This blog was originally published on Finding Common Ground at Education Week by Peter DeWitt on November 11, 2012 7:19 AM.

Thomas was one of six children in his family. All in all those six children had five different dads but they all shared the same mom. One of the dads was killed in a drug deal gone wrong when Thomas was in kindergarten. When his second grade teacher was getting ready for work in the morning he …

While the economy was arguably the major issue for many Americans during this last presidential campaign, education was also a major talking point with the two candidates expressing contrasting views on the future of public schools. With President Obama winning another four-year term in the White House, it is time to reflect on exactly where the candidates stood on educational issues and what the future may hold.

The Candidates' Platforms

According to the

Motivating students in any subject area can be difficult. It can be even harder when faced with the challenge of teaching students in a new language. The role of the ESL teacher is vital to students’ future success, and as the population of English language learners continues to grow in the United States, more teachers will be needed. There are many resources on the Internet for designing quality lessons for your students, including Dave's ESL Cafe and California Teachers of English to Speakers …

This blog was originally published on Finding Common Ground at Education Week by Peter DeWitt on November 4, 2012 6:38 AM.

What has happened to common sense? Has Facebook and Twitter created a negative tone in society? Or was there a portion of society that was already negative and social networking gave them the venue to share their thoughts? Too many educators cite negative comments as the reason they do not dive into social networking and the following story is an example of using social networking for the wrong reasons.

In reference to an altercation between students, a teacher posted the following comments to her Facebook wall:

"How bout I blasted both of them. The girl in my class hair is nappy almost every day and the boy wears dirty clothes, face nasty and can't even read. They didn't bother nobody else when I got through with them."

The posting came from Memphis Kindergarten Teacher Tameka Gatewood, and according to the Huffington Post, she has been put on unpaid suspension until a…

 This blog was originally published on Finding Common Ground at Education Week by Peter DeWitt on October 28, 2012 4:35PM.

They wanted Jade to move. It didn't matter if they were an aide, teacher or principal, when she walked in they didn't want to engage with her. When Jade didn't want to do work in the classroom she fell to the floor and began having a temper tantrum. It seemed …