On September 24, 2008, David Warlick over at 2¢ Worth posted a very interesting question: If “It’s not about the technology,” then What is it about? As you might imagine, a lively conversation followed. The conversation pushed my thinking about re-imagining learning. What should we be doing?
Scott McLeod caught my attention when he posted on September 29, 2008 about what’s on the back [...]
Every Monday, the New York Times sends me an alert about the articles that have appeared in the last week about school reform. One in particular piqued my interest. It was a letter to the editor from Ken Salazar, democratic United State Senator from Colorado.
As Congress considers proposals to address the shortcomings of our nation’s [...]
Yesterday, I told you about a meeting I attended. I also said I was dissatisfied and explained a bit about why I felt frustrated.
However, in talking with my pal Bill yesterday morning over a delicious veggie omlet, I was able finally to verbalize the underlying characteristic that drove me nuts: there was at the meeting [...]
I’ve always loved the sound of the word serendipity. It sounds so delightful and playful.
I had a most wonderful experience last Friday. Amy, Tom, and I have been meeting as a small book club for several months, happily reading our way through Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art by Stephen Nachmanovitch. We would routinely meet [...]
Janet and I spent the Fourth in Seattle. It was all too nice. While there, I was struck by an article in the Seattle Times by staff columnist Danny Westneat: “Just like the Founding Fathers, we’re out of sorts“. He writes that the institutional part of the Constitutional bargain with the people has gone sour. Calls [...]
Imagination is so important to learning. I’m afraid that we’re all so busy with the press of the day that we haven’t time or opportunity to wonder or create. I’m so glad that someone in my neighborhood was creative and took the time to make an air conditioner interesting to this passerby. (I think the [...]
Bill Farren over at Education for Well-being posts what I believe is the heart of the matter about all this talk about reform: the power to ask the right questions.
Are we asking students to wonder? To question? Or are we just asking them to tell us what was said? Are we asking them to consider the Big [...]
So much has been written about the necessity of changing schools. There have been myriad books, articles, commissions, special studies and yet schools remain essentially the same as when my father went to school in the early part of the 20th century. For my part, I’ve indicated in previous posts that the institution is impervious [...]
I’m getting into the swing of this blog thing! And like lots of writers I get stuck sometimes and brood for days over what the next steps are. So a special thanks to Kate Olson over at KateSays, designer and consultant, for nudging me to this post.
As I’ve mentioned before, Pat Dolan wrote one of [...]
N.Y. Times OpEd columnist Bob Herbert published a dandy on Saturday entitled “Hard Roads Ahead” that echoes my own thoughts: be it ignorance, laziness, or a simple choice not to do the hard work in schools, we are failing a generation of kids. We are not adequately taking care of our future by solidly preparing [...]