School starts for me tomorrow morning. Over the course of the day, 100 brand new sixth graders will roll through my classroom door. They will be quiet at first. Finding your way around a new building with new teachers and trying to figure out new sets of rules can make any eleven-year old more than […]
What I Need from My Principal to Make School Different Read More »
If you had asked me just a few years ago who Seymour Papert was, I would have stared blankly and had no answer. Not surprisingly, today when I ask others in my workshops if they know of Papert, most do not. Because of my own lack of exposure to Papert’s ideas, I’m not surprised. Yet,
The “One Really Competitive Skill” Read More »
I took a few days off to go camping in the Adirondacks with my son Tucker last week. It was a much needed respite, and despite that fact that we officially need a bigger tent (he’s 6′ 2″ now), we had a great time hiking, fishing, and tree adventuring (highly recommended.) I’m surprised, in fact,
The WTF Economy? (As in “What’s the Future?”) Read More »
Last week was ISTE, the largest gathering of technology educators annually in the United States. This was my eighth ISTE “experience,” and it’s hard for me to ignore the love/hate feeling I have for it. The best parts are, as always, the people. It’s a time to reconnect with friends from the early days of
We may talk about the importance of learning, but for the most part we do not practice it. Let’s start with schools. Schools tend to focus on weaknesses instead of strengths. They also focus too much on content dissemination. Our institutions have failed to foster the love of learning, and do not motivate students to
Barriers to Social Learning Read More »
If you asked my students, they would probably tell you that my classroom has been a seriously miserable place over the past week. We are currently grinding through a unit on ecosystems – and while studying the natural world should be interesting and exciting, our required curriculum is loaded with trivia. Students are expected to
Tacit Expertise vs. Explicit Knowledge Read More »
Recently I was speaking with the superintendent of a small rural district in the US about her frustration with moving real changes forward in her district. “My biggest problem,” she said midway through the conversation, “is that I have a staff that doesn’t read. They’re not really paying attention to what’s happening in the world.”
“Reading” the World Read More »
Recently, five students along with three teachers filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Compton Unified School District (a district that serves the Los Angeles County neighborhoods of West and East Compton). The students, who have all experienced severe childhood trauma, allege that the district failed to help them with their issues, let alone
Trauma and Learning Read More »
Mary Meeker’s Internet Report. Each week, Educating Modern Learners picks one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and helps put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short or in the
What Educators Need to Know About Today’s Internet Read More »
Of all of the changes that are taking place in the world right now, the one that I find most fascinating and daunting at the same time is the powerful shift that new technologies are bringing to the way we think about jobs and work, not just in the future but in the present as well. To
“The Rise of the Robots” Read More »
Testing in Texas. Each week, Educating Modern Learners picks one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and helps put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short or in the long
What You Should Know This Week Read More »
Despite appearances to the contrary, technology and education have always gone hand-in-hand. After all, books, pencils, and paper are technological inventions. Before home computers were ubiquitous, schools housed rows of DOS computers that printed—quite loudly—to dot matrix printers. Before touch technology exploded in the consumer market with the smartphone, many schools were using interactive whiteboards.
What Qualifies as Transformative Technology in Education? Read More »
Ed-Tech and Accessibility. Each week, Educating Modern Learners picks one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and helps put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short or in the long
What You Should Know This Week Read More »
The debate about standardized testing has hit the mainstream. Or at least, it hit HBO last weekend, when John Oliver offered a segment on the topic on his comedy news show Last Week Tonight. Oliver talked about the policies that mandate increasingly pervasive standardized testing in the US, along with the companies that profit from
Testing: Moving Beyond the Public Relations Battle Read More »
Given the large sums of money being thrown at the latest iteration of “progressive education” mediated by technology, it’s as good a time as any to take a quick look at just what a “progressive education” really is. As Audrey wrote last year here in her first overview of AltSchool, Progressive education plus progressive technology
“Loving Learning” in Progressive Schools Read More »
