Working At The Edge

Make School Different: Digital leadership & Transformation

Innovation

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I have to agree with Paul Bruno’s (MrPABruno) interpretation of “innovation” in his post today, Resolve to avoid these 5 meaningless educational phrases: Innovative – Every once in a great while somebody will come up with an idea that is clever and new in education – flipped classrooms, maybe? – but in the vast majority of […]

Powerful Thoughts

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I really like this quote and visual from Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D. and her recent post titled, Information Abundance and Its Implications for Education. Take a moment to reflect on her words…. I don’t think we in education really understand the world we live in and how we need to change our response to it. Based […]

Preparing Students for College and Career

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With the impending arrival of the common core, we often hear the rationale for the accompanying shifts in teaching and learning as “preparing students for college and career.” I have no issue with this idea. In fact, I think it is a very good one. But are we all in agreement what “college” and “career” […]

Exxon Mobile and School

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I can’t say I watch much television, but I’ve been seeing this commercial a lot lately, and I find it a bit disturbing. Watch it. (It’s only 30 seconds.) [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXEWPDdyokg] If we want to improve our schools, what should we invest in? – Great questions…you’ve got my attention! Maybe new buildings? – Maybe. But […]

Two Videos

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In the quest to change education, here are two videos I have recently discovered. What ideas do you find interesting? Practical? Controversial? How do we go about changing our system to bring about a vision such as that communicated in these brief documentaries? [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quYDkuD4dMU] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC_T9ePzANg]

Social Media for Social Change

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The use of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter has increased over the past several years at an incredible rate. Social media can be used to connect to our family and friends, but it is increasingly used to connect to a larger community and the world with the intention of producing something good. […]

Mars Rover

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I find the landing of the Mars rover Curiosity fascinating. As I was watching this video, I couldn’t help but wonder if we are teaching our students, all students, to become the complex problem solvers of future generations. Somehow, I don’t think a focus on standardized tests is going to cut it. How are you, […]

Engagement

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I’m starting to think more about engagement and what we do best as teachers to engage our students in learning. Engagement is a slippery slope. What looks like engagement to me may be passive compliance to you. This distinction became much clearer to me as I attended two days of professional development in the new […]

Time and Change

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Two great videos shared on different blogs today. The first comes from Scott McLeod and Dangerously Irrelevant. The video shares the important idea that we need time if we are going to be creative. For me personally, this idea connects to conversations I have had with a colleague who has moved to central office from a […]