Education
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Is grading writing even possible?
I recently had a conversation with someone who didn’t know I was an English teacher. More accurately, I overheard a conversation in which one person said she liked writing, and the other person…
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The Right Question
“I feel especially in the West, there is a lot more of like, ‘Oh, my God, what will happen because of this A.I.?’” Mr. Nadella said. “And it’s better to sort of really…
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Kids prefer paper books. Can educators and tech companies allow it?
As a homeschooler, I placed a premium on creative, active pursuits rather than screens. It wasn’t difficult to leave the television off, to wait till they were older to introduce the computer, or…
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Reading Highlights
I’m not sure I’ll remember all I’ve read since my last book post, but here are a few highlights at least: Watership Down. What a fantastic (re)read. Who would imagine that a story…
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Cultivating Young Writers
Last week at a homeschool gathering, I found myself between two mothers who were discussing writing curriculum. Neither of them knew I have an advanced degree in English, have taught at several colleges,…
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A hypothesis tested: homeschooling brings real gains
A friend asked me recently about homeschooling in those areas in which I don’t have noteworthy expertise — like chemistry, which my younger daughter has been taking this year, or pre-calculus, which she…
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In crisis, we crave the humanities
This article in Inside HigherEd makes the point that even in the midst of a crisis, the humanities — fields of study that explore human history, society, art and language and literature, spiritual…
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Is there a crisis of expertise?
When should we trust the experts? For that matter, who counts as an expert, and on what is this based? Expertise is by nature narrow and specialized; at what point does someone’s expertise…
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Knee-Jerk Reactions to Homeschooling: Child Advocacy — or Totalitarianism?
Though I dispute the term “homeschooling” to describe the COVID-19-inspired shift to distance learning in public education, it is clearly causing discomfort not just for those directly involved, but for theorists and policy-makers.…
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Lately
I’ve been reading and listening to a variety of things lately — books, audiobooks, and podcasts. It’s curious how my reading habits have changed from one book at a time, read with single-minded…