http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/ Emmet Rosenfeld is an English teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia. He has 13 years of experience as a teacher and writer. In this blog, he is chronicling his experiences as he works toward certification from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. en Copyright 2009 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:20:31 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Crushed it. It’s 11:44 am on Monday, June 4, 2007, and I am done, baby. Flying high. I feel so good after speed-typing through six half hour essays that I’m sitting at my keyboard in the man zone to write... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/06/i_have_been_to_the_mountain.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/06/i_have_been_to_the_mountain.html Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:20:31 -0500 The big day is Monday. Casting about for ways to prepare the weekend before, I decided to do another one of Patrick Ledesma’s tri-pane practice prompts. My two-year old son, who was supposed to be napping upstairs, woke up when... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/06/clear_and_convincing.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/06/clear_and_convincing.html Sat, 02 Jun 2007 18:22:09 -0500 Monday, June 4. Hopefully it won’t live in infamy. It is, however, the day I will take the big test. To continue preparing, I reviewed the comments colleagues have left on this blog or by email. I figured you might... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/05/a_little_help_from_my_friends.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/05/a_little_help_from_my_friends.html Fri, 25 May 2007 15:10:02 -0500 On this beauteous spring day, I’m sitting here in the man zone (my basement office), looking up through a casement window at a bird’s nest in the eaves of my neighbor’s roof. I’m thinking about... well, you know. The testing... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/05/peering_out_the_window.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/05/peering_out_the_window.html Sat, 19 May 2007 16:02:51 -0500 Let me set test prep aside to share some exciting news. The dugout canoe that my 10th graders have been working on all year is about to hit the water: we launch from the banks of Mount Vernon at 10... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/05/canews_flash.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/05/canews_flash.html Fri, 11 May 2007 08:35:43 -0500 I tried a practice prompt. On the advice of my loyal entry reader, Stephanie, I chose one related to English Language Learners. Those are the trickiest, she warns. The trial run, below, was based on a transcription and writing sample... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/05/painting_a_fence.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/05/painting_a_fence.html Fri, 04 May 2007 16:55:43 -0500 The final test consists of six essay questions, a half hour for each. That’s three hours of intense concentration at the keyboard. I’m going to have to get in shape to tackle this. Fortunately, the NBPTS website provides “exercises” to... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/04/exercises.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/04/exercises.html Fri, 27 Apr 2007 16:14:31 -0500 I promised to write about the released test questions this week, but like for everyone around here, banal concerns have been washed away in the swirling wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy. We all made it through our week somehow,... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/04/failure.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/04/failure.html Sun, 22 Apr 2007 06:57:04 -0500 I have nearly scaled the mountain. Last spring, from a distance, it looked imposing and majestic. After a more arduous approach to the base than anticipated, and then a harrowing series of ascents, only the exposed final pitch remains. (Note... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/04/the_final_test.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/04/the_final_test.html Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:17:49 -0500 Or, Spring Break's Sprung. Nearly a month ago, I wrote about putting one foot in front of the other as I trudged through Entry One ("Day by Day", March 10). Here is another week-in-the-life now that I’m done with the... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/04/the_flaming_canoe.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/04/the_flaming_canoe.html Sun, 08 Apr 2007 07:42:25 -0500 My name is Emmet and I’m an eduholic. I hit rock bottom last night between the hours of 1:30 and 2:45 am when I found myself sitting up in bed scribbling about education policy in a little black notebook by... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/04/an_education_problem.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/04/an_education_problem.html Mon, 02 Apr 2007 07:08:44 -0500 I’m done. Certified, stick a fork in me, mail that sucker off with every kind of insurance the post office has to offer… Finito. If I were a more high tech guy, this entry would merely consist of a grainy... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/03/let_the_healing_begin.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/03/let_the_healing_begin.html Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:41:27 -0500 I took another day off from actual teaching last week to work on the portfolio, and it is nearly in finished form. By “almost” I mean all the entries are in individual manila folders with a litter of yellow sticky... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/03/picking_nits.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/03/picking_nits.html Sun, 18 Mar 2007 17:30:24 -0500 Saturday Forgot I signed up for a conference at GMU and almost don't go (the looming portfolio deadline is a handy excuse). I compromise and just hit the keynote speaker, Kelly Gallagher, super teacher and author of Deeper Reading and... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/03/day_by_day.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/03/day_by_day.html Sat, 10 Mar 2007 14:43:37 -0500 This week for our support class, instead of meeting at the high school we had to post responses to three threads and comment on others’ posts. Below are the questions and my responses. I don't think, by the way, that... http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/02/ready_to_throw_my_canoe.html http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/rosenfeld/2007/02/ready_to_throw_my_canoe.html Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:48:43 -0500