Category Archives: Life

The Midsummer Classic

Last night in Philadelphia the American League defeated the National League 4-0 in the 96th Major League Baseball All-Star Game. It’s still the best of the major professional sports all-star games. I’m afraid, however, that the game has long outlived its moniker, The Midsummer Classic. A point made only more clear by its position sandwiched on Fox television between two of the most important football games in the world, the Word Cup semi-finals.  But in the end, I’m OK with that. 

Pipe Dreams

“The USMNT will be good enough to compete in the World Cup.”

“Soccer will finally take off and become popular in the United States.”

“The Maine Democratic Party won’t shoot itself in the foot this election cycle.”

“Large-scale test results can be used to inform instruction.”

All of the above fit the classic definition of a pipe dream; that is, “an idea plan, or hope that is unrealistic, impractical, or nearly impossible to achieve.” The other critical component of each of those pipe dreams is that we are able to convince ourselves that it is achievable, repeatedly and often in the face of daunting evidence. Education policy, specifically policy related to assessment is rife with such pipe dreams. The questions I ponder this week, as we look to the future of assessment, is the extent to which pipe dreams are a necessary evil and when is it time to let go of them.

How I Spent My Winter Mornings

They say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but this past winter I decided to try to try my hand at solving the New York Times Crossword, something I had avoided doing to this point in my life. Along the way I acquired a little proficiency in solving crosswords, I remembered some important lessons about teaching and learning new skills, in general. Time will spent.

A Point of Inflection and Reflection

We are about to close the curtain on 2025 and begin a new year. We like to think of this time brief period of time at the end of the year as an opportunity to slow down, to reflect on the year past and the year ahead. As we do so, let’s take a moment to reflect on all that many of us will be celebrating these next two weeks, what it means to move from one year to the next, and what lessons we can apply to ourselves and our field. Then let’s sit down and carefully plan out our Spring Resolutions for 2026. 

A Tale of Two Icons

October baseball!  The MLB postseason begins tonight and includes my Red Sox for the first time since 2021. It’s still the most selective and compact postseason of all the major men’s professional sports leagues – following a 162-game season that separated the wheat from the chaff. It extends the summer, and win or lose, it’s special. It’s baseball.

Is Writing The Hill To Die On?

As the dust settles and the smoke clears following the opening forays of artificial intelligence into the world of PK-12 and higher education, the battleground is becoming clear. Writing is the line in the sand that cannot be crossed, the tract of land that must be defended at all costs. But is writing the right battle to fight?

Go Home, Frank. Go Home.

While joining the rest of the world in mourning Pope Francis, there has also been another Francis weighing heavy on my heart and mind these past two weeks. A few days before Pope Francis passed away, my cousin Frank succumbed to the aggressive form of brain cancer he had been fighting these past few months.