Over the last several years, I’ve enjoyed working closely with the other editors here at The Mailbox to create, edit, and share a slew of great ideas for upper grades teachers. Just for fun, I’d like to share a few of my favorite ideas for your consideration. “My Page” – Sure, kids these days are…
standardized tests
Time Out for Test Prep
You learn some interesting things sitting in the bleachers at a little league baseball field. While your children practice the fundamentals and intricacies of baseball, you get to commiserate with other parents about all kinds of things. This weekend, for example, a number of parents chatted about EOGs—the universal End of Grade tests administered in…
Happy Birthday to NCLB
Today is No Child Left Behind’s 11th birthday. And while that does not mean that we should also be singing happy birthday to the standardized test, it does mean that we’ve seen a lot more of the standardized test’s face around the classroom in the last 11 years. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) marked the…
My Idea for Rating Teacher Effectiveness
Gathered around the teachers’ dining table, you could feel the anxiety some of us had. To others, the impending event was like water off a duck’s back. It was time for classroom observations. The first time the principal told me she was coming to observe my classroom was almost enough to keep me awake nights….
Thoughts on Pineapplegate?
I never would have thought that one of my favorite exports from Hawaii and the animal that inspired my favorite cartoon character would play such an interesting role in the discussions surrounding education reform. Yet there they were, the pineapple and the hare, driving students and teachers to distraction. In a bit of absurdity that would…
Thanks at Thanksgiving
From myself and the rest of the editors and employees here at The Mailbox, thanks for… –Cleaning up some sick kid’s vomit when you came to school sick yourself –Staying at school until 9:30 PM for that last parent-teacher conference –Getting to school before 6:00 AM to prepare for a day of overseeing bubble-filling –Being…
The Friday Open Invitational
It’s Friday and the Upper Grades Exchange is open to your comments and questions. Is there something you want to know about? Do you have a classroom problem you just can’t seem to solve? Perhaps you’re just coming off a week that saw more than its fair share of little episodes that left you shaking…