top of page


How to kill the bad-teaching monster: Don't forget the garlic
To kill a vampire permanently dead, you'll need to hammer a wooden stake in its heart, shoot it with a silver bullet melted down from a...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 1, 20233 min read


'A' is for 'awesome,' 'awful' and 'average'
"The most popular high school grade in America" is "A," writes Tim Donahue, who teaches high school English at Greenwich Country Day...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 25, 20232 min read


You can't give 'Hop on Pop' to a 7th-grader
Middle schoolers who read at the first, second and third-grade level won't read "baby books" and can't read grade-level books, says...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 17, 20231 min read


Both sides: Schools try to create a 'safe space' to 'process' attack on Israel
I feel for teachers who feel obliged to discuss Hamas' terror attack on Israel with their students. How do you talk about terrorists...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 11, 20232 min read


Rosalinda wants to be an astronaut, but she doesn't read very well
Massachusetts, which claims to have the best public schools in the nation, is "failing its neediest learners," write Mandy McLaren and...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 9, 20232 min read


None dare call it 'behaviour'
Students in Australia report "shocking levels of classroom disruption in international surveys," and schools face "a worsening teacher...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 6, 20231 min read


4-day school weeks are spreading, but students learn less
More schools -- and not just in rural areas -- are adopting four-day weeks, reports AP's Heather Hollingsworth. Districts hope the change...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 26, 20232 min read


Schools spend $20 billion a year for equity training, but does it work?
Public schools spend billions on equity training, but have no idea what works, writes Katherine Reynolds Lewis in USA Today. "None of the...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 25, 20232 min read


AI will change testing: Can it grade essays?
Number 2 pencils and fill-in-the-bubble are out, writes Matteo Wong in The Atlantic. Standardized tests are going digital. In a few...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 23, 20232 min read


Old is new in math teaching: 'You have to explicitly teach content'
Johnny can't calculate -- or order enough pizza for a group of six who each want one-third of a pie. Math proficiency, already low,...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 20, 20232 min read


Students aren't bouncing back in math
Math skills fell during "remote education" and many students aren't bouncing back, reports an education reporting collaborative in a...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 6, 20232 min read


Let AI do it: High schoolers don't need to write essays any more
"Good-bye and good riddance" to teaching students to write essays, writes Daniel Herman in The Atlantic. Herman, who teaches English at a...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 5, 20232 min read


Sympathy for the disruptor
A student walks into class 10 minutes late and yells, "What's up, bitches?" What's a teacher to do? To cope with a rising tide of student...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 1, 20233 min read


'Learning stations' are glitzy busywork: Teachers should teach
"Learning stations" are a waste of time, writes Daniel Buck. Motivated achievers may be able to learn independently, but most students...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 23, 20232 min read


Afraid to teach: 'It's safer to avoid current events'
Polarization is chilling classroom dialogue, according to a series of interviews with teachers by the Constructive Dialogue Institute...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 14, 20231 min read


Shakespeare's smut: 'Out, out, gosh-darned spot'
There's no need to edit the dirty jokes out of Shakespeare's plays to comply with Florida's new law, according to the state Education...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 14, 20232 min read


Easy come, easy go: Googling is bad for learning
Students don't need to learn facts, educators have been saying since the Cro-Magnon first learned to search the Internet. "They can just...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 12, 20232 min read


AI can be a teaching and learning tool -- or a crutch
Bots powered by artificial intelligence are getting smarter and smarter. Will people get dumb and dumber? Rick Hess of the American...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 11, 20233 min read


'D' is for 'didn't show up or do the work'
“You’ll have a kid who does nothing for the whole semester, and then last two weeks of May or June, they’ll do a couple assignments and...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 4, 20231 min read


U.S. schools devalue academics, celebrate failure
Are you excessively cheerful? Did you turn your frown upside down and now it's stuck that way? David Steiner will remove your...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 28, 20233 min read
bottom of page


