One man’s truth is another man’s fiction. Wikipedia starts off with a pretty good definition of truth then goes on to a lengthy discourse on the philosophy of truth and its relative nature. It is one of those funny terms we all know what it means yet we don’t seem to be agree on what is true, just watch the nightly news. When we teach our students Information Literacy and help them to become better researchers and users of information…
Welcome back to school! Those of us in the world of formal education are now deep into the process and our summers of relaxation, professional development and planning have morphed into the daily work of teaching and learning with our students. As we begin our new school year I would like to encourage you to watch a talk by Ken Robinson on How to Change Education from the Ground Up. Many of us are dealing with changes in curriculum as we…
For someone who currently works in public education I find myself constantly asking why do we do what we do? Why school? I have been fortunate enough to work in public, private and international schools. I have seen a wide range of expectations for students, teachers and schools from parents, school boards and governments. I recently read Doug Johnson’s post “Teaching for the Subservience” where he ponders the the question “how many schools for the governors truly exist?” I guess…
Yesterday Google had a doodle for Copernicus on the occasion of his 540th birthday. There have been many pioneers in science that have challenged current thought and understanding. Copernicus challenged the Earth centered view of the universe and gave us the Sun centered view. He was not correct but based on the evidence he had he came up with a new idea. He stuck to the evidence and conventional wisdom and gave us the modern science of astronomy. The same could be said for many scientific ideas. With…
My son is a sophomore in high school and we are beginning to look at his post-high school life. He goes to a terrific high school. My daughter also attended the same school and was well prepared for her college experience. She often remarks on how much better prepared she was then her fellow freshman. I am very please with the choice of high school for my children. My son’s passions are computers, math and gaming (computer, cards, board). So…
Pre- Reading My thoughts below are inspired by the following: Cast your NETS by Andrew Vicars Really? Its my Job to Teach Technology? by Jeff Utecht. My Thoughts I am a tech integration specialist, my title says my job is to integrate technology, presumably that means in the classroom. But I tend to think of myself more as an instructional or learning coach. It has never been about the tools, but about the learning. As educators I have always viewed …
I guess I am currently sensitive to the ‘homework” issue. I wanted to share with you a post by Scott McLeod, Homework Authoritarianism and Student Choice. I was particularly struck by the section regarding college vs high school work expectations. Here in MA schools must provide a minimum of 990 hrs of structured instruction over a 180 day school year. That works out to be about 27.5 hrs a week of structured instruction, this is exclusive of study, lunch, homeroom and passing time. So a typical HS student is in an…