Sunday, March 30, 2014

Food for Thought 3/30/2104

Below you will find "Food For Thought" links shared 3/30/2014. Hope you find them useful. If not, check back next week as the menu always changes!
  1. Another example of "nothing does as much harm as good intentions"?- When one New Zealand school tossed its playground rules and let students risk injury, the results were surprising- ://ww2.nationalpost.com/m/wp/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/2014/03/21/when-one-new-zealand-school-tossed-its-playground-rules-and-let-students-risk-injury-the-results-surprised
  2. Blog post that truly gets why tech is so important in education today- Is your use of technology "Invisible"?- Invisible Technology empowers its user to be independent, collaborative, and truly shift learning into the 21st century http://thetechrabbi.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/the-invisible-ipad-part-ii/
  3. Have doubts about homework? 5 False Claims About Homework- http://www.educationrethink.com/2014/03/five-false-claims-about-homework.html 
  4. Because the idea that we & students can and should "know it all" is helping to kill the intrinsic love of learning in our schools. Here is an idea- Should all courses be "elective"? http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/01/22/why-all-high-school-courses-should-be-elective/
Background- In my weekly Sunday night email to teachers I end with links to articles, videos, posts and other links that I have curated throughout the week that have made me pause and reflect upon my leadership, my practice, my school, my relationships, and my students.  Awhile ago, a teacher in my building Mr. DeCubellis, shared with me a file of all of last year's "Food for Thought".  Since then I have wanted to curate the materials further myself, beyond an email, and share them with an even larger audience. Additionally, I am still trying to get to posting regularly on this blog and I am hoping that this will provide me with a baby step to getting to at least a weekly post.



Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Curating and Sharing "Food for Thought"

In my weekly Sunday night email to teachers I end with links to articles, videos, posts and other links that I have curated throughout the week that have made me pause and reflect upon my leadership, my practice, my school, my relationships, and my students.  Awhile ago, a teacher in my building Mr. DeCubellis, shared with me a file of all of last year's "Food for Thought".  Since then I have wanted to curate the materials further myself, beyond an email, and share them with an even larger audience. Additionally, I am still trying to get to posting regularly on this blog and I am hoping that this will provide me with a baby step to getting to at least a weekly post.

So now that you have the back story, below you will find "Food For Thought" links shared 3/23/2014. Hope you find them useful. If not, check back next week as the menu always changes!

  1. Download Angela Maiers new ebook "Passion Matters" free- http://www.angelamaiers.com/2014/03/download-my-free-new-e-book-passion-matters.html 
  2. Blog post- Getting a Job is Not the Purpose of School- http://www.teachthought.com/culture/the-purpose-school-is-not-to-get-a-job/
  3. Quick video that reframes adolescents' rebellion as necessary for learning- http://youtu.be/falHoOEUFz0
  4. Choose the right tool for your purpose- http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/03/bulldozers-and-bullwhips.html

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Updated 3-10 Given 30 Minutes & Permission To Play (A Post Re: Our Journey to 1:1)

Today at the faculty meeting of East Greenwich High School (bolstered in confidence by Tuesday evening's unanimous vote to approve a budget that includes 1:1 Chromebooks for all students 9-12 in SY 14-15 by the EG School Committee) we continued to: explore new technologies, refine our professional practice and collaborate with one another. Today we continued to show the new reality and pertinence of the quote "the smartest person in the room, is the room."
By harnessing the power of technology and collaboration and given: 30 minutes, our core values, and directions "to go play" with apps in the Chrome Store, teachers at East Greenwich High School created the following doc to help one another explore relevant Chrome "apps"



*If you are having difficulty viewing, you can see the Google Doc version here- EGHS ChromeAppsforEd Exploration

I am proud that we did this through play and not through a consultant, a grant, a script, a threat of punishment, or to fulfill a mandate.  Although it is a small glimpse of what occurred this afternoon (it is only a doc & does not show the true level of collaboration, conversations and passion that the educators brought to the "play date") it does provide a glimpse of what committed educators can do when given time (even only 30 minutes), autonomy and the opportunity to collaborate with one another in meaningful way.

Next up- exploring SAMR and moving beyond S&A.  Stay tuned...