Teaching & Learning Blog

Teacher in a Strange Land

From January 2010 to September 2018, Nancy Flanagan, an education writer and consultant focusing on teacher leadership, wrote about the inconsistencies and inspirations, the incomprehensible, immoral and imaginative, in American education. She spent 30 years in a K-12 music classroom in Hartland, Mich., and was named Michigan Teacher of the Year in 1993. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: teacher leaders.

Education Opinion In Defense of Classroom Management
Why should learning the craft of teaching have to be endless trial and error? Classroom management is a real thing.
Nancy Flanagan, May 20, 2010
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4 min read
Education Opinion Cutting and Pasting
When the axe falls, it's not usually about trimming fat and waste or re-focusing on the core purpose of public education. It's about keeping the system running, rather than creative change.
Nancy Flanagan, May 18, 2010
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2 min read
Education Opinion Driven By Data
In schools, we collect the data first, then decide how to utilize it later. Then we repeat this pattern endlessly.
Nancy Flanagan, May 7, 2010
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4 min read
Education Opinion TFA: Don't Forget the Motor City
Why is Robert Bobb replacing expensive Detroit Public Schools teachers with Teach for America corps members?
Nancy Flanagan, May 5, 2010
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2 min read
Education Opinion The Union Label
Why haven't unions encouraged teacher members to develop their own unique and powerful voices to inform policy and change--instead of sharing "tips?"
Nancy Flanagan, April 30, 2010
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2 min read
Education Opinion Back to the Future
The Teacher in a Strange Land is moving. Not from this felicitous home at Teacher magazine--but literally. Out of a nice house, into a small apartment--and eventually, into our new log home in northern Michigan, the manifestation of a life-long dream.
Nancy Flanagan, April 28, 2010
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2 min read
Education Opinion Talent, Leadership, Blah Blah Blah
Do you have to be a good teacher--in the "mastery of instruction" sense--to be a teacher leader?
Nancy Flanagan, April 23, 2010
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3 min read
Education Opinion Money for Nothing
It shouldn't take a team of hip Harvard-based researchers and a $6.3 million payout to know that when you bribe kids, they'll generally do what you want them to do. Until you stop paying them, anyway.
Nancy Flanagan, April 14, 2010
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2 min read
Education Opinion ...And Read?
Wondering about the value of individual silent reading during the school day? Meet Claudia Swisher of Oklahoma...
Nancy Flanagan, April 11, 2010
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9 min read
Education Opinion Drop Everything...
Is setting aside time for all students in a school to read a good idea, or a colossal waste of time? Is there more inherent value in transmission of subject-matter information by text than in getting lost in a ripping good story?
Nancy Flanagan, April 10, 2010
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3 min read
Education Opinion The Devil, the Details, and National Board Certified Teachers
What would it look like to actually use the expertise of National Board Certified Teachers and other demonstrably talented teachers to reach our national education goals?
Nancy Flanagan, April 5, 2010
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2 min read
Education Opinion Let's Say You're a Teacher
Seriously--what do teachers have to do to prove their dedication and their worth?
Nancy Flanagan, March 30, 2010
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4 min read
Education Opinion More Math of Least Resistance
Is there a disconnect between being "good at math"--and being able to teach it well? Once again, it's about good instruction and useful curriculum.
Nancy Flanagan, March 26, 2010
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4 min read
Education Opinion The Math of Least Resistance
Curriculum and instruction aren't as whiz-bang exciting as market-based reforms, but they're the key reasons why kids learn--or don't learn.
Nancy Flanagan, March 25, 2010
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2 min read
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