Bronwyn Harris, Author

A dear friend of mine told me she may be home schooling her daughters. I have compiled a list of things to realistically consider when deciding to home school or not. 1. Do you (the home schooling parent) have enough time and energy to invest in this?  Teaching is a full-time job.  Remember that.  Full-time.   You can't do it justice if you treat it as any less. 2. Do you have any experience teaching?  Being good at something is not enough.  Many people are good at things and totally incapable of teaching them.  Do you know any teaching strategies?  Do you know how to communicate ideas and facts in a way that will help your child or children learn effectively? 3. Do you have a curriculum?  Do you know anything about the curriculum or anyone who has used it?  Do you have all the material for the curriculum? 4. Do you have a plan for your children to meet other children?  Preferably children outside of their own racial/socio...

My dream is to be a pediatrician because I want kids to be safe and have a better Life and have someone who cares about them. The reason I want to be a peditairican so I can help kids so They can be smart in school what I like about a pediatricain that I get to help small children and be heathly because some kids can die because the don't eat fruit and stuff so they won't be so sick and I want chidlen to Live heathly Lives like we do we want children to Live as Long as us. [that girl routinely ate Flamin' Hot Cheetos with nacho cheese and a Pepsi for breakfast] I want to be a sience teacher because I get to help students with sience and school problems and they can trust me with anything.  I want it because I can study animals because nature is interesting. I have a dreem.  I have a dream to be a spy so I can spy on People and take them to jail and help People and I will have to learn hard at shcool to be a sPy and I what to work for the CiA and so I can get money for...

From one of the most troubled students I've ever had: (her spelling wasn't good either) She needed this type of help.  More than almost every child I've ever met. My dream is to help chridren.  Because I have two help chrildren.  And enven if I had to help arofens I would treat them as my own chridren.  The chrildren I am going to help.  I hope they belive in there self.  In maybe part of the reason the chrildren ar poor I think maybe because they didn't get a good edecation. I really care for chridren.  I watch a lot of shows of poor chrildren.  And I hate what I see. One year ago: The Good and Bad of the Year Three years ago: The Money That I'm Owed Four years ago: Computers!

My eighth grade student, while working on his history homework: "Why did the US Capitol switch from New York City to Washington, DC?  Oh, I know.  It was to compromise because the South didn't want to pay off the North's debts so they got to have the capitol... Hey!!  I'm SMART!!!" Three years ago: So Outta There                           More School Closures

I had a realization when I went to pick up my Little Sister at her housing development (projects) this weekend.  There is very little difference between the Section 8 housing projects in Oakland and the segregated South or South Africa under apartheid.  I've been there on weekends, on weekdays, in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night.  I have never ever seen another white person.  Not one.  I have not even seen a Latino or Asian person.  I have only seen African-American people there - visitors or residents. I think I would have noticed earlier if I hadn't been so used to being the only white person when I was teaching.  I still have the feeling sometimes of being in a group and thinking, "Oh my goodness, everyone here is white except for me!  Wait a minute, I'm white too!"  It sounds silly but it's a fairly common occurrence for me.  It's fairly disconcerting to realize how very segregated our city can still be.  In th...

The new figure for high school dropouts in Oakland Unified is 40% .  That's doesn't count the number of kids who drop out before high school.  A lot of kids drop out before then - during middle school or between middle and high school.  I'd like to see figures about the total dropout rates.  I think it would be terrifying. Three years ago: The Best Form of Birth Control Four years ago: The Playground

I'm going to give all the parents out there a little tip.  Don't ever name your child Angel. I don't care if you pronounce it the English or Spanish way, don't do it.  There is a 99.9% chance that your child will do everything in his or her power to *not* live up to that name.  I've had 5 or 6 kids named Angel over the years - from various ethnic backgrounds - and it has not been good.  Interestingly, the Angelas and Angelinas I've known who go by Angel are fine.  Just avoid Angel. Also, I think being a teacher gives you a much smaller pool of potential names than other people.  I've heard people talk about what they want to name their children and many of them make me cringe - not because the  names are bad but because I remember a child with that name.  It goes the other way too; it's just not as memorable. One year ago: Things You Hope You Never Hear from a Third Grader Three years ago: To Be Expected       ...

Look at this face!  If you vote for this face, she could be on the Gerber baby food labels!  More importantly, she could win a $25,000 scholarship!  You have to give them your email address but I so far haven't gotten any spam from them, so I think it's OK.  You can vote once a day.  Help Symphony win !! One year ago: Reflections on Public Education Three years ago: Tales from BART Four years ago: I Knew What They Meant, But...

I have a hard time with rich people.  And I have a fairly low threshold regarding who I consider to be rich people.  However, since I need to tutor kids whose parents can afford to pay me, I've been working with more people who I consider to be rich, or at least well-off. I was worried about this- I've been working pretty exclusively with kids in poverty before this, and I thought the wealthier kids would be harder for me - more entitled, more spoiled, etc.  This is true in part, but not entirely.  I had a lesson in how rich kids aren't necessarily this way with a little girl I work with. This girl, who's about 9 years old, goes to a very expensive, very prestigious private school.  She is chatty, and started asking me about the kids I used to teach.  She asked if I tutored any of the kids who I used to teach.  When I said no, she asked why.  I said, "Well, most of them don't have the money to pay for tutoring."  She said, "Can't their pa...

It's always been interesting to me how conditions in an educational setting can be so much worse than in any other sort of work environment, and it is accepted.  Everything from asbestos to temperature to total incompetence at the upper levels is accepted.  Here's a very simple example of something that wouldn't be tolerated in any other setting. Classrooms are cold because the heat isn't working in many of the Oakland schools.  I have only rarely had that happen, but I've had the opposite happen.  I subbed for a friend in November a few years ago and t was literally ninety degrees in the classroom because the thermostat was broken.  It was miserable. Read the comments  I especially like the commenter who says it's California, what are you complaining about?  I'd love to see his business environment lack heat - yes, even in California - and him put up with it because we're not in New England. Why should the teachers (and the kids) have to expect...