The following post first appeared on my Bluegrass Dispatches blog at the Center for Teaching Quality. In 2008, one of my first published articles challenged the dominant discourse in education.… Read more A Priority: Changing How We Talk About School →
A few weeks ago, two students showed up for English class a few minutes late–not the first time–and shuffled into their seats, smirking and tossing their backpacks to the floor.… Read more Show Me Respect, Or Else! →
I don’t blame Steffon for his distrust issues; after all, he’s bounced around from foster parent to foster parent. I don’t blame Sara for her constant angst and depression; after… Read more When Should Students Become Responsible For Their Own Success? →
Imagine a 30 by 30 room, with students sitting silently in rows, ostensibly listening to lectures, text messages covertly being sent inside hoodie pockets, and whispers here and there. Eventually,… Read more Classrooms Without Borders →
I teach English and I write professionally, but I don’t remember how I learned grammar. I’ve always been a reader, and my father is an excellent editor who helped me… Read more Reflections: Is Grammar Worth Teaching? →
Are most teenagers inherently wired to seek out and use the internet for good? Absolutely not. Would I have harnessed the amazing connectivity and community-building power of the internet,… Read more The Digital Literacy Curriculum Gap →
I prepared for my first teaching gig undaunted by my lack of experience. After all, I had a literature degree from a prestigious liberal arts school, I had been mostly… Read more The Myth of the Super Teacher →
One of my goals in our Unleashing Digital Storytelling elective course is to help elevate student voice through authentic media creation. Taking matters into her own hands, Kaylie created this… Read more The Power of Student Voice →
“All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem. It may be a problem of where to obtain facts or how to organize the material. It may be a… Read more Thoughts On Writing Well →
Paul Barnwell 