Merianna Harrelson

I am the Pastor of Garden of Grace United Church of Christ in Columbia, SC and the Director of Consulting at Harrelson.Co. I am always looking for a good cup of coffee and a great book.

No Quiet Time

A peak inside the life of a teacher: The reality is that most of us who work in education definitely do not have quiet lives. Depending on the level you teach, you may have a group of students following you down the hallway at any given time. Being an educator is a great way to …

No Quiet Time Read More »

Is Facebook worth it?

There is much debate as to whether Facebook is worth the $38 shares that it is selling as of today. So what is about this company that is so intriguing to potential investors? Certainly, it is interesting that a Social Media site, initially to just be a time waster, is bringing over $1 billion in profits every …

Is Facebook worth it? Read More »

Top-tier buy-in

The fact that Harvard, Stanford and MIT have bought in should only give us more pause as to why we haven’t: But once an Ivy League university does it, then an innovative practice can be validated. Perhaps online instruction did not look so hot to many professors until MITx, the university’s new online learning program, …

Top-tier buy-in Read More »

Critical Consumption

It’s important that we are growing students who are able to understand and transcend many different literacies at one time. The emphasis on helping students code isn’t necessarily about become programmers, but become fluent: Again, no, the assumption is that there will be better understanding of what code is all about. The idea is not …

Critical Consumption Read More »

CEO takeover

Dismantling Philly Public Schools:  The plan, or “blueprint,” was written by a business strategy organization called Boston Consulting; it recommends the closing of 40 of the city’s 249 schools in the coming year, with additional school closings in the years to come. The goal is to have a school district where the central district is phased out …

CEO takeover Read More »

The Autonomy to Choose

More about charter schools from the Obama administration: The document also gives charters flexibility to develop their own teacher and principal evaluation systems, as long as they adhere to a number of standards. The Obama administration announced last year that it would offer states waivers from the most onerous provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. …

The Autonomy to Choose Read More »

Stuck in a Whirlwind

Good thoughts:  One of the oldest problems with the left or progressive movement is our tendency to drag ourselves down through internal struggle over who has the most correct political line. We are seeing some of this dynamic emerge in the movement against high stakes testing. Perhaps it is a coming of age – a …

Stuck in a Whirlwind Read More »