The new teacher evaluation (TEAM) in Tennessee has caused a flurry of conversation among educators, legislators, media, and the general public. The idea that all teachers in a public school system be evaluated at a minimum four times per year is upsetting to some and much different than the previous model. At most, teachers were…
At the beginning of my first school year as a first grade ELL teacher, I set a vision for each of my students. It wasn’t some long, elaborate prescription, but it did outline their goals for the end of the year and my hopes for their future. In September, I asked each student to commit…
A friend of mine who works in education in Australia (and was actually my 11th grade English teacher) recently forwarded me this fascinating clip from a recent Ted Talk. The talk is about the “Studio School”, a new kind of school in the United Kingdom where “small teams of kids learn by working on projects.”…
A Message from Jamie Woodson Friends, September 20 was a special night! The first annual SCORE Prize event, held at the historic Ryman Auditorium, truly celebrated success in public education in Tennessee. Throughout the evening, winners and finalists were lifted up for the work they are doing, work that proves that even in the face…
This post originally appeared on the Tennessee Charter School Incubator blog. In the education world, heaps of debates have raged over the decades about how American schools should be structured, what should be taught, how it should be taught and the like. But most of those discussions are snoozers for the mainstream – better left…