Assess, Teach, Learn, Repeat: Why Assessment Comes First

Imagine you have decided to learn a new skill: Perhaps Medieval cookery or competitive stone skipping. But, how do you begin? An internet search may explain strategies and give you examples of people who achieved prominence. You may…

Each year at this time of holidays our minds turn to family and traditions, to faith and to friends, food, and gifts. Newspapers are laden with ads and coupons. Our inboxes are also. Store parking lots are filled with cars, everyone is hurrying somewhere. Schools, too, prepare for the holidays. There is a frenzy about this time of year.

Since we began writing…

Sexual harassment doesn't begin in adulthood. It is grounded in the earliest messages we get about men and women and how to treat one another. Choices about roles and relationships develop while young men and women are in our schools. Schools can become a breeding ground for the development of young women who are unsure of their responses when boys or men behave inappropriately. Or, schools can reinforce respect. Are young boys permitted the "boys will be boys" excuse for talk and…

ARE YOU THE CAPTAIN OF THE TITANIC

Disconnected leaders are captains on the Titanic. 

Comfortable disconnection in the present signals…

Disability is a label. We use it to classify children in schools. That classification system has been used to separate children and adults. Those who were learning, emotionally, or physically different were labeled and given special services. As we have become a more inclusive system, that classification system has helped us to obtain funds to offer the additional supports for children with learning differences, mental health issues, or physical challenges. By definition,…

Every day school leaders search for the light in the child's eyes, the one that turns on from the inside and radiates everywhere. It sets our hearts on fire. We hear the small voices express dreams and wishes all year long. They lift us up to do and be our very best. When we and you volunteered to lead, we responded to a calling within and received the gift of touching lives. It is a profound responsibility and it brings great joy. Let us as older ones encourage those who follow as…

there is a new challenge to our use of technology as an embedded part of the learning process. Net neutrality is potentially in harm's way.  Educators cannot ignore this. If we are working hard to understand how to best embed the use of technology and the Internet into the learning environment of schools, and net neutrality goes by the wayside, we will not be in control of the information to which we have access.  Essentially, net neutrality grantees us as consumers that we have access…

Educator sends out weekly compliments

(Pixabay)

Water access in schools may curb pediatric obesity

(Pixabay)

HOW TO SHOW UP LIKE A LEADER TODAY

Some leaders work too hard while the people around them don’t work hard enough. 

You’ll burn…

Recently a parent I know told me about an experience she had at an IEP meeting. She described to me how she said, "My advocate suggested..." and watched the whole tenor of the meeting change. People sat up straighter. The principal looked wary and the note taker began typing more carefully. The parent asked me what I think happened.

"Why did they get so nervous? I used the word 'suggest' and wasn't demanding," she said.

As a non-attorney advocate, I always tell people my job is…