Education Philosophy | Mr J Block

Transformative Teacher Profile

Thanks to Kira Baker-Doyle for publishing this very sweet profile on her blog and for creating this wonderful project. I am honored. Transformative Teacher Profile #6: Joshua Block

Becoming a Good “Studier” Isn’t the Goal

Every day as a teacher overflows with amazing moments of connection, insight, and discovery and so many things that don’t progress as I had intended, interactions that feel incomplete, and situations that I wanted to play out differently. I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about the things I want to change and […]Read Post ›

Holding Society Accountable

Talking to my dad on the phone today I found myself searching for words to explain my excitement about Bill de Blasio’s choice of an educator who is skeptical about the value of standardized testing as the new schools Chancellor in New York. I have strong feelings about the misuse of testing and the so-called […]Read Post ›

Being a Learner

In the midst of a catastrophic budget and management crisis in Philadelphia schools, I am spending the last weeks of my summer alternately mourning the state of public schools in my city, advocating for an equitable funding system, and feeling excitement about the school year ahead. As I enter my thirteenth year of teaching I […]Read Post ›

My Vision

I’m excited to be teaching SLA’s Summer Teacher Institute. Our pre-assignment for participants was to write a vision statement of themselves as educators. We felt that it was important for the teachers of the institute to do this as well. Here is what I wrote: I became an educator because of the magnificent feelings of […]Read Post ›