Some North Carolina teachers were arrested

They’d walked 20 miles to talk to N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory, who was indisposed. Fourteen of them were arrested when they blocked traffic. Read the comments from the teachers and parents, and why they walked. They’re damn inspiring. Here’s more on the organizing group, Organize 2020.

I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t grading something

I am three days from being done with the school year — if you don’t count finals which I don’t because then I’d be looking at a last day of May 11, when I am assigned to give a final at the last possible hour the school gives finals. Grades are then due…I don’t even know …

Let’s look at childcare

If we’re serious about preparing for the future, a new Economic Policy Institute’s report includes some ways to make the future better for today’s children (and tomorrow’s adults). Some smart moves include (but are not limited to): Expanding public funding for home visits by trained nurses to help expectant parents make healthy choices both before and after …

When housing’s too expensive…

…here’s who you lose: Teachers, firefighters, teachers, and other middle-class workers. From Nathan Heller, at The New Yorker: The quandary became flagrant last week: news circulated that the Palo Alto City Council had moved to explore subsidized housing for families earning between a hundred and fifty thousand and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year. The …

Another good argument for affordable housing

This says that a lack of affordable housing also creates a lack of teachers. So some districts are supplementing teachers’ benefits with help toward rent or mortgage. Pulled from the article: As South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard said in his recent State of the State address: “The quality of education suffers when the schools cannot …

When students tell teachers how they felt about them

On being grateful

Last night, I sat down to grade my CCSU class’s blog posts. We are writing a blog, and the students mostly appear to take it seriously. It’s hard to describe how much grading takes over your life, when you’re a teacher. It can start to feel rote and when I start to feel that way, …

Well, that was a week

I just completed my first-ever week as a full-time academic (no classes on Friday, though I am going to campus for a meeting) and let me tell you some things I’ve learned; There is no harder job. I have never — ever — worked as hard in a week as I did this past one, and I mean work from 6:30 …

I am from a family of teachers, so take that: