Stealth Parent Trigger Effort In Washington State
I just saw this tweet from Ken Libby: Sneaky: parent trigger-like mechanism incorporated into WA charter initiative: blogs.seattletimes.com/uwelectioneye/… Wonder why they havent played that up… — ken libby (@kenmlibby) July 27, 2012 Washington State is preparing to vote on an initiative to support the creation of charter schools, an effort that has been voted [...]
Teacher’s Union Convention Considers Support For Making Home Visits
Source: shareasimage.com via Larry on Pinterest Carrie Rose, the extraordinary and tireless Director of the Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project is at the Detroit convention of the American Federation of Teachers. She let me know that the St. Paul affiliate (read more about their work at St. Paul teachers visit students’ homes in search [...]
“Parent Trigger Fires Again”
Parent Trigger Fires Again is a very good commentary by Diane Ravitch on the recent parent trigger court ruling. She brings together information from several different news sources, including info I didn’t know, including this: And the ruling ignores the clear language of the law, which does allow parents to remove their names from a [...]
Important Parent Trigger Question
David B. Cohen just raised an important question on Twitter about the parent trigger: As far as I know, parents cannot petition to undo a parent trigger. Anyone know otherwise? What if 51% of parents in next yr or 2 disagree? — David B. Cohen (@CohenD) July 23, 2012 Does anyone know the answer?
Southern California Parent Trigger Saga
I’ve previously posted about the rejection by the Adelanto School Board of a parent trigger petition because 100 parents said they were tricked into signing them. A judge ruled today that parents can’t rescind their signatures, and that the parent trigger effort can go forward. The district is expected to appeal, but hasn’t made a [...]
This Week’s Parent-Teacher Chat (#ptchat) on Twitter
Guest Post By Joe Mazza “Helping Families Cope with Tragedy” This Week’s Parent-Teacher Chat (#ptchat) on Twitter Our thoughts and prayers go out to those dealing with the horrific Colorado theatre shooting that occurred this past Friday night. Many lost their lives and were injured physically and emotionally as a result. In times like this, [...]
Today’s Resources On The Olympics
I’m not anticipating posting daily updates now on the Olympics, since The Best Sites For Learning About The London 2012 Olympics now includes links to the major media sites which will have a zillion new updates each day as the … Continue reading →
Mixed Feelings About “Turnaround For Children”
Joe Nocera has a column today in The New York Times titled Addressing Poverty in Schools. In it, he speaks highly of the work by Turnaround For Children, an organization that places a team of four staff in some New … Continue reading →
Wallwisher Updates Its Site
Wallwisher, the pioneering “corkboard” Web 2.0 tool that lets you create virtual bulletin boards, has recently updated its site and it seems to work very well (thanks to Angela Cunningham for the tip). As many of us had noticed, it … Continue reading →
“Five-Minute Film Festival: Hollywood Teachers”
Edutopia has published a great round-up of teacher movie portrayals: Five-Minute Film Festival: Hollywood Teachers. I’m adding it to The Best Places To Learn About (And View Video Clips Of) Teachers In The Movies.
Special Edition of “Today’s Resources On The Olympics”
I’ve generally been doing on post a day adding resources to the huge The Best Sites For Learning About The London 2012 Olympics. But, today, I’m doing two: All the Fastest Men is a cool slideshow from The New York … Continue reading →
Good Writing Advice, Lightly Delivered
Source: shareasimage.com How to Write is a very engaging New York Times piece by author Colson Whitehead that’s funny and informative. I’m adding it to The Best Writing Advice From Famous Authors.
My New Monthly NY Times Column: “Ideas For English Language Learners”
I’ve just begun writing a monthly column for The New York Times and their Learning Network: “Ideas For English Language Learners.” Check out the first one — focusing on the Olympics.
Nice Citizenship Interactives From ProLiteracy
ProLiteracy has quite a few very accessible interactives designed to help people prepare for the U.S. Citizenship test, and also has a lot of info for citizenship teachers. I’m adding it to The Best Websites For Learning About Civic Participation … Continue reading →
Today’s Resources On The Olympics
Here are today’s additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The London 2012 Olympics: Igniting the games is another Associated Press interactive. Going for Tchotchke Gold is a Wall Street Journal slideshow. Biggest, Fastest, Strongest is a cool interactive … Continue reading →
“What Eating At The Poverty Line Is Like Around The World”
“What Eating At The Poverty Line Is Like Around The World” is a very interesting slideshow and project. The photos portray the food that a person in different countries can afford to purchase if they live in poverty. I’m adding … Continue reading →
This Is Useful: Pinterest Expands Category Sections
Pinterest just announced a major expansion of their Categories Menu. I guess I was clueless, because I never realized they even had one. You just click on “categories” at the top of the page (you don’t even have to be … Continue reading →
“The State of Educational Blogging in 2012″
Sue Waters, the idol of and guru for edubloggers everywhere, has just posted “The State of Educational Blogging in 2012″ over at the Edublogger. It was a huge task to collect and analyze several hundred surveys, and Sue has done … Continue reading →
Create Flashcards With “StudyBlue”
StudyBlue lets you create flashcard easily, and one of its main selling points — at least in my mind — is that it allows you grab images off the Web to add to them. I’m adding it to The Best … Continue reading →
Today’s Resources On The Olympics
Here are today’s additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The London 2012 Olympics: London 2012 security: Covering all fronts is an interactive from The Associated Press. The Smithsonian Magazine has tons of Olympics resources, and I especially like … Continue reading →
Video: “The Joy Of Painting” Remixed
If you enjoyed the wonderful PBS remix of Mister Rogers last month, you’ll love their new remix of Bob Ross from the legendary “Joy Of Painting” show:
“Game-O-Matic”
Game-O-Matic is just about the strangest site I’ve seen for creating online games. On one level, it’s as easy as pie to use, but on another level — and that’s the level I’m on — it’s incomprehensible. It’s particularly intriguing … Continue reading →
More And More Tests….
Here are the newest additions to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Next Generation” Of State Testing: Standardized Tests Of Tomorrow Behind Schedule, According To Insider Survey is from The Huffington Post. Common Assessments: More Than Two Games In … Continue reading →
Useful Interactive & Data About Child Well-Being
The Annie Casey Foundation has released their annual “Kids Count” report, and this year they’ve also produced a pretty nifty “Data Wheel” that provides a state-by-state summary. The supporting resources they offer are a bit overwhelming. You have to dig … Continue reading →
The Best Interactives Showing How Long Our Non-Renewables Will Last
The earth’s non-renewable resources are not going to last forever (hence, the reason for calling them “non-renewable”). Here are some interactives that show long each one has left: Global resources stock check is from The BBC. What Lies Beneath is … Continue reading →
Lively Discussion On Loss Aversion Study
I’ve written a lot over the past week about the now infamous studies on loss aversion in schools. I did, though, want to highlight a lively discussion in the comments section of one of my posts on the topic. If … Continue reading →
The Coolest Thing I’ve Seen Today — Glasses That Provide Subtitles
Cool: Google Glasses-Inspired Eyewear Translates Foreign Language Into Real-Life Subtitles is the title of a TechCrunch post that describes this adaptation of “Google Glasses”:
This Week In Web 2.0
In yet another attempt to get at the enormous backlog I have of sites worth sharing, I’ve recently begin a regular feature called “The Week In Web 2.0.” It’ll be a short compilation of new decent sites that are worth … Continue reading →
Today’s Resources On The Olympics
Here are today’s additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The London 2012 Olympics: The Associated Press has released several interactives: Collecting precious medals Road to the London Games 2012 Summer Olympics The New Yorker has a slideshow of … Continue reading →
Video: “Greatness Is Wherever Somebody Is Trying To Find It”
Today, Nike released this great ad connected to the London Olympics. Happily, the “ad” part of it is very minor. I’m adding it to The Best Videos Illustrating Qualities Of A Successful Language Learner: Thanks to Adverblog for the tip.
New “Choose Your Own Adventure” Game & Resources
Here are the newest additions to The Best Places To Read & Write “Choose Your Own Adventure” Stories: Forensic Firsts from the Smithsonian Channel has a game where you need to stop a serial killer. It’s engaging, but probably not … Continue reading →
This Week’s Round-Up Of Good Education Posts
Here are some recent good posts on educational policy: Common Sense Vs. Common Core: How to Minimize the Damages of the Common Core is by Yong Zhao. I’m adding it to The Best Articles Sharing Concerns About Common Core Standards. … Continue reading →
Teens And Stress
Here are the newest additions to The Best Resources For Learning About Teens & Stress: Helping Teenagers With Stress is a nice hand-out from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Teens and Stress is the same video I’ve … Continue reading →
Today’s Resources On The Olympics
Here are today’s additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The London 2012 Olympics: Fists of Freedom: An Olympic Story Not Taught in Schools is from GOOD. The Art of Gymnastics is an interactive from The Associated Press. The … Continue reading →
“Under Ten Minutes” Looks Like A Great Place For Learning To Use Tech Tools
Under Ten Minutes showcases short videos showing teachers how to use new tech tools. I’m adding it to The Best Places To Learn Web 2.0 Basics.
UNICEF’s “Voices Of Youth” Is A Good Place To Write For An Authentic Audience
Voices Of Youth is a site set-up by UNICEF where young people from around the world can write and interact about issues like “Environment, Education, Human Rights, etc.” Here’s an excerpt from the sites “FAQ’s”: Educators can work with their … Continue reading →
NASA Turns Data Into Van Gogh-Like Images
NASA took data from the sun and turned it into these Van Gogh-like images: Thanks to Open Culture for the tip.
This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”
I have a huge backlog of resources that I’ve been planning to post about in this blog but, just because of time constraints, have not gotten around to doing. Instead of letting that backlog grow bigger, I regularly grab a … Continue reading →
The Best Resources On Using Improvisation In The ESL/EFL/ELL Classroom
I noticed that the Twitter #ELLCHAT this evening was on using drama in the classroom, and it reminded me that I’ve been planning on writing a post on improvisation ideas — one of my favorite instructional strategies. Here are a … Continue reading →
Today’s Resources For The Olympics
Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The London 2012 Olympics: Playing London’s Games is a Wall Street Journal interactive. London 2012: Inside track on Olympic running surface is from The BBC. A Sprint and … Continue reading →
My New Piece In The Washington Post
I’ve just published a piece in The Washington Post summarizing my recent posts on loss aversion and schools. I’m also adding it to The Best Posts On “Loss Aversion” & Schools. I’m also adding a Mother Jones commentary on the … Continue reading →
“First Year Highlights: Education Policy Issues”
I’ve brought together all my Education Week Teacher columns on education policy issues in my newest post there. Check out First Year Highlights: Education Policy Issues. There are some pretty good ones….
Tell A Story With A Map
Meograph lets you tell a story with text, photos, videos, and audio narration. Richard Byrne has written about it a couple of times, so I’d suggest you read how he describes it. In many ways, it seems similar to Tripline, … Continue reading →
The Best Ideas To Help Students Become Better Listeners — Contribute More
This is a very short “The Best…” list. It’s different from The Best Listening Sites For English Language Learners, and is focused on ideas we can use to help all our students develop better listening skills. I shared my best … Continue reading →
The Best Posts On “Loss Aversion” & Schools
Over the past few weeks, I’ve written several posts about recent studies experimenting with “loss aversion” in schools — giving students and teachers cash or prizes prior to a test and then taking them away if student test scores do … Continue reading →
Make An Easy Video Call With “Vidquik”
Vidquik is a new tool that lets you easily make a video call to someone. It’s free and, after registering, all you have to do is type in the email of the person you want to call. They click on … Continue reading →
Teach For America & Baking “Bread In An Instant Without The Ovens”
Source: shareasimage.com via How Much and What Kind of Teacher Education Do Novices Need? is a thoughtful post by Larry Cuban questioning the effectiveness of teacher training programs like Teach For America’s five week strategy. I’m adding it to The … Continue reading →
More On The Effectiveness (or Ineffectiveness) Of “Loss Aversion”
My posts on recent studies using “loss aversion” (giving students and teachers cash or prizes and then taking them away if they don’t meet testing goals) as a way to “motivate” teachers and students have been receiving a fair amount … Continue reading →
“Muddled Models” — A View Of Economists From…The Economist Magazine
Coincidentally, the same day I criticized economists for looking at everything, including schools, through the lens of financial incentives (see “If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail” — Economists Go After Schools … Continue reading →
Research Studies Of The Week
I often write about research studies from various field and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies … Continue reading →
Create Online Books With “Living Junction”
Living Junction lets you fairly easily create simple online books/magazines. You can search, drag and drop images onto pages, and add textboxes, too. I’m adding it to The Best Places Where Students Can Write Online.
“If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail” — Economists Go After Schools Again
Last month, I wrote about a questionable study that touted the idea of “loss aversion” as a successful strategy to get students to do better at tests. In other words, they gave students a trophy or some cash before they … Continue reading →
Video: ” View from the ISS at Night”
Here’s an impressive video composed of photos from The International Space Station. I’m adding it to The Best Images Taken In Space:
“Rewindy” Is A New Easy Slideshow Creator
Rewindy is a new and easy tool to make slideshows. It really doesn’t require much explanation — you click on “create new story,” upload photos or paste the url addresses of ones you want to use off the Web, add … Continue reading →