Seeing as how I’m an education dinosaur, having taught for the past 32 years, I’ve seen many a fad, meme, phase and reform come and go during my career. Each of these aforesaid events was billed as the new reality…
Author: Robert I. Grundfest
I am a teacher, writer, voice-over artist and rationally opinionated observer of American and international society. While my job is to entertain and engage, my purpose is always to start a conversation.
I usually look forward to the December holidays because, for at least one month, people in the United States tend to he hopeful, helpful, optimistic and happy. They look backward at the year that was and take stock, and they…
He won’t even be the Republican nominee in 2016. Yes, I know, the New York Times just published a poll that has Trump high atop the GOP field and gaining strength as the one candidate who will keep us safe….
I’ve been in the education business for 31 years and I’ve seen many a fad come and go, from Teacher-proof curricula to shared decision-making to Differentiation to Cooperative Learning, Curriculum Mapping, Goals 2000 and various reading programs that focus on…
Leave it to the GOP (and some uninformed Democrats) to make a frightening situation something to panic over. The Paris attacks were terrible. The threat of more terrorist attacks on Europe is very real. But if you want to stop…
I’m being a bit of a coward by posing my title as a question, but I do firmly believe that the western world is headed towards a much larger, more coordinated and, ultimately, more deadly military conflict. If it sounds…
OK, let’s go back to the halcyon days of the 1969-70 school year when I was in fourth grade. My teacher was one of those cool, hip, young people who knew how to reach children, to excite them to learn,…
The week began with the president saying that there was too much emphasis on testing in schools. In the middle of the week, the New York Times published a story about Success Academy Charter Schools that, among other things, noted…
October 28 is a very special day in my life. It was 43 years ago that I became a man and realized the meaning of that old, old adage, “That’s the first time I stood up in front of people,…
Later this week the country will celebrate a milestone: the date that Marty McFly used to travel to the future in Back to the Future II, the second movie of the trilogy that represents the greatest expression of Reagan-era optimism…
Francis comes in, John Boehner bows out. There is a certain symmetry to some world events and this is one of those moments. Here we have a Pope who is speaking forcefully and eloquently about how the issues of the…
That’s really all you need to know about Carly Fiorina’s chances of becoming either the Republican nominee or president of this great country. She’s an accomplished woman with plenty of money and a great speaking style, but when it came…