India’s colleges not preparing their students; are we?

India’s colleges not preparing their students; are we?

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My father shared with me an article, India Graduates Millions, But Too Few Are Fit to Hire, from the Wall Street Journal.  It discusses that many of the graduates from India’s colleges are not prepared to work in India’s business and engineering fields.  Even call centers are finding it difficult to fill jobs. We have all heard “India has more honor students then we have students.”  It does not matter how many ‘honor’ students you may have if they cannot…

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What do grades mean?

What do grades mean?

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A few weeks  back I spent a lot of time at the skating rink at our annual skating competition.  There were parents from a variety rinks in attendance.  The conversation in the stands was not only about skating but about grades.  I few moms were sharing about the report cards that had just come out and were comparing ‘war’ stories.  As an educator my ears picked up and I joined in. From the discussion I heard the typical comments. So…

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Help Build a School

Help Build a School

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I want to share the story of a remarkable young women who I had the pleasure to know back in my teaching days in Jordan.  Luma Mufleh was full of optimism during her high school days. If memory serves correctly she was instrumental in a fund raising effort selling Peace in Our Times sweatshirts.  Those were heady days as the Berlin wall fell, the Soviet Union transformed and an ambassador from Israel arrived in Jordan.  The hope, optimism and compassion…

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Why Schooling?

Why Schooling?

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Those of you who follow this blog know that I have been experiencing a sift in my thinking about education over the last few years.  Maybe not so much a shift but a clarification and redefining of what I mean by education, schooling and learning.  I used to use these words almost interchangeably.  But my experience as a parent, educator and, learner is teaching me that they are very different and sometimes in conflict. I also notice I am redefining…

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Leaving a Legacy

Leaving a Legacy

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I usually to do not write about personal events but this one seemed relevant to share. Yesterday I attended the memorial service, with my children, for John Stewart.  He was my son’s homeroom and central subject teacher.  My daughter was his student a few years back.  A series of Facebook pages and a former student’s blog post may give you a glimpse in the impact this man had on his students. There were so many who came to honor this…

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Khan Academy

Khan Academy

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Khan Academy, started out as one individual making math videos to help explain difficult concepts, it has grown 2,100 videos, and includes exercises and assessment.  The mission, to provide high quality free education to anyone in the world.  Topics focus primarily on math and science from elementary trough college levels. There are other topics related to business, finance and a growing history section. This site is well worth directing your students to or adding to any web enhanced learning environment….

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Why aren’t we learning?

Why aren’t we learning?

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Early this week I had the opportunity to spend the day at Google in Cambridge with technology administrators from MA. We met with Steve Vitner, Director Google Boston; Jamie Casap and Dana Nyugen, from the Google Apps for Education Team and; Abe Murray, project manager for Google Books. Part of the discussion centered around Google Apps for Education and the recent changes with administrating the service.  We also discussed the need for people to enter the computer/information technology fields. But the…

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