Joe Wood dropped a comment on my last post (Where I Stand: IWBs) that helped to rethink my stance a bit on the IWB. I’m pretty surprised by this, since I really have thought about the “IWB dilemma” quite a bit and wasn’t anticipating changing my position any.
What stays the same
Okay, so [...]
A major problem with public education is tradition. “This is just the way things are done here,” is a refrain that I’ve heard many times in my own short career. One of my take-aways from TEDxNYED is this: The tools and services to make schools modern and relevant are available, but schools need to overcome [...]
January 12, 2008. My first education-related blog post ever. It takes some hubris1 to start a blog. Perhaps even more to keep it active.
If I’ve learned anything in the last two years it’s that I don’t know as much as I thought I knew. When I started writing here I figured I was on [...]
Yesterday’s “21st Century Skills” PD session marked milestone of sorts. While there has been much talk about using computers and technology in our classrooms, the conversations among colleagues yesterday had a different tone than anything I had previously been privy to.
About 15 people came to the session I helped facilitate. I was glad the [...]
Maybe it’s because I’ve been reading a lot of research the last several months for my Master’s Project. Maybe I’ve just had time to adjust to a new school and am starting year two with a fresh perspective. Either way, I’ve found I’m thinking a little more deeply about why and how I do things [...]
Communities of reformers
Some posts hit you exactly when and where you need to be hit. Dina over at The Line wrote a post that did just that recently. In a new school where I’m not exactly enthralled with the existing culture, I’ve found myself frustrated often. I haven’t been posting as much in part [...]
HowTo: Have a good advisory
Eat. Stop at the store. Pick up some donuts, mini-muffins, and assorted fruit. Advisory isn’t a fun place for students. Make it more inviting. Bribery through food is a good start. Apologize. Mainly apologize for using the “curriculum” you’re supposed to be using. Be honest. Tell them you were trying [...]
I keep waiting for that day when I look at my curriculum and am happy with what I see. You know, that point where it’s really good and perhaps only needs a few minor changes each year. After years of constant tweaking, improving, and overhaul it seems like that day should be right around the [...]
Martin A. Schwartz in an essay titled, The importance of stupidity in scientific research, published online by the Journal of Cell Science, says:
…I don’t think students are made to understand how hard it is to do research. And how very, very hard it is to do important research. It’s a lot harder than taking [...]
I sat down to grade my students’ chemical reaction primer artifacts this weekend. It didn’t take me long to realize that as a class we weren’t done with these projects yet. Clearly I hadn’t built in the necessary support for the project’s format. I seemed to do pretty well supporting the information (as described previously), [...]
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Ben Wildeboer. 9th grade science teacher, etc.
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