I’m looking forward to the NAIS Annual Conference- #naisac15 – this year – assuming of course that Boston can dig its way out of all the snow. The theme is appealing: “Design the Revolution”. It’s a slogan that manages to evoke the design thinking and maker movements while also embracing the ineluctable truth that the world is speeding along rather…
In his The Schools our Children Deserve Alfie Kohn has a quick and easy chart for what to look for in the classroom. It includes this chart about the walls. Give it a try next time you are in Gilkeson. In the last couple of weeks I have captured a fraction of the learning as reflected on the walls . Sometimes…
This is the Night Mail crossing the border, Bringing the cheque and the postal order, Letters for the rich, letters for the poor, The shop at the corner and the girl next door. Just watch this clip from “Night Mail” – the documentary film from 1936 – and be transported to another time, another place. It’s the London, Midland, and…
Come in from the Cold and bring your kids and tell your friends. All welcome.
Bombogenesis – that’s the wonderful word that the indispensable (for our region at least) forecasters and watchers at Hudson Valley Weather introduced me to a few years back. It’s a meteorological term meaning rapid or extreme cyclogenesis often characterized by a barometric pressure drop of 24 millibars in a 24 hour period. And cyclogenenis means the process which leads to the…
There’s a useful and on-point critique of the Maker movement in The Atlantic magazine: Why I am not a Maker by Debbie Chachra. And maker devotees and promoters would do well to read it as they out there talking up the maker culture as a panacea to all the ills of education. But – what is a maker? Just someone…
Thanks to Valerie Strauss’s blog in The Washington Post I’ve been alerted to a website devoted to helping grieving students. Among the many useful resources there is this chart that serves as a simple but important guide for talking with grieving children about trauma and loss. …
Parents got talent. Right? So come on out – beat the winter doldrums – and join the fun. Bring your violin. We will ask you to play. Thursday February 5th. Click the pic for more info.
The Letter from Birmingham Jail One of the most resounding rebukes in history. And as you read you can hear the cadence of the voice rising and falling with indignation and righteousness. It’s a long letter. Never before have I written so long a letter. I’m afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure…
Some books, some ideas and some thinkers stay with you. They are like wells that you go back to dip into and drink from again and again. Their work sits mostly unopened on the shelf but key ideas bop into the brain as a kind of mental hat stand on which to hang new thinking. Jerome Bruner is such an influence.…
“Violin Vinyasa Yoga,” an after-school enrichment program FOR PDS PARENTS begins on January 21. Violin Vinyasa Yoga is for yoga lovers of all levels of experience. The focus of this class a natural flow from pose to pose initiated by breath. The goal is an increase in strength, flexibility and peace of mind. Each class concludes in the final resting…
Here’s a story from the end of last year that I forgot to post. What does this say? And because this is the age of statistical analysis and big data the results were collected and charted. And was I one of those fooled? Yes, I was! But I was not alone.
Test-weary second-grader asks school board: ‘Is that all that matters to grown-ups?’ Elitist parents threaten lawsuit after kids are called out for alleged test prep Two news stories from test-world: The first from The Washington Post reports the testimony of a second grader at the New Jersey State Board: Dear members of the New Jersey State Board, and fellow stakeholders: Hi.…
This week began with a professional day for faculty and staff. Our theme was Identity, Privilege and Race provoked by the recent months of turmoil surrounding the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. There were readings, resources and a deal of playfulness. And most important – conversation. When one of those readings – What White Children Need to Know about…
Here’s something terrific for free: It’s an E-book of great articles from the always useful Educating Modern Learners, an online source with which I am proud to be associated. I’m still working my way through the content – and in some cases re-reading – but no disappointments. These people write well about important and useful topics. See the list below.…