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Category Archives: Philosophy
Being Appreciatable
Evidently, today was National Teacher Appreciation Day, and this week (May 1-7) is National Teacher Appreciation Week. This means we get to wade through an ocean of “teachers are overworked and underappreciated” articles and posts on social media. This post … Continue reading
Those Who Can, Do; Those Who Can Teach, Teach
Recently, a friend trotted out the old adage, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” This quote bothers me. I understand the frustration behind it, but my experience suggests otherwise. +1-1
Would you please light me on fire?
In kindergarten and elementary school, birthdays are a big deal. However, sometime between elementary school and high school, birthday celebrations become relegated to families and friends outside the classroom. +50
Taking the Power Play Out of Self-Esteem
I’ve posted about student self-esteem several times. In two posts, Self Esteem from October 2011 and Self-Esteem Starts With Esteem from November 2013, I described students who continually put themselves down, and how I would insist that they say to me, “Mr. Bigler, I’m … Continue reading
“It’s Not That Bad”
When a normally conscientious student lets the end of the quarter arrive with a failing (or barely passing) average because of missing work, it doesn’t take a lot of insight to realize that something is wrong. I had two such students … Continue reading
Childhood Regained
Three years ago, I taught a one-year stint in a “no excuses” charter school. (It was the least satisfying year of my teaching career.) The biology teacher and I started a science team. Problem solving and building things with power … Continue reading
The Ninety-Five Percent Solution
One of my father-in-law’s astute observations of human behavior is that most people do not correctly perceive ratios or probabilities less than 5% or greater than 95%. A greater-than-95% chance of something occurring becomes irrationally either “It definitely will happen,” … Continue reading
Self-Esteem Starts With Esteem
A couple of days ago, I received a voice mail inviting me (personally) to audition for America’s Got Talent. This amused me, and prompted me to post it to Facebook, asking the rhetorical question “I wonder what they think I … Continue reading
Four Fallacies of Educational Policy
One of the easiest ways to make a parent angry is for people who do not have children of their own to give parenting advice. Now suppose that those childless people were given the power to make rules that parents … Continue reading
Endorsement
A couple of times each year I survey my students to find out what they liked and didn’t like about my classes. Every once in a while, I see something in their comments that makes me feel really good. This … Continue reading