Avenue4Learning

Dear Mr. President: In the past two weeks, I have read more about schools, teachers, and accountability than I have ever seen in my nearly 20 years in education. Sadly, I can’t say that what I’ve been reading is encouraging. The one word I see over and over again is “accountability.” Accountability IS a good [...]

Do we need to protect ourselves from… ourselves? I’ve been doing a lot of research with colleagues in the last few months in the realm of public school district policies, especially pertaining to internet, web 2.0, social media, filtering, etc. What we’ve found is many schools who have vague language in their policies, and who [...]

Tomorrow is the first day of the 2009 NETA Conference. After preparing all day, I’m really excited for this conference, as well as meeting and re-connecting with other educators. Day 1: Looking forward to Hall Davidson’s opening keynote. Also, NETA is providing a Bloggers’ Cafe this year. If you’re attending, plan to stop in and [...]

January Think-About Scott McLeod posted this photo back in October. I’m using it as a discussion point in some sessions this month. Answer these questions: 1. What are your initial feelings/thoughts after viewing this photo and quote? 2. What are you doing to change that perception in education? If you have a response on another [...]

A couple of weeks ago, I asked for “Must Read” submissions, and received some through Twitter and some through comments. I compiled the list  and am sharing them in a Google spreadsheet here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p-RYpU6NncZV-0d8nYEeUUw Please feel free to add to the list! Thanks to all who responded!

October Think-About: If you compiled a list of  “must reads” for educators -  books, articles, blog posts, etc. – what would you include? Sometimes, I think to myself, “If only they could read [ insert title here ], maybe that would help them wrap their minds around these challenging ideas/philosophies.” Think of the conversations we [...]

Today is Blog Action Day 08, and I started thinking about experiences I had while I was in the classroom. I taught in a very small school, and there were very few families of “average” socioeconomic status. There were many well above average, and many well below. It was an environment somewhat foreign to me, [...]

When you think of 21st Century Learning, what comes to your mind? What are the skills that people need to succeed in the 21st Century?* Is it all about the technology, or are there different approaches to thinking and acting in the 21st Century? In addition to the core subjects, what should schools be adding [...]

I’m in a very frustrated state lately… mostly due to my impatience with the direction I feel education should be going vs. where it actually is. I usually feel this way after I attend summer conferences… it’s a natural after-effect of the energizing discussions that take place at those conferences. But I’m even more unsettled [...]

For quite some time, the Digital Divide has been a term describing the existing gap between the “Haves” and “Have-Nots” — pertaining to access to technology. Essentially, the Digital Divide classifies people all over the world into two classes: those who have access to and know how to use digital technologies, and those who don’t [...]