May 2013 Blog Posts (10)

I was introduced to the 'Six Thinking Hats' as an Assistant Principal with PSD.  A group of administrators had been reading the book and shared their learning through a really fun bag of hats - each hat in the bag a different color.  Each hat represented collaboration in the task of looking at an existing landscape or an initiative from different perspectives.  I was particularly intrigued by the black hat.



As an administrator, the black hat can be the most challenging to work with…

For so long I have watched leaders in schools focus their energy and time on administrative duties. I put myself at the top of this list. Faculty Heads for example, spend so much time in curriculum admin and documentation, file arranging, budgeting and other compliance tasks. This is not a judgement call; this is just what we leaders do. We see a task that needs to be completed and we dive in. Easier to do it ourselves sometimes than delegate to a team member right? Complete this sentence,…

Most families do not understand the concept of youth summer camps. A noted educator, author and psychologist, Dr. Scales says, "Camp is one of the few institutions where young people can experience and satisfy their need for physical activity, creative expression and true participation in a community environment. Most schools don't satisfy all these needs."

Summer camps for kids and…

I am working on a particular action research on the effectivity of Web-Based Learning in enhancing student's participation, achievement and retention in learning. I am asking for comments and suggestions. Thank you in advance.

Myths and Realities about Technology in Schools

Myth #1:  Putting computers into schools will directly improve learning; more computers will result in greater improvement.

Access to technology is an important issue for teachers and students. Although schools may have computers available, one factor that determines their use is where those computers are located. In our school, we had 15 computers. The problem was, we are not able to utilize it on a regular basis because of the…

What is the most important factor that contributes to student success? Teaching.

Educators know this, but implementing practices that support excellent teaching is often harder, especially in school systems that must address myriad issues that frankly go beyond education.

In a recent Asia Society study, Stanford professor and education expert Linda Darling-Hammond examines teacher quality policies in Singapore, Melbourne, and Toronto and offers advice for what policymakers can…

http://www.weareteachers.com/grants-contests/grants/how-do-you-encourage-critical-thinking-during-classroom-discussion-/

How to Encourage Critical Thinking in Classroom?

•  Utilizing standards, like the Common Core, to guide you as you lead classroom discussions.
•  Engaging your students to think beyond the simple facts about any…

I am writing a chapter on PLNs and Content Curation.  I stumbled upon this great link by Howard Rheingold about Shelly Terrell:

http://dmlcentral.net/blog/howard-rheingold/shelly-terrell-global-netweaver-curator-pln-builder

That reminded me of this site.  I need to come back more often.

Ken

This morning I had a somewhat disheartening conversation with a good friend.   We get together every week to talk about education, what we see, our point of view, and give push back on ideas. He commented that he doesn't read his Twitter stream because there is a lot of noise. Educators are repeatedly talking about the same things and the conversation isn't changed. Topics I see repeatedly are reform,  government oversight, 5-100 best ways to do something, the best apps, and more. The lack…