For years I served on the board of directors of The New York State Association for Computers and Technologies in Education, a group known to most as NYSCATE. One thing that I always had a problem with while working with NYSCATE was the name of that group. The name gave the perception to teachers that this was a group for computer teachers. It is actually a wonderful, professional group that supports technology for all educators in any subject areas. As any honest politician worth his/her…

The Administrator Superhighway

With the introduction of the Common Core Standards (CCS) and Teacher Evaluation System (APPR) there has recently been a lot of talk about the resources and materials our teachers are using in their classrooms. Many educators and instructional leaders are focused on making sure that the classrooms are filled with various programs, materials, etc. that are aligned to the rigors of the CCS (I hesitate to use the word rigor at this point). Furthermore, when looking at APPR and its…

There are few questions that I get from teachers about social media, or sources that I haven’t gotten in some form before over the last three or four years. Two similar questions that I get with frequency are: How do you know all that stuff? And where do you get the time to get all this stuff? My immediate response is that Twitter is my guide to relevant education sources. Those educators who are “unconnected” should know that many “connected educators” consider Twitter an indispensable…

What is not to love about a zone of comfort; it is a comfy cocoon. It is a pleasurable place that is safe, sound, and satisfying. It is a place where alliterative adjectives may abound with abandon. Comfort zones are safe havens where residents of those zones need not do anything that would in any way slow the flow of comfort. Comfort zones exist in our personal lives as well as our professional lives.

My personal favorite comfort zone is created on Friday nights. I have a Pizza…

Grading Oral Expression: A Blind Spot for Teachers

The other day, my daughter complained that her 89.5 average in history class left her short of an A for the grading period. As a teacher mom, I couldn't help but probe further. I asked her to…

Measuring Journalist Quality

Journalists play an essential role in our society. They are charged with informing the public, a vital function in a representative democracy. Yet, year after year, large pockets of the electorate remain poorly-informed on both…

If anyone would like to see our research re: kindergarten readiness and why we feel it is one of the most major concerns we should be dealing with to improve our system of educating all children in America, send your request to

gulinogroup@gmail.com

Over the last year I have engaged many educators on the topic of using “Cellphones” as learning tools in the classroom. I would say that in most of these discussions, the leading reason given not to have “Cellphones” in a classroom is that they are a distraction.

For the purpose of this post, I am placing some Webster definitions here:

Telephone: an instrument for reproducing sounds at a…

In an attempt to better understand second-career teachers and to better develop future policy and practice, please share 5 statements regarding each theme below. 

• Clarification of terms: Second-career teacher is a…