tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79824817070224590452011-09-21T11:07:38.591-07:00Numbschools isDan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.comBlogger341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-57916776284895391132009-10-27T21:44:00.000-07:002009-10-27T21:52:41.898-07:00

I was telling my kids today how vital it is to work beyond, way beyond, mediocrity. They need to be able to compete with people all over the world for employment. I mentioned that was in and of itself not the problem. The challenge for them is that there are kids all over the planet...particularly Asia, that are much harder workers, more sophisticated learners, more socially adept, more patient

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-61362646978822116852009-10-21T18:23:00.001-07:002009-10-21T18:28:03.985-07:00

We are numbed down. Let the anesthetizing continue.

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-10943132112204051452008-10-14T21:05:00.000-07:002008-10-14T21:19:41.878-07:00

I was working with some kids today on personal goals. I was very excited to show them how to do this and encouraged them to think big, but to formulate something they could achieve in one year or less. It could, however, lead them to the larger goal.So this boy had a goal that involved odd jobs in his neighborhood. It was part of a larger enterprising scheme. He had worked himself up into a white

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-6000728712803382622008-10-12T14:37:00.000-07:002008-10-12T15:14:02.821-07:00

On Yahoo! news the other day there was an article about teens who are creating videos. No surprise there, actually, but these were How to Cheat videos kids posted on YouTube. Well, okay, actually there is no surprise there either.The investigative reporters actually caught up with two of these cherubs and questioned them about their escapade. Not surprisingly, they didn't really express any shame

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-77085044864521506162008-09-29T21:14:00.000-07:002008-09-29T21:45:36.426-07:00

Decision has the same root word as incision, which means to cut. How does that work? Well, when you decide to do something, you cut yourself away from other options. In this way, then, your work doesn't go into wringing your hands wondering if you made the right decision, but your efforts go into making everything work out with your decision. And trust me, the voice of doubt will at least clear

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-72406256506862222202008-09-22T19:36:00.000-07:002008-09-22T20:36:22.249-07:00

The beginning of a school year is always a great time to review my precepts of change and my vision of education in America. And this is information that is going to konk three of us between the eyes.Precept Number One: Schools and teachers (including administrators), we have to stop putting the kids to sleep! Few things are going to be more destructive to the kid's brains, or anyone's brain,

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-35953763662246442512008-09-11T20:44:00.000-07:002008-09-11T20:52:03.787-07:00

Yay! My son has an assignment to memorize a 24 line poem on parts of speech. He's almost got it down! He achieved! He's advanced!But he still doesn't know an English conjunction from an Educational dysfunction.Look for my new bumper sticker, Proud parent of a 24 line memorizer!!!

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-23865211771385819172008-09-10T20:41:00.000-07:002008-09-10T21:00:16.750-07:00

Normally, I turn the volume down on the radio ads. But I couldn't resist the one ad that guaranteed your child would start earning A's in 30 days by using this "new, revolutionary system."Yikes. I mean, even if it DID work...what's the kid learning? How is the kid becoming better at thinking?I'm just beseeching parents, kids and teachers to ask themselves these questions: Because a kid is getting

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-21364162438031625582008-09-08T21:52:00.000-07:002008-09-08T22:09:07.081-07:00

The Industrial Revolution has been over for awhile. Times have changed but many schools haven't.Now that school has pulled up, turned the engine off, unloaded, and moved into your lives for the next several months, this is a good time to remember something that may help you and your children to navigate your way through. Always remember that education isn't always a function of what your teacher

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-49818836710561989412008-03-06T17:49:00.000-08:002008-03-06T18:23:16.264-08:00

I was thinking today as I was teaching my middle schoolers that the math they were trying to wrap their arms around will be, in the end, almost useless divided by two. It's great mental excercise, don't get me wrong. And it leads to diverse and wonderful discussion. I AM a math teacher. I love math...or rather, Math in the same sense as Truth, or Quality like it may have been spelled out in Zen

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-49388331446165151132008-01-02T18:24:00.000-08:002008-01-02T18:46:36.402-08:00

Okay...here I go again: Mr. Powell vs. Pop Culture.Pop Culture buries Mr. PowellMr. Powell slips out of top 2, 000,000,000 rated voicesI was talking with some kids the other day from another school who might be considered "well on track" by their parents and teachers. However, it was all I could do to get them to make eye contact with me let alone elicit something beyond a monosyllabic response.

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-5593361595462218712007-12-31T11:49:00.000-08:002007-12-31T12:09:55.499-08:00

I'm tired of it.If a teacher can't or won't develop rapport with his students, he's not teaching. And he's stealing his paycheck. We all know one like this. Maybe you had one. And there are mean women out there who think they're doing the world a favor by turning their classrooms into gulags. Nobody wins on this one. ( I saw a picture of this woman math teacher once on the cover of an

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-83505448168366899132007-12-16T13:43:00.000-08:002007-12-16T14:03:16.183-08:00

In Tough Choices or Tough Times, the report of the new commision on the skills of the American workforce, it is stated that the difference between those 21st century workers who will meet with success and those that meet with failure comes down to something everybody should wrap their arms around. I think everybody should wrap their arms around them...now.Here's what it all spells...the

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-49098234724192858642007-12-10T17:08:00.000-08:002007-12-10T17:37:49.152-08:00

I love teaching.Although, I have an expired interest in teaching what I call "school math". I am, however, always maintained by my fascination for capital M Mathematics and all of its flavors of phenomenal beauty, magic, and wonder. For me it's like looking at the Milky Way, the grand design and backbone of Mother Night.But I could do without the "school math", and its accomplices.What saves me

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-40556947080150722552007-11-11T14:44:00.000-08:002007-11-11T14:57:24.631-08:00

According to Robert Sternberg, a leading authority on intelligence, there are three ways a kid (or anyone) can be intelligent. (And by the way, this would be good for all those kids and their parents who never pass an opportunity to announce how smart they are...which, uh... really isn't that smart of a thing to do.)1) Be a practical problem solver.2) Be verbally active.3) Be socially competent.I

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-54306758950795857612007-11-06T18:14:00.000-08:002007-11-06T18:27:24.325-08:00

Okay folks...maybe you've seen my t-shirt, "I used to have an imagination. Then I went to school." Here are some others. Critique them if you wish.End of Individualism. Restart or Clique to Exit.Would it cost more if Bob flew, drove, or explained the answer indetail?Property of Public School Intelligence Dept. Size XXXSIs conformimg to non-conformity still non-conforming?Not my fault. I'm with a

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-50774990246017867532007-11-01T19:27:00.000-07:002007-11-01T19:37:34.894-07:00

I'm feeling feisty today. Here's more of my feist as my battle continues...Pop Culture digs in, ruins Mr. Powell's debutPop Culture sweeps Mr. PowellMr. Powell remains stuck on defensePop Culture blazes its way past PowellPop Culture muzzles Mr. Powell

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-55543726087569721882007-10-30T17:39:00.000-07:002007-10-30T17:45:23.021-07:00

Once upon a time, a very well-known man commented on his radio program that to be a teacher requires being an absolute master in his area.He was absolutely right, divided by 2.That same teacher also has to possess and master the ability to interact successfully with kids. If a teacher can't do this, his attempt is going to go over like a two-story outhouse.

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-2476745308851173862007-10-29T16:27:00.000-07:002007-10-29T16:52:25.737-07:00

I'm not a guy who really likes to complicate things any more than they have to be. So here's how I'm going to pitch it to you: If you have a window that is losing expensive, valuable warm air from your house in the middle of the cold season...what do you do? YOU CLOSE THE WINDOW."1 in 10 High Schools Are Dropout Factories"This was the title of an AP story by Nancy Zuckerbrod, and AP Education

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-13671552461758995062007-10-25T16:38:00.000-07:002007-10-25T16:53:29.089-07:00

I just finished reading Only Connect by Dr. Rudy Crew...an interesting read. The man definitely has ideas. He suggests that schools concern themselves not just with academic proficiency, but workplace literacy, civic awareness, and personal integrity.This, folks, is what I call barking up the right tree. This man has the animal cornered! I don't necessarily agree with his method of paying for it

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-25188627187646092272007-10-21T14:19:00.000-07:002007-10-21T14:32:48.718-07:00

Here's something that will perk you up. In his book Only Connect by Dr. Rudy Crew, Education Week reported that all the states spend around $500 million per year on versions of the same test, which still vary widely in their ability to differentiate actual skills from simple memorization.And you already know how I feel about memorization.One of the worst feelings that gnaws away at me because of

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-25561610275563582542007-10-15T17:16:00.000-07:002007-10-15T17:20:44.440-07:00

Sign on a local high school: Barker High School and Learning Center.Shouldn't one assume that if it's a high school, it would follow that it is also a learning center? Not additionally a learning center?

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-59674167474689459822007-10-09T17:40:00.000-07:002007-10-09T18:12:39.672-07:00

I get a kick out of people who claim to be so "connected". They have internet, mobile internet, laptops, tv, cell phones, ipods, downloads, wireless, brainless, im this, text message that, satellite, cable, radio, microwave, space modulators, mother load boards, card boards, really boreds, and all the other ones I can't name. It's a scream.Then there is me.My wife and I haven't had "television"

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-10329459799306203122007-10-06T11:06:00.000-07:002007-10-06T11:50:44.259-07:00

So I did this imitation of Patrick from Sponge Bob one time in front of my middle school kids. (I'm really good at it! Actually, I can do Schwarzenegger even better.) Anyway, as I was ranting through this riff of Patrick, another teacher had walked through my room behind me, unbeknownst to me. She was great, but apparently she stared at me like I was pulling a knife on everybody. After she left

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-57918928005399314842007-10-03T18:30:00.000-07:002007-10-04T19:19:22.257-07:00

I've been asked by a couple of readers (mostly a couple of teacher friends, and Teri out in Colorado) what I actually did when my daughter came home with the "memorization assignment" that I recently wrote about. Well...after I convinced her that peeing in her shoes would probably go over like a hand grenade in a bowl of oatmeal...we danced.Yes. Dan Powell, the teacher on the edge, took his

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-1883695263483992232007-10-01T18:29:00.000-07:002007-10-01T19:04:47.324-07:00

In the August 2007 issue of 5280, "Denver's Mile-High Magazine", the cover article targeted Denver's best high schools. I was intrigued, as I always am, at these ratings not because I want to see which schools are the "best", but to see what criteria they used to make the determination. I saw it coming from ten miles away: the criteria was heavily weighted to the college bound, forsaking all of

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-57222352318465775942007-09-22T15:55:00.000-07:002007-09-22T16:19:16.969-07:00

Fall is wiping its feet on the doorstep. The air has become a bit more crisp. And the anesthetizing has begun in schools all over the country. One of the first assignments my 6th grade daughter came home with was a list of fifty prepositions she had to memorize in one week. Yikes. I didn't over-react to it, but we had a good laugh when I told her I would have stood up on the desk and peed in my

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-5861089964941273282007-06-14T19:01:00.000-07:002007-06-14T19:21:20.778-07:00

As the last days come to an end in my school this year, I can't help feeling lucky. I know it's easy to say this at the end of a school year, but it's always a bit depressing when things gear down so much.I know. I should have my head examined.I did and it didn't work. I even came up short on Google: "No definitions were found for Dan Powell". I don't care. I love what I do. I get to be in a

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-25187197157776470672007-05-27T12:30:00.000-07:002007-05-27T12:57:10.675-07:00

In the last year I've raised the blade of my mowers a bit because I've discovered that it's healthier for the grass to be a bit longer. I've also become less of a grass nazi when I'm trimming around things with the whacker. Why? Because grass likes to be grass. Grass likes to grow and express itself. And the result is my lawn actually looks better. I'm even going to extend that and say that it is

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-61638186886720956422007-05-23T17:20:00.000-07:002007-05-23T17:41:14.530-07:00

People, not pupils! This is what I like about the school I teach in...we treat them like people, not pupils. Even the middle school kids look more like people than...well, whatever.Schools spend a tremendous amount of time separating the "smart" kids from the "dumb" kids. This group goes over here, that group goes over there. This group qulaifies for this, that group doesn't because of the "

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-90718305047171361462007-05-21T17:50:00.000-07:002007-05-23T17:20:16.024-07:00

Sit down, shut up and listen!If you're ever interested in demoralizing teaching and learning and turning a school experience into a disaster for everyone invloved, this is the formula that I want you to apply because it works. Ask Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. They disappeared from school faster than free beer at a hockey game. (Actually, they ended up with a much more thorough education than

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-47082647497920398162007-05-15T17:24:00.000-07:002007-05-15T18:02:31.997-07:00

Many years ago I remember this kid standing up in front of his classmates relaying some information to them regarding some rules for a contest on which they were embarking. He was informing them about the dimension allowance of one of the decorations. As soon as he confidently told the students of the permitted measurements, the kid next to him whispered in his ear that the measurements were

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-20426378832977339932007-04-25T17:37:00.000-07:002007-04-25T18:01:57.055-07:00

Now that you mention it, I will tell you about it. The Captains of Education are wringing their hands at plummeting standardized test scores, and they have no idea why they may keep falling! I was thinking about this today as I was administering our own tests here in Washington State. All the public ever hears is that school teachers need to improve, schools are accountable, administrators are

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7982481707022459045.post-38493538947819269252007-04-23T17:43:00.000-07:002007-05-08T16:51:48.621-07:00

Okay. In a nutshell, if you're going to say you're "gifted", don't come cavorting down the school hall with your pants unzipped. And please, be able to properly staple two pieces of paper together. I just can't take it. And for all those out there who love to tell people how "smart" they are, remember it's not that smart of a thing to tell people how smart you are. Nearly every definition of

Dan Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03470669676940567503noreply@blogger.com0