Here is the opportunity for all of you “21st Century Skills” advocates to sound off and defend your stance on what really is so special about the 21st century. Yesterday, I had to fill out a survey that was expected to “assess a teacher’s competencies in being aware and proficient in the use of 21st [...]

In a comment on my last post on “Social Networking”, Jerrid Kruse asked a question that deserves some serious discussion. Here is his full comment and question (at bottom): I felt compelled to mention that social networking is not new. Scientists have communicated their findings for centuries via professional journals and conferences. Yes, these professional [...]

In reading Seth Godin’s blog today (I’m Mad At Everyone), I couldn’t help but think about the way that teachers share lesson plans and lessons in the name of collaboration. The reality is that this type of cooperative work may be damaging students’ abilities to learn as well as your ability to teach. If there [...]

Perhaps one of the greatest travesties occurring every day in schools is teacher observation. The reason it is such a big problem is because it’s rather easy to fix. I’ve only seen a handful of models that deviate from the traditional once a year (tenure) or three times a year (non-tenure) system that has dominated [...]

There are any number of blog posts that discuss this topic, but I figured I would put my own up and join the fun. The easy way to prevent PowerPoint from ruining a lesson is simple: just don’t use it. Realize quickly that PowerPoint often detracts from the more important message that you are trying [...]

It doesn’t matter if you love technology or hate technology, one of the most important steps in making students proficient in the proper use of technology is to engage in conversations with them. Just as important is that teachers must engage in conversations with other teachers of ALL proficiency levels. There is no way for [...]

In reading Drive by Daniel Pink, I have to tell you that the more I read, the more agitated I have become, and it has minimal to do with Pink’s content or discussion. I can’t help but take specific notice of an underlying theme of the book that strikes a particular chord with education. Pink [...]

Considering the amount of frustration that parents, educators, and political pundits throw at our system of schooling, one can only wonder why there is minimal support for a complete overhaul of the structure. The reality is that the only way our educational system will experience a complete alteration is through a paradigm shift that looks [...]

Educators are beginning to see the value of social networking with emphasis on sites and platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Nings. This is all for the betterment of our practice, but we must also be mindful that conforming our ideas to those who we have discussions with is not always improving education or an effective [...]

There is a general misconception in education that suggests giving students more work means “harder” or “more rigorous” work. The two are not synonymous in the least. There is an astute difference between having students think critically about topics and strongly consider multiple solutions as opposed to having them perform the same functions longer on [...]