Before I went to the NSBA conference I thought I was going to focus on the workshop topic of “community engagement” since that is one of the School Committee’s major goals, but it turned out I was compellingly drawn to more workshops in the category of “continuous improvement.” So after Soledad O’Brien’s keynote about how [...]
All posts in category Values and Beliefs
Ron Ferguson’s talk at NSBA 4/21/12
Posted by christinerafal on April 29, 2012
http://rafalforward4.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/ron-fergusons-talk-at-nsba-42112/
Healey-based Fairy Tale, Installment 2
Well, without problems, you’ve got no story. Without things to overcome, you’ve got no heroes. There might be temporary discouragement over the principal’s resignation, but let’s also thank him for the incredible time and effort he put into the school, the neighborhood (commuting to the Mystic Learning Center several Saturdays!), and into the unification work. [...]
Posted by christinerafal on June 20, 2011
http://rafalforward4.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/healey-based-fairy-tale-installment-2/
Reinhold Niebuhr quote
“Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we are saved by hope. “Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we are saved by faith. “Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love. “No virtuous act is quite [...]
Posted by christinerafal on May 8, 2011
http://rafalforward4.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/reinhold-niebuhr-quote/
Cambridge School Changes, “Foreign” Language Idea
Cambridge’s Innovation Agenda might be of interest to those following the restructuring activities around Cambridge’s middle grades. I like the idea at the forefront of educating children for their future rather than our past. My personal opinion then is that students also need more freedom to pursue their own interests–I think that’s part of how [...]
Posted by christinerafal on April 6, 2011
http://rafalforward4.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/cambridge-school-changes-foreign-language-idea/
Common Core Standards
So on Wednesday, the Massachusetts Board of of Elementary and Secondary Education voted to adopt the Common Core Standards in Mathematics and in English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects. I have heard concerns that Massachusetts could lose its high academic ranking if these standards were not as rigorous as [...]
Posted by christinerafal on July 23, 2010
http://rafalforward4.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/common-core-standards/
A Healey-based Fairy Tale
Once upon a time there was a little girl whose daddy took a day off from work to visit schools and help her mother choose the right one. And this signaled to the little girl that school must be very important and she decided to always do her very best there. Which is what she [...]
Posted by christinerafal on June 3, 2010
http://rafalforward4.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/a-healey-fairy-tal/
Tidbit of Somerville’s History with Progressive Education
I came across this tidbit today–that Elizabeth Peabody didn’t just take care of poor children; she was among the first to teach human sexuality at school… I came across this citation and wonder if any of you have read this book? Elizabeth Peabody and Amos Bronson Alcott, “A Controversial Experiment in Progressive Education: Part One,” in [...]
Posted by christinerafal on May 23, 2010
http://rafalforward4.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/tidbit-of-somervilles-history-with-progressive-education/
Advice from Shakespeare
“And these few precepts in thy memory. Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue. Nor any unproportion’d thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel, But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of [...]
Posted by christinerafal on January 23, 2010
http://rafalforward4.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/there-my-blessing-with-thee/
Increase Individual Access to Great Opportunities
“All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.” ~ Albert Einstein “If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “Victor, Jr….was an African American boy born to an unemployed teenage mother in the ghetto, and his [...]
Posted by christinerafal on July 17, 2009
http://rafalforward4.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/increase-individual-access-to-great-opportunities/
