Alan Lawrence Sitomer » job

Make your play your work and your work your play.

Alan Sitomer — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:01:24 +0000

The day after Labor Day has always been a fun one for me. Though I think as kids we are socialized to believe we ought not to like school (i.e. “Aw man, school is back.”) I always enjoyed being

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You gotta walk a mile in a teacher’s moccasins before you can dictate the educational road

Alan Sitomer — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 12:00:17 +0000

We’re looking for new ideas right now in education, right? Well, how about this one: You can’t be an administrator with decision making power over a teacher unless you have once been a teacher yourself.

In the army, you can’t…

You only live once. Don’t trudge. (A Mr. Happy Talk Post for the Naysayers).

Alan Sitomer — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:00:08 +0000

Feeling good about the work one does is not an option.

It’s mandatory. I do not believe a person can ever be authentically excellent if they are not greatly enjoying the effort they spend on tasks.

This transposes itself to…

The teacher as “professional diagnostician”.

Alan Sitomer — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:00:05 +0000

Why do I choose the books I choose for my class? Me, I always spent a lot of time thinking about the choices of text for my students because, well, for one… I could.

Unfortunately, teachers today are seeing more…

Measuring teacher effectiveness: We Have Brought this On Ourselves

Alan Sitomer — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:02:53 +0000

Have we not brought this on ourselves? Truly, it’s our own fault we are mired in this whole “measuring teacher’s effectiveness” mess anyway.

And why? Because we, as teachers, have run amok.

We had a chance to police ourselves, we…

The encroachment of cynicism on my writing

Alan Sitomer — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:44:29 +0000

Look, let’s be honest for a minute. If you have been reading me for any length of time at all you have probably noticed that the past wee bit has seen a more cynical, jaded bite — a sharpened, more…

Don’t you love how everyone feels as if they can do your job better than you can do it yourself?

Alan Sitomer — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:30:58 +0000

Whenever any other adult walks into my classroom, things change. Why? Cause classrooms are fishbowls and when a new species enters the tank, the environment changes.

Sure, in some ways, things will revert back to normal. Especially if I, at…

Accountability and Irrationalism

Alan Sitomer — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:30:07 +0000

I genuinely do believe in accountability.

I think this message of mine gets lost when I rip on the bubble tests as being the end-all, be-all of assessment in public education.

Yes, I do want elevated academic performance.
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Why We are Throwing A Bash to Celebrate Kids and Literacy!!

Alan Sitomer — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:30:39 +0000

Look, I could rail on and on and on about why I believe it is entirely appropriate to throw a HUGE bash at NCTE to actually celebrate students.

But instead, I am going to let a student do the talking.…

Pot critic wanted: is it a stigma to be a stoner or are they merely cultural connoisseurs?

Alan Sitomer — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:00:20 +0000

For those of us with students who don’t think they’d ever want to consider a career in writing, this article might be an arrow in your quiver to help inflate a student’s sense of why knowing how to properly punctuate…