Shifting my stance (a bit): IWBs

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 [...]

2 weeks later: myTEDxNYED

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 [...]

Two years on: What I (don’t) know

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 [...]

A start to the conversation?

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 [...]

Asking questions

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 & learners (great posts 2 & 3)

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 [...]

Best advisory ever: A How-To & How-Not

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 [...]

When frustration is a good thing

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 [...]

The importance of stupidity

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 [...]

Rookie mistakes

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), [...]