Posted: September 3rd, 2010 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
Kate and I spent a great Monday morning in New Haven. We saw Day 1 of kindergarten. Fantastic. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: September 2nd, 2010 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 1 Comment »
From the National Governor’s Association last year:
While little is known about the impact professional development has on student achievement, the amount spent annually on professional development is estimated at $9 billion.
Let’s see. 3 million schoolteachers. $3,000 per year per teacher. And often, we know that this stuff does NOT work through careful study. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: September 1st, 2010 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 3 Comments »
In June, we proposed a brand new, very small Graduate School of Education to the MA Board of Higher Education. It’s a 500 page proposal that lays out all sorts of details. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: August 29th, 2010 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
Kate and I are off tomorrow at 5am. To New Haven.
Not Yale. We’re visiting Elm City Elementary. I visited a couple years ago. Totally impressed. In particular I liked this: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: August 27th, 2010 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 1 Comment »
There are 3 core requirements for success in “any endeavor that involves risk and responsibility,” writes Atul Gawande in his book Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance.
1. Diligence (“giving sufficient attention to detail to avoid error and prevail against obstacles”)
2. Doing right (dealing with “human failings, failings like avarice, arrogance, insecurity, misunderstanding”)
3. Ingenuity (“thinking anew…a willingness to recognize failure, to not paper over the cracks, and to change…obsessive reflection on failure and a constant searching for new solutions”).
Since we’re obsessed with performance – exactly how good are the teachers who come out of our program – we look for ideas outside of the normal K-12 world, like Gawande’s.
I asked my colleague Laura how she thought our teacher preparation follows Gawande’s precepts, and she replied: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: August 26th, 2010 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
Part One:
Adrian Beltre was called out on strikes in the second inning last night on a pitch he thought was low. He told umpire Dan Bellino his opinion and returned to the dugout.
“I didn’t curse or anything,’’ Beltre said. “I said I thought it was low. He said it was a good pitch and I walked away.’’
For purposes of this blog, Beltre = kid. Bellino = rookie teacher. Small potatoes exchange.
Posted: August 3rd, 2010 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
My last post was about how dopamine release is based, in part, on predictions — what you think is about to happen.
This lady obviously thought something bad was about to happen.
Via GothamSchools, this from the NY Post:
Maybe she should have just called in sick.
An untenured Brooklyn high-school teacher catapulted herself down a school stairwell in a wacky attempt to avoid a classroom observation by her supervisor, a probe obtained by The Post shows.
Staffers at the HS for Innovation in Advertising and Media told investigators that first-year teacher Ilene Feldman was so petrified about a scheduled classroom observation — coming in the wake of a poor performance review — that she staged a clumsy pratfall in a stairwell rather than risk getting a second negative rating.
…The footage “revealed that Feldman actually threw herself down the stairs in a controlled fall,” said the report, which was completed last year but never before made public.
Click on the link above. There’s video.
She resigned.
Posted: July 24th, 2010 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
Back in 2007, when we first started thinking about creating a new Ed School from scratch, Kenny and I met with 3 directors of Harvard Medical School affiliated residency program.
We were trying to learn about common challenges in training bright 20-somethings: people who, as undergrads (and in medical school), were rock star students. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: July 21st, 2010 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
Lots to share. Big backlog o’ stuff to blog about.
Back in February, I blogged about real-time coaching. That’s where the rookie teacher puts an earbud in her ear; a coach sits in the back of the room holding a walkie-talkie; and the coach whispers simple one-word directions to the teacher while she is actually teaching the kids.
Lee Canter, recommended by Norm Atkins of TeacherU and Don Shalvey of Gates Foundation, visited us for 2 days last week. He walked us through his approach. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: July 17th, 2010 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
I have a mini opinion piece in NY Times online.
It’s about Teach For America. Read the rest of this entry »
I'm Mike Goldstein, founder of the MATCH Charter School in Boston. MATCH does 3 things.
1. Through good teaching and high-dosage tutoring, we help kids become first-in-family to get a college degree.
2. Our teacher prep program tries to generate jaw-droppingly-good rookie teachers for high-poverty schools.
3. We partner with four struggling local district schools, providing high-dosage math tutoring.
My mentors: Charlie Sposato taught me about schools, courage, and life; Tom Loveless schooled me in ed policy. Currently fascinated with a guy named Daryl Morey.
On or have been on some advisory boards. Transition teams for the past two MA governors, National Council for Teacher Quality (love 'em), Lee Academy Pilot School, Harvard's Futures of School Reform, Boston Schoolchildren's Consortium, and some others. Not sure I've added much value, though.