• Learning by Design

    We don’t have great schools, principally because we have good schools. – Jim Collins Coffee Shops are Better Than Classrooms by Andrew Campbell (Looking Up: A “Professional” Blog, November 14, 2014) This post starts by profiling author J.K. Rowling and her penchant for writing in coffee houses. Rowling finds that these locations allow her to…

  • Rethinking Engagement

    “Children are always on task; the important question is, what is the task?” – Peter Johnston For Millennials, the End of the TV Viewing Party by Alex Williams (New York Times, November 7, 2014) With the advent of the smartphone, landlines are starting to become a thing of the past. But what about television? Williams…

  • Risk and Reward

    “The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again.” – Steve Jobs, in his 2005 Stanford University graduation speech, about being fired from Apple High-achieving teacher sues state over evaluation labeling her “ineffective” by Valerie Strauss (Washington Post, October 31, 2014) A New York City educator with an impeccable…

  • Season of Change

    The educational process has no end beyond itself; it is its own end. – John Dewey What Reflects a Great School? Not Test Scores by Regie Routman (Education Week, October 22, 2014) Regie Routman writes a very pointed commentary about the educational world’s infatuation with standardized tests. She admits that it is possible to…