeat these ideas in print, forever alientating the Bay Area Executive Director

Those four walls
∆ I had more fun teaching grammar than should be allowed by law
∆ Maybe gangs aren't what we've been thinking
∆ My super-secret classroom management approach
∆ The end of this work, and its beginnings
A lot of weeks went a lot like this
∆ There is inexplicable tragedy to teaching and we fall short often
∆ Happy trails, POY... and thanks
∆ My own departure triology: announcement, why and not-why

15 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jackpot.

3:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

More motivation to read the archives. Yay!

7:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

so happy to hear your voice again

7:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for putting this up--I have definitely spent time looking for old posts. Now I don't have to spend time.

12:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've met you, and I have a little crush. Just had to confess. Very aware that you're taken.

1:34 PM  
Blogger KB said...

Pretty flattery, anon. Where'd we meet?

12:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

wow.
can't believe you still are out there.
did you see the recent TFA study..
basically enthusiasm and better education trumps experience??
anway... miss you!!

9:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! You are a phenomenal writer! Would you be interested in possibly writing something about my new website? www.thelessonplanbook.com?

I look forward to hearing from you..
Nicole
nhabashy@thelessonplanbook.com

1:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this post

4:23 AM  
Blogger Sam said...

I missed this blog when it was active, now I've read a few past posts. Are you going to write from inside the EdTrust? Writing about the edpolicy world from the inside would be a whole new perspective. At the same time, I understand that blogging from the inside may not be a great way to make friends at work. So?

6:07 AM  
Anonymous San Diego DUI Attorney said...

Thanks for motivating the rest of us!

5:18 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hey there! I enjoy your blog and just wanted to let you know about a teacher community website I've been using called http://applebatch.com. It's a free teacher network for K-12 educators to connect and share resources. I know you and your readers will enjoy it!

10:07 AM  
Blogger Gordon Hall said...

I emailed you awhile back to let you know that your blog was an inspirational factor in my decision to join Teach For America. I read your blog all the way through my experience as a corps member.

It helped. A lot.

And I've read other stuff. I've read the crap on teachfor.us. Different category of stuff. Mostly twitter updates.

I'm starting my fourth year now, and feeling, maybe for the first time, the real joy of the job. There's much on this blog that I could connect to in years previous, but not the success (at least not the whole school variety). But, I changed jobs, and now I feel it, and it is wonderous.

I miss this blog, man, and I wanted to let you know. It's a shame you're not a teacher anymore. I say this not in some grand way, but in my own selfish way. I wish you nothing but the best in your current venture. I just wanted to let you know that you were really good at this, and your contribution to this experience was valuable.

6:16 PM  
Anonymous Coach Hire said...

I liked going through reading your article, it was awesome, but can you please ensure there are no black fonts next time, it hurts my eyes :(

1:55 AM  
Anonymous Tampa DUI Attorney said...

Very good article thanks for the post!

9:08 AM  

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