Whether you’re an educator or a student, middle school can be tough. As students enter their adolescence, more is expected academically than ever before. During these pre-teen years, students must become more focused, organized, and disciplined to succeed in school – a shift that is complicated by the rapid changes they find themselves going through
A Community of Thought
WHAT IS A COMMUNITY OF THOUGHT? WHY COMMUNITIES OF THOUGHT? WHAT MAKES THINKING INTERDEPENDENT? HOW ARE CAPACITIES FOR INTERDEPENDENT THINKING DEVELOPED? HOW ARE COMMUNITIES OF THOUGHTS SUSTAINED? Here are responses to these questions chosen by Laura Lipton & Bruce Wellman WHAT IS A COMMUNITY OF THOUGHT? A [community of thought embraces a] process through which
Connected Learning
I am a teacher. I believe that all students can learn. I also believe that ‘for all students to learn’ we adults have some important thinking to do together. In an attempt to stimulate serious thinking around this the topic of Connected Thinking I pose these questions: Is the role of schooling to deliver content
Gaining the Skills, Knowledge and Dispositions of Thinking Together: Essential Educational Goals as We Help Our Students Meet Their Futures
I believe that getting good at thinking together is an important goal to strive for. As teachers we need to help our students to develop the skills, dispositions and attitudes helpful to engage in thoughtful, productive conversation. The complexity of the world can lead adults to respond to problems in ways that are almost devoid
It Is A Good Time to Think About Summer and Young People
In The Untapped Power of Summer to Advance Student Achievement THE LEARNING EXECUTIVE SUMMARY By Beth M. Miller, Ph.D. (note: this hyperlink is to a pdf – so by clicking it it will download the document which you can then open) many excellent ideas and much useful information is shared. Some of the information is
Leading for Powerful Learning
The quotes below are from a book titled: Leading for Powerful Learning: A Guide for Instructional Leaders by Angela Breidenstein, Kevin Fahey, Carl Glickman and Frances Hensley (2012) from Teachers College Press. This is a good book for any and all formal and informal school leaders who 1) want to be part of schools that
Reflective, Collaborative Dialogue and Action Around Effective Teaching and Learning
If we care about the education of today’s youth it behooves us to take adult learning seriously. We adults can learn our way into the future or we can hold onto the status quo in our classrooms/schools or we can defer to the massive network of sales people promoting a multitude of educational products. I
A Snapshot of Where American Technology Education Fits in Globally
These are the rankings for the top colleges from around the world that competed in the international Collegiate Programming Contest in 2012. Students from universities from around the world competed for bragging rights and prizes at The 36th Annual ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals sponsored by IBM on May of 2012. The contest pits
Contributing to the Conversation of Teaching, Learning, and Interdependent Thinking
I have had the good fortune to both write the foreword and contribute a chapter for this Teachers College Press book. The Foreword focuses on the value of “thinking together”. The chapter I wrote is titled: “Creating and Influencing Momentum: The Challenges and Power of Adults Thinking Interdependently”. Additionally, I work with Patricia Reeves with
How did testing and accountability become the main levers of school reform? ~ Diane Ravitch
We all need to stop and think deeply about what we want for all children. I am convinced that the ‘easy answer’ of letting narrow products, “tests”, measure the value of schools to our society is foolhardy! Further, I am convinced that our society needs to be investing in ways to improve education for all