This year my 2nd graders completed a research project about African American Athletes using videos from History.com and a public Google Docs presentation. The students worked in self-selected pairs and picked an athlete’s name out of a ‘hat’ (it was actually a plastic beach bucket!). Over the next few weeks, they listened to the videos…
It feels like forever since I have been to an edcamp, though I have virtually attended a few through following hashtags and the opportunity to Skype into edcampMKE with some of my colleagues. I have been more and more energized by conversations around teacher leadership, meaningful professional development. The edcamp movement has been growing, with…
Across the country, many teachers are arriving to work to find banners that say “We Appreciate You,” continental breakfasts laid out in the staff lounge, and “Thank You” cards placed in their mailboxes. I’ll be honest, I’ve never really been ‘into’ Teacher Appreciation Week. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate being appreciated. What I don’t…
As many of you may know, April is National Poetry Month. There was a time, before full time teaching, blogging, #edchat-ing, edcamping, food co-oping and other endeavors that I wrote poetry on a fairly consistent basis. It was my grounding force, my way of grappling with the world, questions, uncertainty, joy, sorrow, conundrums, beauty, ugliness…
When I picked up the book Curriculum 21 a couple of years ago it was very refreshing to hear what I considered at that time a voice of reason in education. I was particularly struck by Jacob’s metaphor of upgrading the system completely rather than tweaking it. I also found the website full of great…
As a member of the press here at ASCD’s annual conference, I was lucky enough to sit and talk with Liliana Aquas and Matt McClure, the Outstanding Young Educators over lunch. It was an inspiring dialogue. Liliana, who works at Leconte Elementary School in Berkeley, CA, did not start out wanting to be an educator….
As I reflect on my day at ASCD’s conference, I will be thinking and reflecting on a lot of topics and discussions. The one that really struck me, however, I feel I must reflect on first. My last session of the day was one that I was really looking forward to. I am not one…
My first day at ASCD’s annual conference was excellent. I am still sifting through the day in my Evernote notebook. I have, however, looked forward to tomorrow’s sessions a bit and here are the ones that have grabbed my eye: Session 2162 — Overcoming Deficit Thinking: Strategies for Working with Low Income Students 8:30-9:00am Session…
I am very excited to be attending ASCD’ s annual conference here in Philadelphia. I will be blogging about sessions and conversations I attend. Here are some sessions for today that caught my eye: A lunch with ASCD’s Outstanding Educators Session 1270 — EdCamp-Style Professional Development Engages and Empowers Teachers, 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. (a little…
After a day and half of great conversation hosted by Discovery Education with a group of educators for whom I have the utmost respect, I’m not sure if I am able to walk away with any solutions or magic bullets. What I am able to walk away with is a better idea of what I envision…