Working At The Edge

Make School Different: Digital leadership & Transformation

The Seven Essential Life Skills and Policy

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The 7 essential life skills outlined in the video below are nothing new. We have been talking about these skills for nearly a decade, when educators started to feel the need to prepare students for the “21st century.” Here are the skills: Focus and self-control (this is the idea of attention and managing distractions) Perspective […]

Infographics…a way to manage large amounts of information

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I’m currently listening to a very interesting audiobook – Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long. I am enjoying the book because the suggested strategies for dealing with distraction are rooted in how the brain works. Distraction, especially in our hyper-connected world, is a topic that […]

Superintendents and Technology

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The Gallup Organization and Education Week recently teamed up to survey superintendents across the country. The organizations plan to administer  similar surveys for superintendents four times annually. The first survey asked questions about Common Core Standards and the potential of technology. While only about 2,500 of 12,000 superintendents responded (NOT representing a nationally representative mix). […]

Are educators ready for Common Core?

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Today I attended a very good professional development provided by Discovery Education – The ELA Common Core Academy. I left the session (another day tomorrow) feeling like I have a greater understanding of the Common Core Standards and the instructional shifts required of our teachers so that our students can meet these new standards. My […]

Using Technology: Wrong and Right (or Play and Think)

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I pretty much dislike right/wrong dichotomies (things in life are rarely black and white), but this graphic posted by Bill Ferriter (@plugusin) on Twitter is worth sharing and briefly commenting on. I like the question, “What do you want kids to do with technology?” because the answer will show whether the thinking is stuck in […]

Seeking Excellence

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Good advice from George Couros to school leaders in a recent post (“People do not fail in life because they aim too high and miss…”) – “…if we were to take a look at a lot of the tasks that we do in school, do they lead to ‘great’ or are they something we just […]

Music Directing and Leadership

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Music Directing and Leadership. Two topics I have, at various stages of my life, given considerable time, thought and work. The other day I stumbled upon a podcast from the Art Works Podcast series from the National Endowment for the Arts. The interview featured Alan Gilbert, Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. During the […]

Engaging Online Learners

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Here’s a topic that doesn’t run across my feed reader too often: Why online education is mostly a fantasy. The title certainly intrigued me, especially as we work in my district to develop the next steps of our vision for teaching and learning. I agree with most of the writer’s points: “The online education utopians […]