I Don't Know
For the fourth post in our series on gifted education we turn to Jeff Agamenoni, who posts as @teacherman79 on Twitter. Though relatively new to gifted education, Jeff’s experience in education and honest perspective on teaching made him a natural choice to invite as…
The Future of Gifted Education
The third post in our summer series on gifted education comes from Jerry Blumengarten, better known to many as Cybrary Man (@cybraryman1 on Twitter). Cybrary Man taught several subjects over 32 years in one of the toughest areas of NYC, the last 12 years of that as…
Help Define "21st Century Education"
One of the things that has drawn me to the particular collection of educators whom I follow on Twitter is that they have a passion for helping students learn better. Over the last couple of years, I have heard and participated in a lot of conversations about so-called…
Why Blog? It's About History
I got thinking about history the other day. How do we know what we know about the people around us? Our lives overlap in various ways. We experience things together, we talk, we share, we collaborate. If I want to know more about someone, I can give them a call or get…
What Does it Mean to be Gifted Now?
For the second in our summer series, Tony Baldasaro (@baldy7 on Twitter) brings us this reflection on his views about gifted education. Tony is the Chief Human Resources Officer and the Personalized Pathways Administrator for the Virtual Learning Academy Charter…
Consumer-Driven Education
I had a wide-ranging conversation over coffee the other day with David Timony (@drtimony on Twitter). One of the things that came up was the idea of students as consumers. David is doing research about what constitutes an expert teacher, focusing on teacher behaviors…
Empowering the Future
This is the first in a summer series of guest posts by members of my personal/professional learning network. Mary Beth Hertz is the technology teacher and technology integrator at Alliance for Progress Charter School in North Philadelphia. She can be found on Twitter…
Don't Be Creative
Take a look at this picture. If I asked you to sort them into piles, how would you do it? OK, now do it again a different way. No problem, right? Again. Took a little longer for you to think of a way to sort them this time, didn’t it? I’ve done this with kids and…
The Three I's of Curriculum
Last week I wrote about how design principles should apply to curriculum. I’ve been thinking about one of those elements in particular: the idea of white space. This isn’t really a new concept, but I think it bears some examination. Curriculum today is very full. We…
Warning: May Be Hazardous to Your Assumptions
Due to the nature of this post, the Department of Blogging requires that I begin with this statement: Be aware that the ideas I’m going to share…
Who Are the Learners?
I just finished a session at ISTE 2010 by Chris Lehmann (@chrislehmann on Twitter) on Thoughtful School Reform. Besides turning a lot of my assumptions upside down (which happens every time I hear anything he says) and having far more to process than I could possible…
Developing Knowledge Farmers
While working on my model classroom presentation for this afternoon, I discovered a metaphor that helped me crystallize one of the things that makes learning today radically different than it was when I was in elementary school, and gave me a better grasp on how and…
ISTE 2010: Emerging Themes
Two themes are emerging in what I’m learning here at ISTE 2010. These aren’t new ideas by any stretch, even to me. It’s just that they are being driven home in very powerful and deep ways. The world is small and flat. Not precisely in the sense that Thomas Friedman…
ISTE 2010: Day 1
So here I am, sitting in the Blogger’s Cafe at the ISTE Conference, a place that until now has existed only in myth and legend. This is, depending on how you count it, either my first or my third ISTE. Two years ago, I attended NECC 2008, but only virtually, through…
What Is 21st Century Gifted Education?
Gifted education has been around for over a century. Researchers have studied what it means to be gifted, and what are the best methods for educating the gifted. It has been an uphill journey for many reasons. A great number of people believe that there is no need to…
Lessons Learned from Pawn Stars
Earlier today, Tony Baldasero posted this: There are times when I think #pawnstars on the History Channel is more relevant than many history classes I have been inTue Jun 08 02:43:02 via TweetDeckbaldy7 baldy7 As his posts tend to do, it got me thinking about what…
How to Change a Child's Life
If I were to ask a room full of people to name one teacher who made a difference in their lives, who inspired them, who lit a fire in them and changed their direction forever, I’m certain that nearly every person would not only immediately think of a teacher, but…
Guest Blog at TransLeadership
Tony Baldasaro recently asked several members of his PLN, including yours truly, to guest post at his blog, TransLeadership. I’m honored (and a bit frightened, to be honest) to be in the company of such blogging heavy hitters as Will Richardson, Sheryl-Nussbaum Beach,…
Tech Tools: Student Blogging
Image by Ingwii via Flickr Let me just say up front that I know I’m hardly the first person to address this topic, and I’m sure I won’t be the last. In fact, so much has already been written on the subject of student blogging that I’m not going to spend time here…
Tech Tools: Interactive Fiction
Image by the-tml via Flickr Though it has taken me much longer than I planned to get back to this topic, I want to share with you today what I believe is an outstanding and probably very obscure tool that would be excellent for gifted students. Think back a few years.…
Banish the PowerPoint Curriculum
I’ve been reading Garr Reynolds’s book Presentation Zen (and am a fan of his blog, too). I picked it up because I wanted to improve my presentation and design skills, but in the process I’m seeing some parallels with curriculum design. We’re all familiar with the…