Comments for Verbal Cupcake

Comment on MTV’s Baby Mama Drama: 16 and Pregnant’s Second Season Is Thus Far a Labor of Loathe by Stigermiddleschool

Stigermiddleschool — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:56:00 +0000

you go girl

Comment on Is “everything we know about education” actually “wrong”? by Sarah Fidelibus

Sarah Fidelibus — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:27:00 +0000

Thanks for commenting, JJ! I had the same reaction–people who work outside of education have a limited understanding of what has been going on in terms of ed reform for quite some time. Glad you enjoyed my post and added your thoughts!

Comment on Is “everything we know about education” actually “wrong”? by JJ

JJ — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:33:00 +0000

Thank you for this post! I just love how SOME people are consistently given loads of money and “genius grants” to replicate research that has already been done before ad nauseum. Really? A school’s “culture” is what makes it work? Not money or the fact that it’s small or a charter? It really has to do with the (wait for it…) PEOPLE in the building and their vision, sense of purpose, moral leadership, values, beliefs, norms, and ideologies?? WHAT????? Just ask scholars like T. Sergiovanni, T.Sizer, S. Sarason…or any anthropologist of education (R. McDermott, M. Pollock, or pioneer G. Spindler) for that matter. I think what really sucks is how many of these people are making money off of the business of education, publishing drivel.

Comment on ‘This Twitter thing does help!’: Twitter in the English Composition Classroom by Nice piece from CNN about how teachers can use Twitter during class to increase participation, es | Verbal Cupcake

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:12:51 +0000

[...] Skip to content HomeAbout Verbal CupcakeResources for TeachersSF Bay Area Links ← ‘This Twitter thing does help!’: Twitter in the English Composition Classroom The National Writing Project’s New Book: Because Digital Writing Matters [...]

Comment on ‘Free of other people’s inventions’–A case for diversity–not ‘objectivity’ in the newsroom by Instead of objectivity, transparency in journalism | Curious on the Road

Instead of objectivity, transparency in journalism | Curious on the Road — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:29:59 +0000

[...] objectivity is in the eye of the beholder, as this anecdote from journalism professor and social media whiz Sarah Fidelibus shows. Every semester, my students [...]

Comment on ‘Free of other people’s inventions’–A case for diversity–not ‘objectivity’ in the newsroom by Jessica Binsch

Jessica Binsch — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:52:29 +0000

Thanks so much for writing this! I think the example you cite is very telling: What reporters and their editors likely perceive as “objective” reporting is seen as very much not so by students. That alone shows that “objectivity” means something else to each person looking at a story — you think of the story as objective that mirrors your own perceptions, and of that as biased that doesn’t.

Comment on Waiting for the rest of the movie: Why Waiting for Superman was an unfinished film at best by Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:47:52 +0000

Thanks, dkzody! A friend of mine who is a high school teacher told me recently that she is thinking about a career change because now that she and her husband have a baby, she may need to move to a higher paying job. So much needs to be reformed in education, so it is especially disheartening to see movies like WfS oversimplify the very complex problems that affect the level of success that our students reach under our care. How ridiculous and very sad that my friend–who is a very talented, dedicated teacher–might be driven from the profession because of how little it pays.

Thanks for taking the time to read and to comment.

Comment on Waiting for the rest of the movie: Why Waiting for Superman was an unfinished film at best by dkzody

dkzody — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 01:20:35 +0000

Good post. Being one of those good teachers who could not continue any longer, I appreciate the fact that you are able to understand what it takes to do the job well. I did NOT watch “Waiting for Superman” because I knew it was more bashing than solving. Like you, I would like to see scenes of good teachers doing their job well. However, I think that would bore the majority of those who want to rant and rave about how badly the schools are doing.

Comment on Schooled by the L.A. Times: The good, the bad, and the ugly of ‘Who’s teaching L.A.’s Kids?’ by Waiting for Superman « Verbal Cupcake

Waiting for Superman « Verbal Cupcake — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 20:40:19 +0000

[...] When I wrote about the Los Angeles Times’ series on teacher effectiveness, I noted that far too often bad teachers are able to retain their jobs. But we also have a problem of teacher retention in this country. According to the National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future, nearly a third of new teachers leave the profession within their first three years of teaching, and by them time those teachers are five years into what would otherwise be their career, 20 percent more will have up and bailed on teaching. So five years after getting their first teaching job, half of these teachers will no longer be in the classroom. Clearly the activism of the union and the promise of tenure have failed to lure these educators into a lifelong commitment to the profession. [...]

Comment on Cutie Clafouti by Grateful for Family, Friends, and a Fabulous Biscuit Recipe « Verbal Cupcake

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 03:01:32 +0000

[...] in the refrigerator, freezer, and kitchen pantry. For me, this meant resisting the urge to have Cranberry Clafouti for dinner even though I had all of the ingredients—flour, milk, eggs, cranberries, sugar, [...]