We Interrupt this Education Blog...
... with the following important message: GOOOOOOOOOOO PHILLIES!!! Game One was a thing of beauty. How about that Cliff Lee? How about that Chase Utley? (And how about that Ruben Amaro? He took the World Champions and made them better without giving away the farm system.) GOOOOOO PHILLIES!!!

Visions of School -- The Student Perspective
So after reading E. D. Hirsch, Deborah Meier, Diane Ravich, Nel Noddings, President Obama's speech and Robert Pirsig, the students of Modern Educational Theory have written their first draft of their vision of what school should be. These are first passes at these ideas, and these are purpose statements that will evolve over the course of the year. Here was the structure of the assignment: We, at this point, looked at several different views of education, from Deborah Meier's vision of democratic education, to Robert Pirsig's "Church of Reason," to Diane Ravitch and E. D. Hirsch's views of core knowledge, to N

The Other Thirteen
There is an inspiring article in today's New York Times about the Ted Ginn Academy -- a school started by a security guard / football coach. It is a story about an unlikely, non-traditional educator who built a school that is succeeding for students where others have failed. It is not unlike the stories being told about KIPP and Mastery Charter... a group of dedicated educators going above and beyond and saving every child. And that's where I have a problem. They aren't... and papers like the New York Times and the Washington Post are so excited for this narrative, that they are perpetuating the

Core Standards - Sound Bites and Standardization
[Tom Hoffman has been carrying the water for the ed-tech crew on this issue for the past few weeks -- if you haven't been reading him lately, do.] The Common Core State Standards Initiative has released its English standards, and the standards are open for comment until October 21st. I strongly encourage you to look at the standards and make comment - I find them hard to read, because I think they are poorly written, but standards often are. The National Standards movement obviously has its seeds in No Child Left Behind, but not just in the obvious ways. National Standards is an idea that sounds great on paper. It, like NCLB,

ISTE Proposal: Beyond Tools: Thoughtful 21st Century School Reform
So here is one of what may be two proposals for ISTE this year... I've also been asked to be on a panel, so we'll see... but this proposal is a version of what I've been thinking and writing and talking about for the past few years, and with the current political winds, I think it is all the more urgently needed. Session Description: To have a say in the school reform debate, we must articulate a clear vision of what 21st Century schools can be. Join the conversation. Purpose & Objectives: What is the defining vision of the 21st Century school, and how do we create schools that can realize that vision? Can we