Knowledge vs. Wisdom: A Common Core Lesson
Many people have expressed concern regarding David Coleman’s lack of experience in the classroom. Coleman himself has acknowledged his lack of qualifications for serving as the lead author and architect of the Common Core State Standards. There is a big difference between being knowledgeable in a subject matter and having wisdom. Knowledge can be obtained through education, while wisdom is most o
PISA Envy
Tests confirm…ed reformers are suffering from impaired judgement and diminished critical thinking skills due to acute case of PISA envy. Ed reformers should reconsider their admiration for education systems that prepare young people to live and work in closed societies that don’t value creativity, freedom of expression, and independent thinking. In a free and open democratic society education sho
JUL 23
Passion and Purpose
David Coleman has made it perfectly clear there is no “room” in the Common Core for such trivial matters as students’ thoughts, feelings, and personal reflections. Coleman may claim his emotionless Common Core will improve the career readiness of students but there is ample evidence that what employees think and feel has a direct impact on worker engagement and job satisfaction. “Best places to w
JUL 22
Follow Your Heart
Excerpts from Jim Carrey’s 20014 Commencement Speech at M.U. “Fear is going to be a player in life, but you get to decide how much. You can spend your whole life imagining ghosts, worrying about the pathway to the future, but all it will ever be is what’s happening here, and the decisions that we make in this moment, which are based in either love or fear. So many of us choose our path out of fe
JUL 20
Coleman Corps
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few ~ Shunryu Suzuki Hard to imagine an applicant for a teaching job explaining to the panel of educators interviewing him/her that he really doesn’t give a shit what his students or their parents think or feel and admitting to the panel that she really isn’t qualified to teach the position she is applying for.
JUL 19
It’s a bird…It’s a plane…It’s Superman!
“Kids make their mark in life by doing what they can do, not what they can’t… School is important, but life is more important. Being happy is using your skills productively, no matter what they are.” ~ Howard Gardner “The second concern is justifying the Common Core on the highly dubious notion that college and career skills are the same. On its face, the idea is absurd. After all, do che
Data-Driven Common Core Does Not Compute
More and more it feels like the education leaders who are tasked with overseeing the data-driven Common Core implementation and assessment policies are “Lost in Space” and their data “does not compute”. During the school year 100% of teachers are expected to “unpack” the standards, differentiate instruction, and use collaborative protocols and individualized “scaffolding” to accommodate diverse s
Barriers To Learning
Inside the classroom, the teacher has the greatest impact on student performance. It is also true that parents are the most influential teacher in a child’s life, and learning that doesn’t occur outside the classroom can have a much greater impact on student achievement, than what transpires inside the classroom… “Decades of research have shown the staggering societal costs of children in poverty.