Inquiry & Reflection for Better Learning
This is first draft thinking if ever such a thing existed. And it’s selfish. And personal. And close to home. Ani goes to Kindergarten in the fall, so we spent the winter investigating schools around our town. We were looking for places that felt right for us – evidence of care and thoughtfulness, ties to […]
Read More Motivation, Cash & Literacy: I Despise AR. Should I?I’ve assigned many research projects in my time as a teacher. Perhaps you have, too. Research, the process of looking and re-looking at the way an issue or idea has been explored, is a vital part of learning. Perhaps you, like me, have assigned research projects that required that students cite their sources, and perhaps […]
Read More What’s “Print?”The Boston Globe reports that Cushing Academy will be eliminating their library and replacing their 20,000 physical volumes with 18 e-readers. And a cappucino machine. The article goes on quote various experts lamenting or praising the decision. My only question is this: How bad was circulation in their library when the assumption is that 18 […]
Read More 20,000 Volumes. 18 e-Readers. (Only 18?)I read banned books Originally uploaded by Bud the Teacher I wonder if there’s a button with the slogan “I surf an unfiltered Internet,” or “I read filtered blogs.” Maybe “I read blocked blogs,” is better – more alliterative. Along another line, perhaps a button with the message “I’d trust my kids in Al Upton’s […]
Read More Time for a New Button?Clay Burell’s challenged me (or tagged me, or whatever) to engage a meme that he’s passing along. I might. I’m bad about memes. I don’t mean to be. (And I am thinking about a good passion quilt image and will post one. Eventually. Thanks to all who tagged me.) But I did want to encourage […]
Read More Reading BalanceOne of the frustrating bits about working in technology rather than in language arts for the last ten months is that I haven’t really had a good reason to keep up on all the great YA literature out there. I’m not in a position to recommend books to students at the moment – so I’ve […]
Read More Missing YA LiteratureLast week, I received a review copy of Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach for America. Thought it was worth taking a minute or two to say that I’m definitely a fan of the book. I’m impressed with the way the author, Donna Foote, has captured the different teachers, students, administrators, and […]
Read More An Ugly Pursuit Well Worth PursuingI recently finished reading Seymour Papert’s book The Children’s Machine: Rethinking school in the age of the computer, and I’ve got lots to say formally about it. But I only have a minute at the moment and I wanted to ask a question. In the book, Papert forwards the idea that we should have […]
Read More Learning vs. TeachingI haven’t read the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer yet – but the books came up in conversation three different times today – in three very different locations – so I figure I should at least take a peek. Who couldn’t resist this (from the author’s description of the origin of the series): […]
Read More Time for Twilight?This is a little less timely than I would have liked, but I’ve been working through quite a hefty "to read" pile. (You can check out my online "toread" pile, if you’d like – if anything on there’s no good, let me know so I can save myself the trouble!) I’ve quite […]
Read More King on Rowling: The kids are alright