Recently, with all of this change coming to Philadelphia schools, in conversation with fellow educators at the Educon conference and some engaging conversation on Twitter and Google Buzz I’ve been thinking about what a good model of school reform would look like. Many of my colleagues and I agree that expanding the Charter School model…
A couple days ago I wrote about a student in my class who was struggling with completing work in my class. After a breakthrough moment in which I expressed to him the importance of taking risks and not fearing challenges, I wondered if this moment would have lasting effects. Yesterday, I had him again, and…
My 4-6th graders have been working Persuasive Essays for the last month. (While that seems like a long time, it is really only 4-5 class periods.) I decided to have them hand in their work using a drop.io dropbox rather than my server dropbox so I can grade their work from home. While playing around…
I just had to share a smile in all of the doom and gloom I’ve been sharing recently. Background: One of my students has spent the last few weeks saying, “I don’t know _____” …fill in the blank with whatever assignment we’re supposed to be working on. It got to the point where I was…
Twitter has been buzzing with how attendees of this past weekend’s innovative conference will apply what they learned, shared, discussed and saw. I felt the pressure. After spending my weekend immersed in discussion of moving education in the right direction, how would I make a difference? How would I play my part? It came to…
After my long and detailed blog post from Friday, I feel the pressure of trying to match it. I already have failed in that mission since it’s already Monday. My morning started with breakfast at Con Murphy’s with Ann Leaness and a group of delightful teachers we had just met. We were a little late,…
After a long day of meeting Twitter friends for the first time, touring the Science Leadership Academy (SLA) and venturing around Philly, I got home and wasn’t sure what to do. I decided to tweet out my dilemma, and of course, my PLN came through to help me make my decision: My PLN has spoken,…
My new friend Kyle Pace send me a message on Twitter on Wednesday asking me about my Wallwisher activities I had been doing with my students. I sent him a few links, and he messaged me back saying he had left a message on our Haiti wall with a resource. When my 5th grade class…
If you read my earlier post about Race to the Top, you know that I have been dreading the news that my school will be labeled as a Renaissance School. Well, my biggest fear has been realized. In our boxes today was parent letter explaining that my school is on the list of eligible schools…
It’s been over a week since the devastating earthquake in Haiti. A few days after the quake, my friend Karen McMillan sent me an invite to her Diigo group, Kids4Haiti. While I, unfortunately, have not been good enough to add any sites to the list, Karen has been working hard to update the list with…