What are you thankful for in education? | Taking Note

What are you thankful for in education? | Taking Note:

What are you thankful for in education?

by John Merrow

John Merrow's last blog post of 2011 looks at what we should be thankful for -- and what we still have to worry about.

In a recent tweet, I wondered aloud about what we should be thankful for in education (a similar discussion happened before Thanksgiving on the Learning Matters website). I got a variety of responses, including:

• Students who are hungry to learn;
• Parents and other family members who work in concert with teachers to support effective learning;
• Growing collaboration between School Boards and Unions, often made possible by foundation grants;
• Teacher collaboratives, like Barnett Berry’s Teacher Leader Network and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards;
• A rich and broad variety of well-written blogs that assist in solving problems;
• Research and documentation of pedagogy and materials that have a positive impact on learning;