To Prep, or Not to Prep
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: the final press and grind to the finish line that is called, where I live, the PSSA. That miraculous, mysterious month when our attention and resources are focused to laser-precision, honing our children so that during test…
Truth in Labeling
I am a big fan of the program Fresh Air on NPR, hosted by Terry Gross. Every day she presents an extended interview with a public figure in contemporary arts, news, or culture. Her genius is that she approaches each interview with genuine interest and curiosity,…
Gifted Education Is Not a Wall Street Bailout
“Unfair.” That is the word that I have often heard used to describe the 2008 bailout of Wall Street financial firms. The thinking of detractors is that these are companies which already have amassed obscene amounts of profits, and have executives who get paid more in…
You Want Me to Write a WHAT?
A novel. Yep, you heard me, I want you to write a novel. Don’t look behind you, I mean you. And not just that, I want you to write it in a month. I know, you have all kinds of excuses why you can’t possibly. So do I. And all of them are legitimate and serious. (Well,…
Teaching by NFL Rules: A Response to Fran Tarkenton
This past Monday, the Wall Street Journal posted an opinion piece by Fran Tarkenton in which he postulated what the NFL might be like if it had to play by what he called “teachers’ rules.” Tarkenton says: Each player’s salary is based on how long he’s been in…
Quisitivity Has Moved
As part of a larger project to update and consolidate my professional presence online, I have moved my blog, Quisitivity, to this new location. You should be able to find all of the old content in essentially the same places, with added content from my portfolio and…
Edcamp: A Professional Development Amuse Bouche
I spent this past Saturday at edcamp Philly. Edcamp is an unconference: a gathering of professional educators that is deliberately structured differently than your typical professional conference. Instead of a set schedule of presenters and vendors, predefined and…
The Solution to Climate Change: When In Doubt, Choose C.
Imagine picking up the newspaper and seeing this story: A 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck Japan today, causing widespread destruction. During a news conference, the Prime Minister said, “We have considered all of the possible solutions to…
Gifted Education in the 21st Century
Damian Bariexca (@damian613) brings us the seventh in what is now an ongoing series of posts on the future of gifted education. Damian brings a unique perspective to this conversation from his experience as both a school psychologist and high school English teacher in…
Nonlinear Learning: Family Vacation
A couple of days ago, I wrote about how schools often take the “camp bus” approach to learning: load all the kids on the bus at the start of the year, take them all for the same ride, and arrive at the same destination. Imagine a family trip planned this way. Grandpa…
Nonlinear Learning: The Camp Bus
When I was about 9, I went to Cub Scout day camp at Camp Delmont for the first time. Every day, a group of us got on a bus and we rode for an hour or so. I had a great time, and at the end of the week, for reasons that I can’t now recall, my dad and I decided to take…
Why "I Don't Do Technology" Isn't Acceptable
Imagine an episode of CSI where the main character doesn’t “do” technology: “Tonight, on CSI: Miami, Horatio Caine investigates a brutal crime wave using only his wits and his sunglasses. He matches fingerprints, tire tracks, and fiber samples…by hand! His…
Reforming Assumptions
I consider my blog a place to work out not-quite-crystallized thoughts and start conversations. This post is an example of a topic that I need to wrestle with, and I’m looking for your help to do so. I wrote the other day about how Educon challenged some of my…
Educon 2011: More Deep Thoughts
Yesterday, I wrote about two of my big picture takeaways from the first day of Educon. Day 2 indeed continued that pattern. I still heard references to student voice and student passions in every session. And my assumptions continued to be challenged, and are…
First Thoughts From Educon
I’m partway through my second Educon, and as I found the first time around, my brain is having trouble keeping up with the intensity of learning that is going on. I continue to be amazed at the number of educators willing to spend an entire weekend, almost around the…
How to Tame an Administrator
[This article is cross-posted at The Teachers Lounge blog. Thanks to Brandi Jordan for the invitation to guest blog there.] Last week, my family and I went to see a stage adaptation of The Little Prince. A scene in it reminds me of the always-complex,…
Why We Still Need Public Education
Thomas Jefferson invented public education, the purpose of which, he said in a letter to John Tyler in 1810, is “to enable every man to judge for himself what will secure or endanger his freedom.” He believed that education of all children, not just those whose…
Teach Me How to Teach
This post was originally written for the ntcamp blog and is crossposted there. Jack Nicklaus was an exceptional master golfer. In his legendary career, he won a record 18 major tournaments, and had a total of 115 professional wins. Many writers have listed him as the…
What If Every Child Was Gifted?
The sixth post on 21st Century gifted education comes from Brandi Jordan, a former elementary classroom teacher who now homeschools her three children. She is the Managing Director of The Teachers’ Lounge, a Really Good Stuff blog that is dedicated to providing…
Gifted but Lacking?
Kevin Washburn (@kdwashburn on Twitter) brings us the fifth post in our series on gifted education. Kevin is Executive Director of Clerestory Learning and author of The Architecture of Learning. He is also a member of the International Mind, Brain & Education…
Which Side of the Fence Is In?
Fences exist to separate the things inside from the things outside. They provide a boundary to define and separate space, and safety for those inside. Teachers and administrators put up both literal and metaphorical fences in schools. Rules, firewalls, expectations,…