Ben Slavic

VP Open Letter Suggestion

Those following the VanPatten Open Letter thread here over the past few days are invited to do some nonviolent direct action (MLK) as per: …we who in engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive… We don’t have to […]

VP Open Letter Suggestion Read More »

Arizona Update

I asked Michael for an update on the Arizona situation and he kindly replied: Hi Ben, Here is a link to the document. If you click the PDF the new version will come up. The final version is just okay. They seem to “scrub” it to make sure certain words and phrases don’t stick out.

Arizona Update Read More »

What SLOW Means to Me

Just wanting to teach slower, so that they can understand, cannot be willed by the mind. No amount of SLOW posters can help us. The problem is the mind itself, it’s nature. We can’t depend on it to slow us down. The mind, it seems, only wants to speed things up! So much to teach,

What SLOW Means to Me Read More »

Diane on Reading

Diane shares: Here’s what I’ve done with reading as it’s developing this school year: – 3 Steps from Establish Meaning to massive aural input to reading stuff created in class with the students (or sometimes written by me, but highly linked to previous class discussion). – In addition, about once a month or at most

Diane on Reading Read More »

An Open Letter to Deans

Eric shares: The article recently shared by Sabrina deserves our attention. It concludes with a letter we can cut and paste and send to administrators, which I have already done. Below is what I wrote my principal and I include the letter: The below introductory paragraph and letter to university admin are the conclusion to

An Open Letter to Deans Read More »

One Must Choose

Online conversations are always happening between individuals about the two current schools of thought (CI vs. Traditional), but rarely are they as pointed as between the two people in the conversation below. After a number of emails back and forth between these two people, our Alisa Shapiro just got tired of playing nicey with Person

One Must Choose Read More »

Marzano

David Young writes: About two years ago all the teachers in my school were given the book “Better Learning Through Structured Teaching” by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey.   This book has been a sort of guide for the professional development sessions that we have most weeks.  I look at the book at it seems

Marzano Read More »

PLC Map

[ed. note: From time to time we post this about our PLC map. You may want to add your information to it. If all the pins look jumbled together, just zoom in and you can see where people are much more clearly. See the Tutorial hard link above for details.] Thank you to Sean Lawler

PLC Map Read More »