The Least of Russ on Reading

It's that time of year when every Tom, Dick and Mary comes out with his/her personal "Best of.." and "Worst of ..." lists. I thought I would take a little different approach in this post. As a blogger sometimes I feel like the little boy who "shot an arrow in the air, it fell to earth I know not where." Whenever I send out a new post, I really have no idea what the response will be or even if anyone will read it. It has been gratifying that several of my posts seem to attract a fairly substantial readership, but there are others that I am quite proud of that were greeted with a collective cyber space yawn.

I would like to give these posts another shot. So here for the end of the year celebration are "The Least of Russ on Reading", those posts that attracted little attention the first time around, but that I still think are relevant. I invite you to see what you think.

What Do We Want from Public Schools
A plea for schools to focus on the joy of learning for every child.

Creative Stability: A Better Plan for Public Schools
Corporate education reformers love to talk about a business model for schools that features "creative disruption." What kids and schools really need is stability.

Teaching Teachers to Teach: Context Matters
A model for professional development designed for real tachers in real classrooms.

Sacrificing Arts Education at the Altar of Test Prep
If the schools do not offer a rich arts curriculum, where will the audiences for the great plays, great paintings and great symphonies yet to be produced come from?

Does Class Size Matter?
One person's take on this persistent question.

VAMs: Stupid Economists Tricks  
Among the many lousy ideas economists have had in the last 10 years, value added measures of teacher effectiveness top my list.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy new year.