Once upon a time when I taught in Jordan there was a very remarkable young women who attended our school. Even back then you just knew she would do great things. Please take the time to watch the news feature that was aired today on CBS. If you feel inclinded to lend a hand and help build the school please donate online at www.fugeesfamily.org or Text FUGEES to 20222 for a $5 text donation.
Just a quick thought. I am not sure I like that my browser and various application are thinking for me. A while back I was looking online at beds, now all the ads streaming across my screen are about beds and bedding. I have long since moved on but my browser has not. When I search news stories or seek articles I am frequently told what is trending, as if my attention should be drawn there. Google, Twitter, Plurk, and…
In Massachusetts we have, or is it had, the Mass Curriculum Frameworks and Standards. Now we are transitioning to the Common Core. These standards, as I understand the term, are to provide the framework, backbone by which we build our curriculum. A list of standards is not the same as a curriculum. I think we tend to confuse standards (minimum to do list) and curriculum (expanded, creative how to guide). We tend to focus on the to do list and…
I have to admit there are times I long to return to the classroom. Once upon at time I was a middle school science and math teacher. Over those 2 decades my curriculum hardly changed, in fact for 15 years (4 schools, on 3 continents) I taught with the same edition of a Prentice-Hall science series. Periodically I had to adjust the wording and format of the curriculum to reflect the edu-speak of the day – changing from aim, to…
“Tedxx Philadelphi talk should be required viewing in every teaching 101 course. All our classrooms would be such better places.” I saw this go by my twitter feed and others like. At face value* it assumes that if you watch, view or are aware of something it causes a change in behavior. If that were true our students would know so much more. We know from experience that is not true, a learner must interact with the information: think, talk,…
Push Pop press, which was developing software to easily create and publish interactive media rich books, has abandoned its development and sold the program/process to facebook so facebook can become a bigger book. Kind of sad really. Trying to find quality, interactive media rich books already created is pretty slim. The possibilities offered here by PushPop were wonderful. I have been looking for such books for the ipads our students use. Most textbooks I find are still primarily text based. …
Yesterday I dropped my son off at camp and was catching up with old friends. I was asked several times about what I did. The conversation usually starts as follows. “What do you do?” “I am an educator.” “What do you teach?” In my head I say, “People” but my mouth says “I work with students and teachers on how to use a variety of tools to research, communicate, collaborate and share information.” Long ago I learned to skip the…