Public Schools Changing into Charters: Should We Worry?
By Elena Aguilar
8/29/09
Last week, on Tuesday, August 25, the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education voted in support of a plan to turn some 250 of its schools -- including 50 new campuses -- into charter schools.
How to Make Planning for Next Year Fun
By Elena Aguilar
6/26/09The end of the school year has finally arrived. You can start fantasizing about the novels you'll read, the closets you'll clean, the places you'll go. However, pulsing in the recesses of your mind is a whisper: You know you should plan next year.
How to Foster Student Feedback
By Elena Aguilar
6/9/09At the end of the year, the student survey can be your best friend -- that honest and supportive friend that gives you meaningful feedback and leaves you with something to think about.
How to Stay Charged During the Final Weeks of School
By Elena Aguilar
5/26/09The Big Test is over. The long weekend is over. You're way beyond burned out and thinking mostly about summer. You can't figure out how you're going to get through the next few weeks, or how you could keep doing this year after year.
Supporting Students Beyond the Classroom, Part Two
By Elena Aguilar
5/12/09I am deeply moved by the responses to part one of this blog entry about a former student of mine named Manuel. They reminded me of the hundreds of teachers I have known who reached out to students within and beyond the classroom.
Coping with Campus Violence
By Elena Aguilar
4/24/09There was a fight at my school last week, a big, ugly fight in the street just after students were dismissed for the day. Some older relatives of the girl who instigated the fight were involved. Dozens, perhaps even hundreds of students, gathered around to watch.
Supporting Students Beyond the Classroom, Part One
By Elena Aguilar
3/12/09Manuel -- a former student -- called me a few nights ago. For two years, I'd been trying to find out what had happened to him; I'd heard only rumors.
The New Secretary of Education Needs Better Ideas
By Elena Aguilar
1/20/09I'm pretty disappointed in Barack Obama's selection of Arne Duncan for U.S. secretary of education. Devastated, to be honest. I don't get it -- a secretary of education who has never been a teacher? Who has never taught a single course? Who never attended a public school? Who doesn't send his own children to a public school?
Blogs Give Students an Audience
By Elena Aguilar
1/13/09The insomnia I attributed to the beginning of the school year, which I complained about in my first blog post, still hasn't gone away. A few nights ago, tormented, I woke up at 1 a.m. and began mulling over the crises and craziness I see every day in the Oakland, California, public schools.
When History Happens: Teachable Moments Rise from Election Day
By Elena Aguilar
11/11/08The first thing I heard as I walked into school on this miraculous morning after Barack Obama's landslide victory was a group of African American parents talking about the results. One father said, "They didn't want to give us 40 acres and a mule, so we took fifty states and the White House."
