Choices… decisions… education. Three simple words deeply embedded within my world. For years I have been amazed while reflecting on the cascade of decisions a teacher makes in even one class period with a typical group of 20 or so… Continue Reading
Arboreal aspirations? During a time of the year when perhaps sugarplums should be dancing in my head, I seem to be conjuring trees. More precisely- massive, skyward-reaching, luxurious and well-rooted trees. I can’t seem to keep from dwelling in the… Continue Reading
Teacher as Writer Whew. I barely got this logged in time. Too much fun making snowmen as of late. Or work? yeah, that too. Allow me to get straight with it… Last year I nominated Michael Doyle for the “Best… Continue Reading
The “no-campaign” campaign These images were created as part of an “appropriate use” campaign concerning mobile devices at my school. Truth: It’s not much of a campaign at this point. In fact, I’ve just been throwing these things out there… Continue Reading
Boys only? According to the NCES, since 2004, girls have -in general- been shown to outdo boys in nearly every measure of academic success. Girls outpace boys on nearly every one of our measures of “winning” when it comes to… Continue Reading
Engagement A friend gives you free tickets to an upcoming concert. Although the group is fairly popular, you are not familiar with the artist’s body of work. Assuming you elect to go, what do you do next? Between now and… Continue Reading
According to NOAA, over half of the population of the United States lives within 50 miles of the coastline. This trend holds up over the vast majority of the world, and many countries in East Asia show an even greater… Continue Reading
Slamming on the brakes Forgive me in advance for the not-so-touchy-feely words regarding our beloved Mother Goose, but this one gave me pause… My two-year-old daughter pulled out The Real Mother Goose yesterday as we were playing. I knew we… Continue Reading
Establishing tone I believe information literacy is the responsibility of all content teachers. The following piece is a bit about how I tend to kick off a new year, and how to easily aim at info literacy from very early… Continue Reading
Backyard classroom Have you ever wondered why we build sandboxes for children? That’s exactly what I did today. Today I wondered while wandering about the yard, putting the finishing touches on a landscape and backyard garden update. I wondered long… Continue Reading