I’ve been talking for a while about the potential shift that public schools are about to experience. It was based on a gut feeling and a lot of reading. I’ve been misinterpreted as saying that I don’t believe in public schools, but I do. I just see what’s coming. I know that if teachers and …
These are the kind of stories that warm your heart at this time of year: Howard announced Thursday that his Ryan Howard Family Foundation would be donating athletic sportswear valued at $1.15 million to the school district of Philadelphia. Fifty-seven high schools will benefit from the donation by receiving athletic footwear and uniforms that match …
Many schools not only are incorporating Internet safety into lesson plans but also shifting their focus from the pervasive “stranger danger” message typically given to young computer users. The idea, says Principal Chris Lehmann of Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy, is teaching students to be better “digital citizens.” But it’s not just about being digital citizenship. …
There’s so much opposition to technology. But then you encounter a story like this: It was unbelievable,” Miller said, “because it wasn’t just a few people watching the wedding because they couldn’t be there in person. In Detroit we had 300 people in a hotel ballroom; I officiated the wedding and then there was a …
Yesterday in class, my laptop died. We have 30 minutes left in class and with our final quickly approaching, I didn’t want to miss important information. I use Evernote for all of my class notes, so I knew that I could use my mobile to pick up right where I left off, but I hesitated. …
Many teachers (and professors from my experience!) are troubled and paralyzed by the mobile mystery. What do we do with all of these students who have cell phones? Do we demand that they keep them in their locker? Do we put a basket out in our classes and take them up? Do we confiscate them …
Sam Harrelson has been blogging about the way that mobile devices impacted Cyber Monday sales. Turns out that mobile devices aren’t only impacting the world of marketing. They are also increasing literacy development in children: The research, to be published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning next month, found evidence of a “significant contribution …
I never knew that some of our family Christmas traditions were so unusual until I recounted them to some friends and realized we were the only family that had these traditions. During my student teaching experience, I walked into our holiday program and was surrounded by an hour and a half of traditions that I …
It’s Christmastime (oh sorry, I mean holiday break) and many classrooms have a countdown for the number of days left in school on their boards. For some reason this time of year always made me especially reflective (maybe it was all those midyear conferences with evaluators and administrators!). Working in high poverty classrooms, I always …
IN recent years, we’ve been treated to reams of op-ed articles about how we need better teachers in our public schools and, if only the teachers’ unions would go away, our kids would score like Singapore’s on the big international tests. There’s no question that a great teacher can make a huge difference in a …
