For those of you who participate in #edchat (more on what that is here and here), please add to the conversation on our wiki: http://edchat.pbworks.com Jerry Swiatek already updates the wiki with an archive of both weekly discussions, but we have added a page for participants to add resources and success stories. As a moderator,…
As a former Science teacher, I can’t help but reflect on the fact that Science has the power to pull all of the subject areas together. A well designed and executed Science curriculum can incorporate Literacy, Math, Social Studies, Art, Music, Physical Education as well as higher order thinking and creativity. So why do so…
Those of you who have been following this blog may remember that I have been teaching a group of about 17 bright, young students (1st and 2nd graders) in an Enrichment group 5 days a week for 45 minutes. This group is proficient/advanced in reading and tested out of our scripted Corrective Reading program that…
A couple days ago I wrote about a student in my class who was struggling with completing work in my class. After a breakthrough moment in which I expressed to him the importance of taking risks and not fearing challenges, I wondered if this moment would have lasting effects. Yesterday, I had him again, and…
My 4-6th graders have been working Persuasive Essays for the last month. (While that seems like a long time, it is really only 4-5 class periods.) I decided to have them hand in their work using a drop.io dropbox rather than my server dropbox so I can grade their work from home. While playing around…
Twitter has been buzzing with how attendees of this past weekend’s innovative conference will apply what they learned, shared, discussed and saw. I felt the pressure. After spending my weekend immersed in discussion of moving education in the right direction, how would I make a difference? How would I play my part? It came to…
After my long and detailed blog post from Friday, I feel the pressure of trying to match it. I already have failed in that mission since it’s already Monday. My morning started with breakfast at Con Murphy’s with Ann Leaness and a group of delightful teachers we had just met. We were a little late,…
After a long day of meeting Twitter friends for the first time, touring the Science Leadership Academy (SLA) and venturing around Philly, I got home and wasn’t sure what to do. I decided to tweet out my dilemma, and of course, my PLN came through to help me make my decision: My PLN has spoken,…
It’s been over a week since the devastating earthquake in Haiti. A few days after the quake, my friend Karen McMillan sent me an invite to her Diigo group, Kids4Haiti. While I, unfortunately, have not been good enough to add any sites to the list, Karen has been working hard to update the list with…
Those of you who work in unionized districts are probably dealing with a variety of looming changes and ‘reforms’ due to Arnie Duncan and President Obama‘s new Race to the Top Program. In case you’ve been in a cave for the last month, the RTTT Program (so quaintly referred to on Twitter as “Race to…