I remember having a conversation with an elementary art teacher about 12 years ago whereby she lamented over a question posed by a student regarding an art project.  "Can I be done?," the student asked.  The teacher responded, "I don't know can you?"  Only the artist knows when he or she is done.  Artwork, like any other work in school - math or science tasks, historical or literary analysis, etc. is an exploration of understanding that should not be guided by a process akin to…

Educational Change Starts with Listening

by Elena Aguilar

Very interesting post by Dr. Mark Wagner, on Workshops including: a Comprehensive Agenda & Free/Paid Resources  using the iPads in schools. Follow the link below:

http://www.edtechteam.com/workshops/2011-04-10

Letter to New Teachers

Ten Big Ideas of School Leadership

from Edutopia

by Mike McCarthy

Kathy Baron

Principal Mike McCarthy.

Credit: Michael Warren

During my senior year of college, I taught math to 26 inmates, none of whom had finished high school. What I faced…

I came across the following post on The Committed Sardine (a great site to check out).

Inspired by Sandy Speicher’s vision of the designed school day of the future, reader Shelly Blake-Plock shared his own predictions of that ideal day. How close are we to this? The post was written in December 2009, and Blake-Plock says he’s seeing some of these already beginning to come to fruition.

1.   …

The Kid with the Symbols Carved in His Hair

 The Dim Bulb

The Occasional Musings of an Educator

by Michael Keany

The brain is capable of performing 10 quadrillion (that’s 10 to the 16th)…

Recently I had the opportunity to spend the better part of 12 hours engaged in a series of professional development workshops.  Three presenters offered insight into a particular strand of educational practice, focusing on two primary aspects of our effectiveness as educators.  Two of them looked at issues related to literacy, and the third presenter examined the nature of teacher effectiveness through the lens of a practice known as instructional rounds.  Spending 12 hours immersed…

Here are two posts that get us to think in a new direction.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-centered-learning-environments-paul-bogdan

 …

Hi, Everyone.



We just completed a short inspiring video for principals/educators called, Cross The Line.



It's about choosing to commit to going beyond mediocrity (regardless of obstacles, people, challenges).  It's just how we all need to be thinking  in order to make good things happen in our schools.



When you have 3 minutes, check it out here: http://www.givemore.com/ctl/

I'd love to hear what you think. …

What do we hear when we give our 18-year-old students a chance to express their views and concerns regarding their education?  I listened to five students recently and not surprisingly they have a deep desire to experience a more purposeful and engaging school experience.  They like their school, their teachers, and their friends.  But, intuitively they recognize how we must dig deeper, and to systemically create a more profound experience that is not rooted in mandates, standardization and…

5 myths about teachers that are distracting policymakers

By Valerie Strauss

This was written by Barnett Berry http://www.teachingquality.org/about-barnett-berry, founder and president of the Center for Teaching Quality, Inc., based in Hillsborough, N.C., which seeks to improve student achievement by…

 The Dim Bulb

The Occasional Musings of an Educator

by Michael Keany

The brain is capable of performing…

In my work as an educator and as someone who seeks to help lead others to consider the prospects of change in order to meet the needs of education in the 21st Century I have followed a basic principle that the why is more important than the how.  If we develop a strong enough why, then we will determine how to institute the necessary changes leading towards any improvement.

Consider the need to prepare our students for learning in the 21st Century.  Given the financial and…

 The Dim Bulb

The Occasional Musings of an Educator

by Michael Keany

The brain is capable of performing 10 quadrillion (that’s 10 to the 16th) “calculations,” or synaptic events, per…