The Texas Education Association has decided to administer the STAAR this year. That saddens me not just for the students who will spend the spring semester preparing for it but also for the over-stressed teachers who have worked tirelessly to get students where they need to be this year after losing so much of spring [...]
An overview: What is a student with "giftedness" (and why do we spend so much time trying to find them)? Nature, or nurture? These three simple words constitute a central question, one underpinning almost every field of cognitive science, anthropology, biology and even philosophy. It transcends constraint by nearly any discipline: hovering as a specter, [...]
There is no question whether COVID-19 has had a huge impact on school systems worldwide, and it will have a lasting effect on schools and learning for a long time to come. Of course, the Coronavirus isn’t the first disaster to significantly impact teaching institutions, but this is the first time in history that all [...]
Starting school is a major milestone in a child’s (and parent’s!) life. Some families may be set in their decision on where to have their children attend school, but others may be on the fence. The options used to be fairly simple, but things are not so simple anymore. Parents can pursue the [...]
Everything around us is customizable and we love it. This is the era of customization and due to our technology and the variety of options. We can customize everything from the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the television shows and books that pop up on our recommended list, and the podcasts we listen [...]
The Tenney School will be using a Hybrid-Flexible (or HyFlex) approach to conducting school during the 2020-2021 school year. This approach will maximize the academic progress of our students in a manner that is safe for our community. Using Hybrid-Flexible, we will be prepared to teach students online or in person every day. The number [...]
One of the sad things about ending the school year under quarantine is missing the opportunity to celebrate milestones. While we were able to have an online award ceremony, and an in-person commencement ceremony for the class of 2020, we were unable to celebrate a significant retirement. After decades of teaching in San Antonio Independent [...]
We live in a different world today than we did just a few months ago. The patterns and decisions of our lives has changed so dramatically, things we once thought were highly unlikely and unnecessary are now normal and wise. For many students, 2020 may be the summer to consider summer school. I wanted to [...]
In a recent Radiolab podcast, they pondered the question of what American objects would you preserve in the face of a cataclysmic event. While there was a great deal of disagreement on the topic, there was one accomplishment most people agreed should be preserved. Our trip to the moon. You can see why this would [...]
The summer of 2020 may be the best one ever to consider summer school for your child. A few of the reasons summer school may be something good to consider this year: Students are behind. Distance learning at many schools at the end of the 19-20 school year was ineffective, and summer is a good [...]
