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Influencing for Course Credit

Jason Simon

Back in the 2014-15 school year, I was in my final year working at an international school in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Vietnam is still my favorite of the countries I’ve lived in, and overall the school was a positive experience for me too despite a few ups and downs during my four years there. If I ever get around to writing my international teacher memoir, most of the best anecdotes will come from that school. When I think about what kept me at that school beyond my initial two-year contract, I remember a conversation I had in early … Continue reading Influencing for Course Credit

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All Covidded Up

Jason Simon

For the past few years since I began Working Classroom Hero (…is something to be), I’ve been writing idealistically and, I hope, humorously about education through my perspective as a high school English teacher at a handful of international schools. The schools I’ve worked in have varied in quality from truly exceptional (WAB) to what do you mean you can’t afford to pay us (name withheld), but the adventure and community and great-story fodder and, frankly, the money when it came was always enough to keep me satisfied and motivated. Funny how a global pandemic can change things. As I … Continue reading All Covidded Up

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The Guy from High School Rule

Jason Simon

Reading the comments section of virtually any news source on social media is the type of sobering experience that calls into question whether or not this whole human civilization experiment was actually worth it. Reading the comments section of one’s hometown newspaper is even worse, like cringing with embarrassment over a drunk uncle at a wedding reception propositioning all the bridesmaids or a grandparent with full-blown dementia saying horrible, casually racist things at the Thanksgiving dinner table. I think newspaper comments sections are the primary contributor to what social psychologists call pluralistic ignorance, the inaccurate belief that extreme outlier views … Continue reading The Guy from High School Rule

Education, Teaching3 Comments

I Didn’t Dance Around My Living Room on Camera

Jason Simon

This article was originally published at SchoolRubric.com on 8 June 2020. I didn’t dance around my living room on camera. I didn’t don a funny mask or a cap and bells to make my classes lively and entertaining. I didn’t generate whimsical content for Twitter or TikTok to demonstrate just how inspirational teachers can be during times like these. You know times like these. When the world has changed and now more than ever, we’re all in this together, etc. I don’t begrudge the teachers who actually did these things. I’ve enjoyed seeing those clips on social media and local news of teachers … Continue reading I Didn’t Dance Around My Living Room on Camera

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Being More Flexible

Jason Simon

This article was originally published at SchoolRubric.com on 8 March 2020. I’m fortunate to have spent the past five years at a school that values experimentation. It’s exciting and inspiring as a teacher and, on a personal level, dovetails nicely with my own novelty bias. So, when my school announced in early 2019 that it was constructing a few prototype flexible learning spaces on campus for teachers to work on teaching and collaborating differently, I was one of the early volunteers to be involved. With the high school space, we considered it a good opportunity to put many of our … Continue reading Being More Flexible

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Literacy Is NOT Enough: 21st Century Fluencies for the Digital Age (Book Review)

Jason Simon

Literacy Is NOT Enough: 21st Century Fluencies for the Digital Age by Lee Crockett My rating: 3 of 5 stars It’s not the fault of these authors or their perfectly fine book that it reads like virtually every other idealistic book about transforming education for the 21st century/digital age/new millennium. 20th century bad. Industrial model of schools. Dewey. 21st century good. Jobs that don’t exist yet. Internet and technology. Essentially, that Sir Ken Robinson video with that hand drawing things that every teacher has seen a dozen times now at conferences and professional development workshops. Now here are the 5 … Continue reading Literacy Is NOT Enough: 21st Century Fluencies for the Digital Age (Book Review)

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World Sick: Stories by Jason Simon (Book Review)

Jason Simon

World Sick: Stories by Jason Simon My rating: 5 of 5 stars If it were possible for me to review this objectively, I probably wouldn’t rate it so highly. It’s not perfect. It’s insular and, in some stories, reads like an inside joke that’s tough to understand without context. It’s odd and has no qualms about narrative sacrifices. It’s sometimes wordy and might have benefitted from a professional editor. It engages in contemporary political discourse without making a larger point. I wouldn’t dream of being objective here, though. I wrote this, and I’m happy with how it came out. I … Continue reading World Sick: Stories by Jason Simon (Book Review)

Education, Teaching2 Comments

Dispatches from the International Teacher Job Search

Jason Simon

This article was originally published at SchoolRubric.com 14 December 2019. Moving on is part of the life of an international school teacher. From my perspective, that’s just fine. People like me didn’t get into this line of work to spend their whole career in one place, even if we do occasionally fall in love with a specific city or school and settle down for a while.  In my case, my wife and I are in the process of moving on after five years from an excellent school we’ve had a positive professional experience at. It’s amazingly well-resourced and is on … Continue reading Dispatches from the International Teacher Job Search

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Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools (Book Review)

Jason Simon

Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools by Ron Ritchhart My rating: 5 of 5 stars For my review of this book, I have chosen to use the thinking routine “I used to think…Now I think…” I used to think it wasn’t so hard to create the right kind of classroom culture. Be kind and caring and clear in expectations and prioritize relationships. Now I think there’s more to it than that, and it’s worth stopping to reflect on the factors that contribute to a culture focused on thinking rather than just … Continue reading Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools (Book Review)

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Am I Teaching Nazis?

Jason Simon

This article was originally published at SchoolRubric.com on 20 November 2019. Not so long ago at an international school in Asia, an acquaintance of mine walked into his classroom after lunch to a mural of graffiti drawn by students on his whiteboard. Erasable markers, not such a big deal. When he began to clear his board, however, he discovered additional drawings underneath in permanent marker designed to appear only after the board had been erased like some prank palimpsest. Annoying but not unprecedented. What was notable, though, was that the images were not the expected: crudely-rendered genitalia or assorted swear … Continue reading Am I Teaching Nazis?