LeaderTalk
The first group blog by school leaders for school leaders, LeaderTalk expressed the voice of the administrator in an era of school reform. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: school leadership and principals.
Education
Opinion
How Much is Just Right?
You know that commercial for Bud Lite - Too much vs too little? I wrestled with that dilemma this week when we had to go into real lockdown mode and I had to explain the reason for it on various levels. We hadn't even had a drill yet when the real thing became necessary. It all happened during the last hour of the school day, when I received a call from the central security office informing me to lock down the school because a former employee who was acting erratically and volatile threatened to return to the school following a major blowup with district employees. We had some incidents in the past with this former employee showing up at school and making threats, which had already earned us a plain-clothes guard for several days earlier in the year.
Education
Opinion
Do you remember how you felt when you got your first comment to a blog post?
If so, keep this feeling in mind while you read this post.
Education
Opinion
We Need Your Voice! : Adolescent Literacy Panel on Elluminate Oct. 19
A consistent rally cry heard throughout educational conferences and conversations is the need for more teacher input into future education policy and practice. Those on the front line know best about what our children need, but have far too few options to share their suggestions and concerns with the researchers and policy makers BEFORE the decisions are made.
Education
Opinion
Reading Next- A Call for Improving Literacy in Middle School and High School
Recently I attended a Professional Development day for principals where we had the opportunity to discuss the Carnegie Report, Reading Next. During the meeting we did a jigsaw read and so in the interest of full disclosure I have to state that I have not read the report cover to cover although I have reviewed it since the meeting. The primary focus of our meeting was on the "Fifteen Key Elements of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs" The list includes both instructional elements and infrastructure elements which work in concert with one another. As an administrator I certainly have a responsibility to oversee the infrastructure piece however the instructional elements while not revolutionary truly caught my attention and my imagination.
Education
Opinion
Walking the Talk
I have been advocating for changes in education to improve the quality of life for teachers, students and administrators for my whole career. Over the last three years I have added using Web 2.0 technologies to communicate, create, and collaborate on the Internet to my list of what needs to change and what holds promise. The PLN (Personal Learning Network) I have developed inspired me to return to teaching after many years as an administrator, most recently as a superintendent of a seven school district. No words can express how grateful I am for all that this Twitter community of educators has done and continues to do 24/ 7 to support my learning.
Education
Opinion
Going Green Saves Money
When I am asked to help districts save money or financially justify the paradigm shift to One to One computing, one of the first things I suggest they do is audit their technology energy use. Shifting from traditional desktop PC's to laptops, netbooks, or thin clients can save significant amounts of money, to say nothing of it being the environmentally correct thing to do.
Education
Opinion
Creative Breakthroughs
CNN currently has a news link titled Six Steps to Creative Breakthroughs. They are:
Education
Opinion
Hey, That's My Picture On Your Blog!
It seems as if we all do it.
We embed pictures, illustrations, charts, graphs, videos, text, and other stuff from the internet into our blog posts. I see it every day, and I do it myself. I have always tried to give credit to the creator, author, photographer, or illustrator by listing his or her name and the link to the original item. For example, I have taken photographs from flickr.com and added them to a blog post. I also have included who posted the picture on flickr to give proper credit.
We embed pictures, illustrations, charts, graphs, videos, text, and other stuff from the internet into our blog posts. I see it every day, and I do it myself. I have always tried to give credit to the creator, author, photographer, or illustrator by listing his or her name and the link to the original item. For example, I have taken photographs from flickr.com and added them to a blog post. I also have included who posted the picture on flickr to give proper credit.
Education
Opinion
Tools or Instructional Strategies
You get it. It's the 21st Century and social media has changed society so much that you understand the need to make technology a transparent part of the learning environment as part of meeting the growing needs of students and society.
Education
Opinion
Got Conflict?
Do you ever have those days where you wonder if there is a sign on your forehead that says "Bring Conflict Here" because it keeps coming up and getting in your face? I've had a couple of those days lately. They can be wearing, can't they?
Education
Opinion
Video Killed the Radio Star
Last week, the latest version of "Did You Know" was released. Like the previous versions, it was filled with stats that were surprising and also thought provoking. The statistics are there to jolt us to action and to make us, as educators, realize the world in which we live and teach. One statistic that really shocked me was the fact that in the last 2 months, more hours of video have been uploaded to YouTube than all the broadcast hours of TV of the four major networks since 1948 combined! This is an astounding statistic because it has so many different layers of impact.
Education
Opinion
We or Us v. Them
I recently returned from a state-wide teacher education conference, NC-ACTE. This is a local conference and thus tends to deal with local issues....yet I was glad to see some major issues introduced. One was brought up by our Teacher of the Year. Being a foreign language teacher, it is only natural that her luncheon talk dealt broadly with intercultural communication, embracing technological change, and the need for cultural exchange. These are points I advocate every day. The one point however that made me scratch my head is this idea of 'competition.' We often hear rhetoric such as "America is loosing its competitive edge" and "we need to understand others so we can compete against them' and my favorite is the sports analogy, "we need to understand the other team so we can beat them in the global marketplace."
Education
Opinion
Scrapbooking Academic Touchdowns
I recently spent a morning at our youth football stadium watching our primary elementary students battle it out on the gridiron. As the boys fought for the "W" and the girls cheered I noticed one consistent thing about the parents... They all had cameras. Creating scrapbooks has become a national pastime. In fact my own wife spends entire weekends with hundreds of other moms, wives, and grandmas creating these life novels into the early hours of the morning. She records the hobbies, family events, and little growing up moments of our children that we always want to remember. As I sat on the bleachers I wandered how many of those scrapbooks record academic accomplishments like that first A on a spelling test, reading that first level 3 book, or being that student that reads the morning announcements. Like most school administrators our wheels are always turning trying to discover that new way to engage learners and parents in our schools. As I sat on the 50 yard line waving at the students and sharing small talk with parents I realized something.
Education
Opinion
1000 Origami Cranes... An International Day of Peace
Monday, September 21st, is the United Nation's 27th annual attempt to promote an International Day of Peace. We are asked to pause and reflect. Or perhaps set aside our personal or political anger. To cease fire. For one day.