My graduate research and my teaching interests have focused primarily on the intersections of public writing and rhetorical theory. Specifically, I am interested in the disconnect between school writing and public writing and how our students and off-campus communities can …
One of the challenges I face as an English teacher is teaching critical thinking skills to my students, as opposed to merely assessing for comprehension. Ultimately, texts are understood through a reader’s interpretation of the larger organization structures signaled by …
Both learning disabilities and giftedness are socially constructed paradigms that fail to educate the student to his full potential while treating him or her as a holistic person with strengths and weaknesses. …
Recently, one of my classes has been analyzing Plato’s Crito and Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience. I always look forward to giving my students these particular texts because of the vitriolic responses that they often evoke (Socrates was crazy…
It’s been a while since we’ve posted a Resource Round-Up here on Learning Diversity, so we figured what better time than now to present you with the best links on the web to help your student, child, or yourself!…
Here’s what you may have missed last week at Learning Diversity:
Alfie Kohn and THE HOMEWORK MYTH
A new study demonstrates the discrepancy between teaching credentials and achievement
ONE YEAR OUT: student survey seems to show that students want …
“A New Approach to Learning Disabilities: Making bureaucratic systems work for educators rather than limiting their ability to work with students” by Dr. Peter J. McDonald and Dr. Michael Riendeau was originally published at The VincentCurtis Educational Register and has …
Is grading obsolete? The controversy about grading is not new, with many teachers advocating for the use of narrative evaluations in place of grading, and some research seems to indicate that it is, ultimately, rather ineffective. This video demonstrates how …
12th grader Tim Bartolini has developed a self-awareness pertaining to his own individual learning styles, which has allowed him to identify areas of academic strengths and those in needs of further development so he can succeed in college. Accordingly, he …
Dr. Don Elwell, Director of the Greylight Theater in Illinois, recently published an article at The Alternative Education Resource Organization entitled, “What World of Warcraft Taught Me About Education.” In it, he writes the following:
“This article was …
Welcome to www.learningdiversity.org! LearningDiversity.org is a hub of information that falls under the general heading of “education,” and focuses on the best practices and cutting edge ideas considered relevant to those that seek alternatives to mainstream institutional approaches. …
This post was written by regular learningdiversity.org contributors Dr. Michael Ben-Chaim and Dr. Michael Riendeau. It was originally published at the Washington Post and has been republished at www.learningdiversity.org with permission from the authors.
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The ongoing debate about the increasing importance of uniform educational standards in the public school system often centers on pedagogical issues. Paul Thomas, in his “A Case Against Standards,” offers a political perspective. Siding with those who construe …
In his latest book, The Same Thing Over and Over: How School Reformers Get Stuck in Yesterday’s Ideas, educator, political scientist, and author Frederick Hess explains why it’s imperative that we thoroughly rethink schooling in light of current goals …
The website 99% has just posted a fantastic compendium of videos describing various aspects of the creative process. Entitled “10 Awesome Videos On Idea Execution & The Creative Process”, the post lets you view lectures and animations from Harry …
Nobody goes into teaching because it seems cushy and lucrative. Presumably teachers are people who have a passion for an academic subject and enjoy working with young people. Most teachers I know like to think they have a positive influence …
In the never-ending discussion of how to fix the broken American public school system we are repeatedly pelted with the now familiar litany of “fixes”; better teacher training, more funding, more accountability, and so on. Many people naturally look to …
Jason, thank you for sharing with us ideas that do challenge me to explore and clarify my own views more thoroughly than before. We are dealing with a complex problem, so, for the sake of simplifying our discussion, I am …
I’m still a relatively new teacher, but based on my experience and in reading quite a bit (for better or worse) about models for reading, I am concerned that many models of reading comprehension focus on certain aspects of reading …
Lately, I have been doing a lot of thinking about how I can better engage and challenge my students while making sure that they feel adequately inspired by the material we are covering. I am very interested in the idea …
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