Category: Education Reform
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Pandemic Pedagogy: Some Questions About Being “Successful” and Getting it “Right”
Introduction With the midpoint of the summer and the July 4th Holiday weekend in the rear view, and states (like our own home of Michigan) now releasing plans for a “safe return to school” in August, we feel it is worth taking time to pause. As parents and teacher educators, as well as long-time colleagues…
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Wrapping Up a Semester of Digital Badging
This past fall semester provided me with an opportunity to teach an undergraduate honors seminar, focused broadly on the role of technology in our personal and professional lives. Entitled “Our Digital Selves,” I was able to work with 22 students over the 16 week semester as we engaged in some shared inquiry, some small group…
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Badging and Blending, Writing and Learning
Badges. Writing-intensive. Active learning. Blended learning. Oh, my. These have been the buzzwords that have permeated professional conversations over the past few years, and have guided my path in developing the seminar course for Honors students that I am currently teaching, “Our Digital Selves.” Offered as a course for a group of 22 freshmen while…
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ILA Literacy Leadership Brief: Democratizing Professional Growth With Teachers
As teachers and teacher educators prepare for a variety of workshops, conferences, webinars, institutes, and other events this summer, I am pleased to share a timely publication I’ve co-authored with Misty Sailors of the The University of Texas at San Antonio: “Democratizing Professional Growth With Teachers: From Development to Learning.” One in a series of Literacy…
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The Future (Shock) is Now
Having been on my “to read” list for quite some time, I was finally able to dig into an oft-mentioned book: Alvin Tofler’s 1970 look at, well, today, Future Shock. I had not read it before, though I see one of his quotes mentioned quite often: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be…
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Keynote from David Berliner: Myths (and Lies) That Deceive the Public and Harm American Public Education
Notes from David Berliner’s talk here at Central Michigan University with many ideas from his book 50 Myths and Lies That Threaten America’s Public Schools: The Real Crisis in Education. What is the greatest invention of America: public schools Value added models built on standardized testing are not endorsed by major professional organizations, yet state legislatures…
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Digital Literacy Leadership Dare
This morning, on the final day of our digital literacy leadership workshop, we watched Chris Lehmann’s Ignite talk about “School 2.0,” and I borrowed some of his ideas to create our writing prompt: What do you dare to do as a digital literacy leader? One of the themes that has emerged for me over the…
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Response to 2016 MDE Assessment Survey
The Michigan Department of Education has issued a “2016 Assessment Survey” that I encourage every teacher and parent in our state to reply to ASAP. There is a public hearing on the future of assessment in Michigan that will be held in Lansing on July 30th, but I can’t attend in person… so, I am…
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Connected Learning Webinar
Today, I enjoyed a conversation with a number of colleagues about the “The Digital Influence on Looking Closely at Student Work.” Definitely worth a listen, and be prepared to write down lots of ideas about how to engage deeply with students’ work as a tool for assessment and professional development. Andrew Sliwinski – Co-Founder of DIY.org;…