Join Me for an All Things PLC Twitter chat, Topic: Using Technology Thoughtfully in PLCs #atplc

Tonight at 8 P.M. CST (Thursday, November 5) I will be hosting an All Things PLC chat. This conversation is supported by Solution Tree (www.solution-tree.com). Our topic is around the use of technology in thoughtful ways within professional learning communities. Follow the #atplc hashtag on Twitter to join us. Specifically, we’ll discuss what benefits can … Read more

What I’m Reading: September 2015

Always the beautiful answer Who asks a more beautiful question. -E.E. Cummings photo credit: What is this key for? via photopin (license) Early Literacy Research: Findings Primary-Grade Teachers Will Want to Know by D. Ray Reutzal (The Reading Teacher, July/August 2015) The Dean of the College of Education at the University of Wyoming addresses the most commonly … Read more

Suggestions for a First Year Principal (from a veteran principal who remembers)

Below is an article I wrote for the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators (AWSA). Click here to view the original source. If you have additional suggestions for first year principals, please post them in the comments. I didn’t think I would write something like this, a list of strategies for new building administrators. Who am … Read more

What I’m Reading: July 2015

Abandon learning, and you will be free from trouble and distress. – Lao-Tse Practices and Commitments of Test-centric Literacy Instruction: Lessons from a Testing Transition by Dennis S. Davis and Angeli Willson (Reading Research Quarterly, Summer 2015) A former elementary principal (Davis) and elementary teacher (Willson) conducted a one year qualitative study of the effects on … Read more

Digital Student Portfolios: Site License for Teacher Professional Development

Thinking about your school’s professional development plan? Are you looking for a focus for your grade level or department inquiry? Still searching for that textbook for a college course you are teaching on technology integration? Then consider this offer for a powerful, year long learning initiative. Possible questions: What is a “site license”? A site license means that … Read more

What I’m Reading – May 2015

My Favorite Teachers Use Social Media: A Student Perspective by Katie Benmar (Education Week, April 21, 2015) Student voice is so often missing in conversations about education, that it is almost a surprise when we hear it above the din of educators. Katie Benmar, a high school student in Seattle, shares both the benefits and … Read more