Igniting Awe in Learning

I get so many daily emails with tech digests that I hardly ever go through them all. But today, my last day of work before Spring Break, I had a little extra time on my hands so I thought I'd read through all my "junk" email. And hidden at the bottom of one of my emails was this gem of a quote: We have mistakenly believed that giving teachers and students new software or a new box will help fix education, but the technology has over-promised and under delivered. – Larry Ferlazzo I would like to politely disagree. I don't think technology has ever promised to do anything. It's just a tool. People may have promised that these tools will revolutionize education, but people tend to make a lot of promises that aren't filled. People are the only fix to the problems in education. People who are willing to have tough conversations about the sad state of affairs many (but not all!) of our classrooms are in today. People who are willing to ackno...

Urgency is often a gift.  It can create both clarity and action. - Mark Miller When I started my teaching career, my dad would scoff about Teacher Professional Growth Days. I remember him saying, "I don't see cars in the parking lot... it's just another day off for teachers." Well Dad, today we had 300 teachers packed in at one school engaging in some of the most meaningful professional growth I have seen during my 16 years as an educator. Starting our day was a call to action from the superintendent. After years of stagnant test scores, he emphasized that it is time to face our current reality. Students aren't succeeding academically. What work must be done to turn this around? Five instructional systems were discussed: Coherent First Teaching, Intervention, Positive Behavior Support, Assessments, and Teacher Collaboration. These gears, when in sync, can create monumental shifts in the learning experience of students. So how do we get there? Through p...

In his blog post, " What Makes a Master Teacher?" George Couros lists what makes a master teacher. Are there any qualities you would add? Or remove? Which one resonates the most with you? For me, I tried to ensure I got to know students on a personal level. Having taught middle school English Language Arts, it wasn't uncommon to have 150-175 students walk through my door every day. It was critical that they not see themselves as just another warm body in a seat, but rather as an important contributing member to the class.  I'll admit that I did better with some students than others. But I think that, overall, the effort paid off. By knowing my students, I was able to tailor curriculum to meet both their needs and their interests. For example, one year I had a student who had a poor assignment completion rate. He hated essay writing (and really, who doesn't?). But when I learned he wanted to be a rap artist, I let him write some of his literary responses as a ...

A while back, I read an article in Good , "A magazine for the global citizen" about a  #100StartsWith1  project. The idea is to promote positive change that betters society.  It's an idea I circle back to today because I just spent three days at CUE Rock Star Admin being inspired by the passion, innovation, and creativity of school and district leaders in attendance.   Sometimes it's the simplest ideas that make the biggest impact.  For example, dancing and singing during morning drop off, as this vice principal in Arkansas does every day.  Maybe my #100Startswith1 project will be a return to blogging. Don't get me wrong... I don't believe my blogging will better society. But perhaps the time for me to reflect, and the ability to hold conversations with others about the current state of education, will spark a change that will lead to a better society. It's worth a shot. 

Photo from 10News: http://goo.gl/HcKI4E I shared the below information with my management team today as Burn Book seems to be the latest and greatest way for high school students to cyber bully. Feel free to modify and use if needed. But more importantly, I encourage you to read this blog post by a high school student about the impact these types of apps have on people:  http://goo.gl/Ls4Tv8 By now, most of you have probably heard of an app called BurnBook. Burn book allows students to anonymously post comments about anything. They choose their school, and then start posting. There are a lot of mean comments about other students and teachers being posted on the app, and occasionally threats to the safety of the school’s campus. I began monitoring the app the other day, and so far, it seems to be focused on high schools.  The high school district personnel have started a campaign to talk to students on all their campuses about the seriousness of p...

High School Student's FB this morning On #CAEdChat Sunday night, we discussed ways to "pimp" our lessons so that students walk in the door jazzed to learn. Dave Burgess, author of Teach Like a Pirate , shared that he always asks, " Here's my lesson...now how can I make this come ALIVE?! How can I create an EXPERIENCE?"   So often, I see teachers who drag the technology out of the cupboard and expect the students to start the ticker tape parade.  But students are bored, just like the high school student who posted the above FB pic this morning from his class.  Technology is not a ticker tape parade for them. But learning should be! As student Alex Bockert explained during #CAEdChat, " Don't start with all the actual work/research to be done - start with why this project will rock." So how will you make learning rock today?

I love Angela Maiers. I think I love her because she values what should be valued: the person. Yes, technology is fabulous, and it allows us to do fabulous things, but if we aren't valuing the person, then it's all for naught. I first started following Angela when I saw her "You Matter" manifesto. It resonated. Deeply. Who we are to others doesn't matter until we realize that we have to matter to ourselves. It is a powerfully simple concept. But one which many of us don't take the time to own. Recently I came across another one of Angela's blog posts that also resonated with me. The Heart: An Underused Tool for Digital Learning discusses the need to challenge students to "work together to solve problems that break their heart." Can you imagine the impact this approach to education would have? Not only would students find meaning in the work they were doing, but they'd be making an impact on the world. They'd be saying, "Hey, I...