When everything around is changing so rapidly that it feels like living inside a blender on high speed, habits and traditions can be comforting. As the year rolls along in any school there are the dates on the calendar – love them or dread them, those ceremonies, and celebrations – that are familiar, anticipated and taken for granted. And then…
Advice (random and very incomplete) for new teachers: Please round out the list with your thoughts: Sign on to Twitter. Follow the smartest people you can find in your areas of interest. Build a great PLN – personal learning network – of the wisest and most helpful people you can find. Follow people with whom you agree and those who…
Looks like the new UK education minister is channeling Thomas Gradgrind: Pupils must learn about Miss Havisham, says Minister They don’t know enough facts, he says. Maybe it’s the fact that Mr. Gibbs does not know enough about Charles Dickens, the age of information and learning theory. Not to mention that his frame of reference is remarkably narrow. When politicians…
Perhaps I am having a hard time saying goodbye to the year. I spent part of the day putting this rather long sideshow together. Already I can think of all the many people and events I have left out. A year in school goes so fast. This is some of what I saw in 2009-2010. Most but not all of…
Joe Bower teaches in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. And he is on a personal mission. His blog For the Love of Learning takes on the traditional model of education and challenges its assumptions and practices. His latest post is a passionate call for action for educators everywhere. It opens with Ken Robinson’s latest TEDTalk (see below). It’s a follow up…
Learning about Sprout Creek Farm is a big part of the kindergarten curriculum but what exactly are they learning? Readers of this blog know I am a supporter of all things kindergarten but some things just go too far. Take this morning for instance. In the active play area hay bales and straw were being hauled by the pulley into…
Pete Seeger came to PDS yesterday. He came for the lower school musical – an original production on a subject dear to his heart – the magnificent Hudson River for which he has done so much. The show – A Hudson River Journey – was written and produced by lower school drama teacher Dorothy Penz with music directed by Bill…
A must read article from the Times of London. Playing Games Makes Your Child Clever
A school in May is like a two year old deprived of a nap. That’s how my colleague Liz describes it. Everyone is stressed out, too busy and cranky. The weather is unpredictable with storms and frost one moment and sunshine and blossoms the next. The calendar is stuffed with culminating events, showcases, performances, final assessments, report writing deadlines and…
A video from BBC News about the world’s latest favorite education destination: Finland
It’s not about the tools and the testing, it’s about the learning and the thinking. Digital literacy is an important entitlement for all young people in an increasingly digital culture. Every school should have an organized policy for language across the curriculum… Two documents, two eras. The first from FutureLab (UK) – a wonderful introduction to, and handbook for, digital…
April 23rd 2010 – Shakespeare’s birthday and Poughkeepsie Day School begins live streaming Diary of a Scoundrel – Alexander Ostrovsky’s cynical play about hypocrisy and the trouble with literacy! You can see it here. Thank you David Held- for the live streaming and the videography. David assures me that it only takes half an hour or so to learn how…
“To succeed…it’s the fire within that must be lit.” Purpose, mastery, autonomy (mission not money as motivation.) Watch the video and then think of the implications for school. What do we reward students for doing?
Math makes sense of the world: Here’s math teacher Dan Meyer speaking at the TEDxNYED conference in March.