Tag Archives: Education

What It Means To Be Blessed With A Good Education

Posted on March 5, 2017 by Barb Knowles

This past Friday I attended the NYSABE conference. The New York State Association of Bilingual Educators conference. One of the themes was how speaking more than one language helps our brains to function differently and better. They were talking about … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged All County Music, bilingualism, Education, english, French, Humor, kichwa, language, multilingualism, music, neurotransmitters, Spanish, Star Wars, synapses, TEACHING | 45 Comments

Snow Days

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Barb Knowles

Snow days are awful…..says no teacher ever.

Posted in humor, teaching | Tagged Education, high school, Humor, school, snow, snow days, students, teachers, TEACHING | 13 Comments

An Embarrassing Personal Admission

Posted on January 14, 2017 by Barb Knowles

A month or so ago, in the middle of our department meeting, the supervisor of our high school ENL department asked us to go get the books or short stories that our students were currently reading. We laid them on … Continue reading →

Posted in literature | Tagged authors, diversity, Education, fiction, Grey Eagle Thornton, high school, humility, Iguana Dreams, Josh Lanyon, literature, minority writers, Poetry, reading, writers, Zora Neale Hurston | 47 Comments

The Thing About Teaching

Posted on January 8, 2017 by Barb Knowles

This is such a broad topic, and I have wildly strong opinions about education in general and specifically about teaching. But I’m going to focus here on the month of January. Whaaaat? What does January have to do with anything? … Continue reading →

Posted in education | Tagged assessments, critical thinking, Education, great teachers, knowledge, military inspections, observations, reading, students, teachers, TEACHING | 38 Comments

A Teaching Experience That Changed My Life

Posted on December 11, 2016 by Barb Knowles

One hopes, as a teacher, to affect a child’s life in a positive way. What most teachers really want is to make a lasting impression and find out later that something they did or said guided a student’s life trajectory. What … Continue reading →

Posted in education | Tagged bowling, college trips, college visits, Education, high school, life changes, Ossining High School, prepare for college, students, SUNY, SUNY Albany, SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Delhi, teacher, TEACHING | 46 Comments

Poverty, Affluence And Technology In Schools

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Barb Knowles

Technology is awesome in so many ways. It has revolutionized teaching. But has increased the divide between the haves and have nots. I grew up in a very wealthy suburb of New York City. We were one of the haves. … Continue reading →

Posted in education | Tagged 21st century technology, adolescence, affuence, chrome books, cultural divide, Education, iPads, laptops, opinion, poverty, smart phones, students, TEACHING, Technology, teens, working poor | 32 Comments

In A Non-Niche Niche

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Barb Knowles

When I started this blog, I intended it to be about teaching. Particularly about the crazy things that happen in a classroom that are wholly unexpected and that education courses never talk about. Which would make a pretty good college … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged blogging, culture, ecuador, Education, essays, kichwa, memoir, niche, opinion, Peru, Quechua, TEACHING, United Nations, writing | 47 Comments

Remembering Why I Love Teaching, Or Do I?

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Barb Knowles

This is a good day to reflect on why I love to teach. Especially because the last couple of weeks have sucked. Let me rephrase that…..my lessons haven’t worked. At all. So back to the drawing board. For all of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Education, grammar, high school, idiomatic expressions, languages, literature, reading, slang, students, teachers, TEACHING, thomas hardy | 36 Comments

Does 21st Century Technology Encourage Illiteracy?

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Barb Knowles

As you can see by the photo below, I’m a huge fan of technology. As a high school teacher, I am required to use Remind, Google Apps for Education, Gmail and other email. We are also required to have our … Continue reading →

Posted in technology, Uncategorized | Tagged 21st century technology, Amazon Echo, audible, bitmoji, blogging, coding, Education, Humor, kindle, nook, pandora, reading, Remind, TEACHING, Technology, writing | 33 Comments

The Walking Unread

Posted on September 23, 2015 by Barb Knowles

As a teacher and an avid reader, I’m appalled by the number of people who don’t read consistently. I may set the bar of reading an inordinate amount of books very high, but I’m amazed at the number of people … Continue reading →

Posted in reading | Tagged Agatha Christie, blogs, books, Catcher in the Rye, Education, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, language, literacy, opinion, reading, Simon Winchester, TEACHING | 17 Comments