News on TAP #1 + life update

TAP = The Achievement Plateau. Can't be an ed newsletter (blog?) without acronyms.

Maybe the classroom candy jar will be replaced by the classroom bullet jar. Photo by Jay Rembert on Unsplash

1. Today I’m experimenting with something new: a roundup of interesting education articles and some related thoughts. I’ve also got a brief life update as a bonus today. Hope you enjoy!

2. Banning sexualized content in school libraries? A suburban Philadelphia school district, Central Bucks, passed a resolution that, according to the article, “allows district parents to challenge books available in its libraries, paving the way for the removal and replacement of literature deemed by a committee as ‘age-inappropriate,’ and outlines that at every grade level, ‘no materials ... shall contain visual or visually implied depictions of sexual acts’ or “explicit written descriptions of sexual acts.”

3. Policies like this are unnecessary political theater. No one is proposing a porn section in school libraries, and students have access to more “depictions of sexual acts” on their smartphones than they ever will in a. The grand irony of book bans is that the students are demonstrating more maturity and understanding of history and sociology than those claiming they’re not mature enough to handle explicit content. Book banning is “age-inappropriate” for adults.

4. Armed teachers? This NYT article explores why more and more teachers are carrying guns at work. In Ohio, a new law requires just 24 hours of firearms training for educators to be armed. Ohio also requires 24 hours of training for learning to drive. Not sure how those are comparable, other than we should require all gun owners, like car owners, to get insurance.

5. It’s hard for me to imagine leading a school with armed staff. It was difficult enough training staff to use a new student information system or post a daily objective (which is often a tedious, theatrical requirement anyway).

6. From Politico: the origin of the religious right can be traced back to school segregation. (Thanks to Schooling in Socialist America for bringing this article to my attention in its most recent post).

7. College students who copy their homework benefit less from homework than those who work out the answers themselves. Shocker. This study also suggests the internet has turbo-charged homework copying. Does that mean homework will soon be obsolete?

8. Life update! Friday was my final day of work as a principal in the School District of Philadelphia. I played a lot of songs during morning admit and memorized a lot of students’ names, and feel most proud that I left the school better than I found it. Still, I’m sad to leave.

9. In a few weeks, I’ll start a three-year journey to earn my EdLD, or Doctor of Education Leadership, from Harvard. The EdLD is more of a doctorate for practitioners, preparing me for continuing my career in the field, whereas a PhD is more focused on preparing for a career in academia.

10. I’m not sure what’s on the other side of this journey: district leadership, policy, working in government — the possibilities are endless, and I’m open to letting the learning change me. And I’m excited.

11. In the meantime, I’ve got three weeks to focus on being a new dad. And pack. Packing is the worst, right?

12. I’m doing a lot of self-talk to remind myself that moving is an opportunity to declutter and live a simpler life. To be specific, our life will get about 66% more simple: we’re moving from our 2400 sq ft to an 837 sq ft apartment.

13. Regardless, I’ll have a computer. And time between classes. I plan on continuing to write, and I hope you’ll continue to read.

    Thanks, and have a great week.