Teaching: Dead-End Job: Part I
Wow... Happy New Year. That was a long Teachbreak I took just there. I wouldn't say it was relaxing. The holidays and family visiting isn't relaxing. I've been working on a major Teachbad-related...
View ArticleTeaching is a Dead-End Job: Part II
If you are committed to leaving teaching, there are ways out. There are other leaky boats waiting for you at the dock. You can try to get a different job, in or out of education. It stands to reason...
View ArticleMichelle and Marion: True Love?
I’m like, ‘You know what? I don’t give a crap.’ Don’t get me wrong. Creativity is good and whatever. But if the children don’t know how to read, I don’t care how creative you are. You’re not doing your...
View ArticleTeachbad Watches Rhee Frontline Documentary
Which sounds better? 1) I’m going to dig up your grandfather and rape him; or 2) I’m going to dig up your grandfather and rape him for the kids. While they both give me pause, I think #2 sounds...
View ArticleFish with Fur: Natural Selection of Teachers
About five years ago I read Tinkering Toward Utopia: A Century of Public School Reform by David Tyack and Larry Cuban (Harvard, 1995). It’s a great historical overview, written before the Dark Times,...
View ArticleTeachbad’s Secret Project
For all the right reasons, I am trying to write a book about teaching in the modern era. I've been working on it for a long time and now it's getting a little more serious. I don't have anything to...
View ArticleTeachbad on Paul Tough’s “How Children Succeed”
A review by Mr. Teachbad I remember one time at a faculty meeting. It was early in my teaching career, in my first year as a high school teacher. I don’t remember what the meeting was about…kids or...
View ArticleWell, shit…THAT didn’t work.
This is stunning. You remember Michelle Rhee, right? She came to turn the DC public school system around. In 2007 she grabbed this city by the throat and shook it into submission. Teachers were fired...
View ArticleTeachbad, Rhee and Art: A Short Documentary
In this stunning new documentary short film, Mr. Teachbad discusses whether or not he is a visionary, his formal musical training, and the making of “Rhee Came Down the Mountain” with rehearsal...
View ArticleTerrible is the new Pretty Good
Sometimes it is breathtaking how crappy student work can be. What's even more breathtaking is how crappy something could be that I would still give a B or C to. Teaching in achievement gap schools does...
View ArticleRhee Cheating Sh*tstorm: Part I
There was an intensely-guarded internal memo about possible cheating on the DC CAS during Michelle Rhee’s tenure as chancellor in Washington, DC. After nearly five years, the memo has been freed....
View ArticleThe More Things Change, The More They Suck
Hi, All- This was originally posted two years ago and it struck a nerve with Teachbad readers. I was reminded of it again reading Emma Smith's article this week in the Washington Post, Pep rallies,...
View ArticleStop Data Rape!
Have you ever heard the term data-driven instruction? It’s where data is used to drive instruction. Just by itself, it isn't clear what kind of data would be most useful, how best to collect it, how it...
View ArticleTop 9 Secret Confessions of a Teacher
“Not so much secret as they are depressing!” 9. Sometimes during my planning period I lock the door and sleep on a table in the corner of my room. 8. I know it makes me sound like a dick, but I truly...
View ArticlePoor Bastard on a Plane
Like a lamb to the slaughter… Last night I was with my family in the Minneapolis airport, waiting for a flight back home to Washington, DC. Of the many people milling about, waiting for our delayed...
View ArticleThe Education Hostage Crisis
A recent report by one of my favorite local NPR-affiliate reporters, Kavitha Cardoza, made me want to scream. She was reporting on a report about suspension and expulsion rates in Washington DC...
View ArticleRhee’s “Radical”: Read and Reviewed
Radical: Fighting to Put Students First is a transparent and fantastical affirmation of Michelle Rhee; written by Michelle Rhee (Harper Collins, 2013). In my continuing efforts to be at least 8-12...
View ArticleThe Summer of Teachbad
Mr. Teachbad took a longer than planned vacation. I hope you are enjoying your summer. Mine’s been pretty good. Coming up on the blog we’ll look at the final, unconditional validation of Michelle Rhee....
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A Funny Thing Happened At Work Today
I liked my job. This was highly unlikely because it was the first day back after spring break. I have been nuturing a pit of bitter anxiety about this day. It had been growing in my stomach, honestly,...
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