I am anti-literacy. What I mean is that I am anti people taking the word “literacy” and placing it after another word simply to make it sound more important or “21st Century.” The other day I read something where “attention literacy” was used. Are you kidding me? Here’s the way I think about the overuse [...]

Another brain dump. It drives me mad when teachers say this to students: How could you not know this?!?!? You were supposed to have covered it last year! First off: it probably wasn’t all that important to begin with. Does it worry me if students don’t retain important information and big concepts from year to [...]

Think back to the most recent cell phone you purchased and how long you spent reading the directions that came with it. Don’t you remember how you scrutinized every word to ensure that you understood all the intricacies of the cellphone? Also, think back to the most recent car you bought. Remember how you went [...]

Recently, I have come across a number of articles that discuss text messaging and questions regarding the “danger” it poses to literacy. Then I was going through my Google Reader and read a post on “A Plethora of Technology” titled “Text Messaging and Literacy” by Barry Bachenheimer where he asks the following: The key question [...]

I truly enjoy reading the “Idea of The Day” from the New York Times, but today really got me thinking and, eventually, upset and annoyed. It discusses a study by Miller-McCune analyzing the effects of having large amounts of books in homes and its effect on educational achievement. Here is an excerpt: “Home library size [...]

I saw a sign today with this same slogan on it. Now I realize that people think it is “cute” or “funny,” but to me, it is downright insulting to the profession. Think about the message that something like this says to kids as it sits on a teacher’s desk. Is it still cute? Post [...]

It amazes me more and more the amount of hypocritical thinking that takes place in the way that people view sports compared to that of education and cognitive development. In fact, after talking to some people, one might actually think that you can control more variables that effect how good an individual is at sports [...]

Tenure doesn’t exist to protect bad teachers. It exists to protect good ones. Suppose tenure doesn’t exist, you are a newly hired superintendent, and you come in to face record high class sizes and a major budget deficit. What do you do? I’ll tell you exactly what you would do. You start by taking every [...]

One of my biggest pet peeves in education is when I attend a meeting, or go to a conference, or attend a colloquium and teachers act unprofessionally. It really makes my blood boil to think that some hold such a double-standard for how we demand kids act in school vs. how they act as professionals. In my [...]

As I sat at TedxNYEd this weekend, a thought kept recurring in my head, which I eventually tweeted: @aaron_eyler: My observation: Big problem with schools is most still haven’t outgrown the backpack. It restricts learning to a sack. @ 11:34 a.m. Now I am sure that there are a lot of people who read (or [...]