Nancy E. Bailey's Blog, page 85

The Little Engine That Derailed—How Aligning Books to Skills Kills the Joy of Reading

It is one thing for a child to read The Little Engine That Could for the pleasure of the story and quite another for her to comprehend the inner workings of a locomotive. ~Joanne Yatvin, former public school educator, a past president of the National Council of Teachers of English, and a former member of […]

Why Teachers Quit and What Administrators Would Do if They Wanted to Keep Them

A parent I know who is a strong crusader for goodness and public schooling told me about a Forbes article, “The Top 8 Reasons Your Best People Are About to Quit – And How You Can Keep Them.” How does this list apply to teachers? How do the negative business reasons described by Forbes affect […]

Ode to Moms I Admire Who Fight Draconian Ed. Reform

I am not a poet and I know it, but here I go ith. Here’s to the Moms who fight Common Core. They want it thrown out the classroom doors…. It’s a bore! And we don’t adore. Here’s to the Moms who support all the children, even those not their own. Treat yourself to tea […]

How Losing the Arts in Public Schools Hurts Students and Their Future Careers

President G.W. Bush loves to paint and has recently gotten recognition for his artwork, but does he know how his administration squelched the arts for millions of public school students, thereby also stifling their chances of a good career in the arts? That’s right. There are jobs in the arts! NCLB included the arts. It […]

Louis C.K.’s Comments—Good For Public Schools—or Not?

There seems to be two camps in education. One is happy that Louis C.K. spoke out about Common Core and testing. They have posted and re-posted on Facebook his stint on David Letterman. The other side is not happy about the attention celebrities get if the topic is education. They believe the celebs only distract […]

In Honor of Teacher Appreciation Week—Who Are They Kidding?

Get ready teachers! The country is priming for that once a year period where you are venerated by America for the work that you do—for all the children you just finished testing the heck out of—through little fault of your own. It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! Want to see how so-called leaders and the media are […]

Girl Scout Badges Made Just for Teachers!

A new corporate idea being revved up for public schools involves teachers earning badges…because there is nothing that says Free Market more than teachers competing with Girl Scouts. Here are some badges you can earn, teachers: Money Counts. Teachers, earn this badge when you spend 50% of your paycheck on materials that the school cannot […]

Schools and Tornadoes

So here they come again. If you live in the heartland you know what I’m talking about. I am still not used to spring in the Mid-south, and I thought this was going to be a good year. I guess not. Once again we sadly watch as people describe what it was like to live […]

Better Prepared Teachers? Coffee Chat with Arne and Andrea

The other day I watched  Andrea Mitchell interview Arne Duncan. It’s always difficult for me to listen to authorities on teaching who have never been teachers, or who have never even studied what it takes to be a teacher. When they bloviate what the government needs to do to make good teachers, I want to […]

Refusing to Kiss the Chimp—Professionals, Crazy Stunts, and High-Stakes Testing

Years ago, back before test motivation had anything to do with calculated stunts, a friend of mine, who did some nice things for our school, brought in an adorable chimpanzee. It was a real hit with the students. At one point I was put on the spot to kiss it. Despite student begging—they drastically wanted […]