I miss Kurt Vonnegut. Lived through the Great Depression. Fought in WWII. A POW and a social critic. Truly a leading voice for the twentieth century. Fifty years of writing – 14 novels, 3 short story collections, 5 plays, and 5 works of nonfiction. Slaughterhouse Five is a must read for anyone (and on my suggested list … Continue reading Billy Pilgrim and the Sermon on the Mount – The Differences Between the Beatitudes and the Me-atitudes

There are no “silver bullets” or “magic pills” when it comes to changing a school. There is no one thing that can be done, no standard blueprint, no Harry Potter spell that can be executed that will make a struggling school turn its fortune around overnight. Rather, transforming schools is a process – one that … Continue reading True Human Resources: People Make Schools Work – Ask the NCGA to Invest in Them With Your Vote in November

In many ways I have never stopped being your teacher, and while your time in my classroom may or may not have been the intellectual pinnacle of your academic career (although we know it was), please know that I wish you all good things. Remember to go to class. Major in English. Lots of money … Continue reading To All My Former Students Going Back to College

Dear members of the North Carolina General Assembly and State Supt. Johnson, This may not be a popular opinion, but it is one that is a matter of principle to me. I will be receiving a bonus this year for having a certain number of students pass the AP English Language and Composition Exam for … Continue reading Open Letter to the NCGA and State Supt. Johnson Concerning Bonus Pay for Teachers

Senate Bill 599, misnamed the “Excellent Teachers In Every Classroom” bill, passed through the last days of the recent legislative session of the NC General Assembly in 2017. A hack of a bill, it was sponsored primarily by Senator Chad Barefoot, as a means of addressing the teacher shortage in North Carolina’s public schools with … Continue reading Dear NCGA, We Have Great Teacher Programs in Our Colleges and Universities

News this past February that a “fix” for the class size mandate was “agreed” upon by both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly should seem like a welcome outcome. On the surface, it was a victory for parents, advocates, and schools in that the mandate will be pushed back for a while and some … Continue reading Using Our Students As Political Pawns (HB90) – Remember This Happened When Voting in November

“Collaborate” :intransitive verb. Noun form is “collaboration” – 1:to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor  Simply put, collaboration as described in that first definition from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary website is the best resource/tool that a school can have and that leaders can encourage. What makes schools work best are the … Continue reading Our Schools Should be About Collaboration Among Teachers, Not Competition

Many times over this summer, I have heard from many well-intentioned people that it must be nice to have a job that allows one to only work 10 months out of a year. Write a blog or some op-eds about conditions of the teaching profession and the state of public schools in North Carolina and … Continue reading Public School Teachers: 10-Month Employees, But 12-Month Educators

On August 11th, The Civitas Institute released a report by Leah Byers entitled "The Problem with Average in Teacher Pay" (https://www.nccivitas.org/2018/problem-average-teacher-pay/). It starts, "Education funding has been a heated topic in North Carolina again this year. Progressives and others on the Left say the state is underfunding schools and teachers. These claims come despite years … Continue reading Why The Cost Of Living Adjustment Argument is Erroneous When Discussing Teacher Salary

Every week, State Supt. Mark Johnson releases an "NC Reads Reading Tip" on his Twitter account to give suggestions to parents and guardians about how to help foster and greater love of reading at home. Considering those who have propped up Johnson as the state's leader of the public school system also intentionally wrote the … Continue reading #NCReadsConfusingNewAmendments – Taking Mark Johnson’s #NCReads Tips to Understand the Wording of the Constitutional Amendments