First of all, I offer deepest condolences to the family of Todd Henry, teacher at John Tyler High School in Tyler. This is one of those incidents that one just cannot explain. Good words came from Nelson Clyde, publisher, Tyler Morning Telegraph, who asked those questions all on our minds… “Why, and What now?”


The State Board of Education decided to leave Christmas, Rosh Hashana, César Chávez, and Thurgood Marshall in the social studies standards. They also voted to reduce expenditures for English textbooks by 4.74% for a savings of $23 million.

Kudos to all 26 of the schools recognized as winners of the federal DOE Blue Ribbon School Award. Nominated by TEA each have at least 40% of the students identified as members of econically disadvantaged familes.

I refrain from commenting on President Obama’s address to our youth. Don’t get me wrong, I have an opinion to which anyone who knows me well can attest. I just don’t want this blog to become tainted with whining. Let me say only that how one can find controversy in such a non-controversial moment begs the question of intellect.

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 passed the House by an almost purely partisan vote with the Texas delegation divided strictly by party lines. With few differences the bill as introduced by Rep. George Miller (D), Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, implements President Obama’s budget proposals for FY2010 student financial aid. Click here for the Committee’s review of the $87 billion injection and here for a more critical review.

Embedded within this legislation is an interesting initiative called the Early Learning Challenge Fund, the basis of President Obama’s Zero-to-Five initiative. The Fund provides moneies to state education agencies to plan, build, and sustain quality early learning programs and increase participaton of disadvantaged children. The Fund is composed of two types of grants: the Quality Pathways Grant and Development Grant. QPGs are for states well on the way toward establishing quality early learning systems. They are approved for five years, and renewable. DGs are rewarded to those states in the beginning stages of early learning system planning. These are issued for three years and non-renewable. For an overview go to Womenstake (I love this site and its progenitor National Women’s Law Center).

Well, so much for Education in September.  I'm sure there is lots more, but these seem to be the highlights.  If I missed something that you want posted, just say so.

We're All Different :-)

I teach French at the high school level. It is not a core course, but, rather, a faux-core course. A student needs not a foreign language to graduate. However, since most students follow the state recommended plan, they must pass two years of the same foreign language as part of the requirements. That means the majority of students in my classes want only to get through the two years, and that’s not a problem. Here’s the problem. How does a teacher deliver the curriculum in a manner that accommodates the various learning styles and motivational levels? After all, it’s neither good teaching nor good learning when everyone is force-fed the same curriculum through the same strategies given the same amount of time.


I don’t profess to have the answer to that, but I do work a plan. I use common empirical data combined with competency-based evaluations to identify and differentiate student ability. I then categorize students by grade as struggling (<70), core (70 – 89), or expanded (≥90). Historically, the population falls as 10% expanded, 70% core, and 20% struggling.

Once categorized, My objectives and strategies are differentiated by group. For example, the curriculum may call for verb study. The core students may work on an activity of filling in the blanks with the correctly conjugated form of a verb. Those of the expanded group, which often includes Gifted-Talented students, may develop their own sentences using the same list of verbs. The struggling students may have to circle the correct verb form from two verb offerings for each sentence. Through these strategical differences I try to avoid the frustration for individual learners of a too slow or too fast pace and to increase the level of learning outcomes.

I monitor categorization of students with a feedback loop that requires a review every three weeks. At the end of the six-week grading period, I evaluate the population shift. If it moves positively with a shift of struggling students to the core group and of core students to the expanded group, it is a success. When an individual learner’s grade moves upwards, or that student moves to a higher group, I deem it successful. When I see any negative movement as a group, then I review the strategies for that group. When I see a negative movement by individual learner, then I look at that student from a personal perspectve, often confering with the counselor.

Is this the answer, probably not. Does this plan work, yes. Is this a lot of work for me, yes again. But when a student moves up in the ranks, it is worth the extra time.