The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Dubois
I knew of this book but I was encouraged to read it after listening to Yale Professor David Blight's lecture series on the Civil War. He said that reading the book should be required for citizenship.
I can only say that I agree -- read it.
Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass an American Slave
No matter when you read this book your eyes will be opened.
We all know the Fredrick Douglass that is celebrated in February. But what he went through from birth through about age 20 is incredible. Slavery of course is an evil condition to be in. But Douglass was tormented by his masters. Tormented -- all slaves were tormented. His masters tried to break him and then he was sent to a slave breaker. He survived it all.
There is a heart wrenching story where he is worked to exhaustion by his slave breaker master Covey to the where he collapses in the fields. Covey beats him and Douglass runs away to his former masters the Aulds. They convince him to go back because there is no choice. He hides all day on Sunday and on Monday Covey tries to tie him up and kill him. In a two hour fight Douglass finally bests Covey and is never touched by him again.
Rick Wormeli's Fair Isn't Always Equal is a fantastic book. The second edition builds on the first and has so much more useful information that it could have been its own edition.
When teachers and educators ask me for advice on what to read to learn about fairness, feedback, and grading this is one of the first books I think of. I also remember that the second edition is the orange one and the first edition was blue.
Chapter 19 is particularly useful it includes 13 recommendations for what to look for in a grading system.
What a Good Assistant Principal Actually Does Write 500 words on the gap between the job description and the real job. What does it actually take to hold a building together from that seat? What does nobody tell you before you're in it?
When I applied I talked about improving how students understand what they are learning. I wanted to primarily focus on how I could support teachers in guaranteeing the curriculum for students.
The superintendent who hired me worried that I wouldn't like the discipline part of the job -- but that wasn't the case at all. I loved working with students who were struggling a little bit. I remember someone in particular. He always had trouble making it through the day but he would come to my office and blow off steam...and then he could get back to school
The other day I walked around Whetstone Park in Columbus looking for Buckeyes. Many people don't know that the Buckeye is actually the seed of the eponymous tree. When I talk to people in New Hampshire they have no idea that the "Buckeye" that they hear about in relation to the very good football team is a real thing.
It was a nice walk around the park but I didn't find a single tree.
I did find an interesting tree that had dropped very green pods that were just smaller than a ping pong ball. At first they appeared to be solid round balls. On closer inspection they were similar to an armadillo in the way that they unfolded. The parent tree also looked coniferous so I wondered if the pods were a variant of a pine cone.
