Peter DeWitt is the founder and CEO of the Instructional Leadership Collective. A former public school teacher and principal, he now facilitates professional learning in the United States and abroad based on the content of many of his best-selling educational books. Former superintendent Michael Nelson is a frequent contributor to this opinion blog. He is the co-leader of ILC and a former superintendent who has been an educator for more than 40 years.
Education
Opinion
Poverty Matters: The Obesity Epidemic
"Compared to more affluent children, Wen says, kids on Medicaid may be less likely to live in neighborhoods where they can play and exercise safely outdoors, and their caretakers are less likely to have access to supermarkets selling fresh, healthy foods" (CNN).
Education
Opinion
How to Get Kids to Work as a Team If the Adults Around Them Can't
"To get anywhere you have to build relationships with many different people-people who disagree with you, the skeptical and cynical. If you are to have any chance of progressing, you have to have enough empathy for their situation so that you can relate to them." Michael Fullan (The Moral Imperative Realized. P.6)
Education
Opinion
A New Approach to Teaching? The Flipped Classroom
"The old image of a teacher is one where they keep their lesson plan books at the end of the school year and do not take the time and effort to change their lessons year after year."
Education
Opinion
The Cost of Achievement
New textbooks that are aligned to the Common Core State Standards...check.
Education
Opinion
Healthy Steps for Healthy Lives: Fighting Childhood Obesity
If you have ever stood in a school cafeteria during lunchtime you understand that many of our students are eating unhealthy lunches. The unhealthy lunches are not just the ones they bring from home; some schools are responsible for serving food that is high in fat and sugar to students. In addition, the portions that students eat are too big. Too often, America believes in super sizing many of their meals.
Education
Opinion
What Does It Mean to Be an Educational Leader?
"If school leadership were a true/false test, we could raise our scores by looking over the shoulder of an unsuccessful principal and choosing the opposite answer to each question." Todd Whitaker
Education
Opinion
What Is a Connected Educator?
Some educators have internet-phobia. Even worse, some have computer-phobias. After all, clouds disappear, networks go down and files get lost. The internet isn't as secure as the filing cabinet in the classroom and there is less of a chance of a hacker breaking into a manila folder or a briefcase. However, in these days of instant access 24/7, isn't it worthwhile for educators to try to get on the internet and join the 21st century?
Education
Opinion
The Laundry Project: Voluntario Global
"I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations." George Bernard Shaw
Education
Opinion
Should We Care About Media Literacy? An Interview With Frank Baker
"In a world dominated by images and video, the ability to see through propaganda and understand the ever-present slick marketing messages, is critically important. By some estimates, we are exposed to an average of 3,000 media messages everyday. Everyone, it seems, is out to sell us something. Today's young people, exposed to thousands of media messages, don't think critically about their media habits or consumption. They tend to believe everything they see, read, and hear. If it's on television, or the Web, then (they've concluded) it must be true. Media illiteracy is rampant." Frank Baker
Education
Opinion
Are U.S. Children Too Entitled?
A friend of mine was on the train from N.Y.C. to Poughkeepsie and watched as a few young children began jumping around the seats and doing pull-ups on the luggage bars. As much as most adults would prevent their children from doing these activities in the first place, these children were fortunate enough to have parents and relatives who cheered them on. Apparently they must be training for the Cirque du Soleil.
Education
Opinion
Instant Resources: The Importance of Media Literacy
Have you ever read a story and wondered if it was accurate? When doing research, do you not only read your primary sources but also dig down a little deeper and read the sources they used? Do you take it a step further and look for arguments that give the other side of the story? In these days of 24/7 media we are hit with so much information that I often wonder if it is true. I don't mean to sound like a pessimist, but there is no way that all the information that is present in our world is 100% accurate.
Education
Opinion
PTA: The Summer Place to Be?
Parental involvement is important. We all know that. There are countless studies that show students who have involved parents do better academically. It's a no brainer that parents have the biggest impact on their children (National Coalition of Parent Involvement in Education). In these times of children who play multiple sports, families seem to be busier than ever and that involvement has changed. As a school system, we have to find ways to evolve with our ever changing family structure.
Education
Opinion
I Support Education
A local guy running for political office showed up to my door the other day and said that he supported education. In his defense, he did not know that I am a school principal. He also did not know that many of us have experienced millions of dollars in budget cuts. Nor did he know that I have had to lay off teachers and have watched students leave to go to private school or homeschool because their parents were concerned over high stakes testing and our changing education system. He merely showed up to the door and said his name and that he supports education.
Education
Opinion
Does the Internet Filter Our Choices?
Beware of information junk food.
Every morning I get up and check Facebook to see what my friends have been up to; then I skip over to Twitter and catch up on some educational reading. While that is happening I'm listening to the local news on the television in the other room. It's a lot of noise coming at me in the morning but it's how I get energized before I leave for school. After all, I want to stay informed in case I get any really tough questions from my fifth graders. I enjoy being connected and learning new information.
Every morning I get up and check Facebook to see what my friends have been up to; then I skip over to Twitter and catch up on some educational reading. While that is happening I'm listening to the local news on the television in the other room. It's a lot of noise coming at me in the morning but it's how I get energized before I leave for school. After all, I want to stay informed in case I get any really tough questions from my fifth graders. I enjoy being connected and learning new information.