Author: svb802
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It’s Time to Redefine “Best Practice”
Last fall, Will Richardson posted an interesting article on “best practice.” Here’s what he had to say: “I remember when I was teaching, my supervisor was always in search of ‘best practices.’ We would research them from other schools. We would share them within our departments and, sometimes, school-wide. We worked to create them.” “What…
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A New Order is Coming and Black Parents Might Be Leading It
On November 14, 2022, founders of Black-led pods and microschools and scholars who study Black self-determination in education gathered for a virtual event, sponsored by CRPE, an organization committed to reinvent public education in this country. The lively conversation between panelists Robert Harvey, Maxine McKinney de Royston, Janelle Wood, and Lakisha Young and moderator Chris…
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Ugh! Grading.
Recently, I participated in an online workshop hosted by the New Hampshire Learning Initiative focused on “Grading for Equity and Deeper Learning.” In their post-workshop post, the New Hampshire Learning Initiative shared the following: “In our post-COVID world, New Hampshire educators in schools around the state have been heavily engaged in conversations over the need…
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Reading and Writing Are “It” When it Comes to Learning
There isn’t enough time devoted to improving reading and writing skills with our traditional public school system. I saw it time and time again on the high school level when students struggled with content because they didn’t have the required reading and writing skills to master the assigned curriculum. Recently, Stephen Sawchuk from EducationWeek online…
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Friday News Roundup
Lots of news this week, so let’s get to it! Commentary: School Choice Works in Rural America – Just Take a Look at Florida (The 74) The 74 reported recently, “When Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall announced last year that he was putting a school choice bill on ice, he suggest choice wouldn’t help rural…
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Purpose Powered Learning Needs a New Home
All learners should have purpose. Sadly, many young learners inside our traditional school system can’t find their purpose. Some lose it while spending years traveling to and from classes that don’t matter to them. Last fall, Tom Vander Ark wrote an article for Getting Smart online titled “Purpose Powered Education”. Vander Ark writes, “’What if…
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Lost Opportunities
Last fall Trace Pickering wrote an article for Getting Smart online titled “Students Are Calling BS on High School and Opportunity Knocks”. I thought it would be a good thing to take a look at what some of America’s high schoolers are now saying about their present day learning experiences. Pickering writes, “Many students in…
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Venture Learning Studios
Is it time for venture studios to enter the learning world? In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Steve Blank, an adjunct professor at Stanford University, a senior fellow at Columbia University, and a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, explained what a venture studio does. According to Blank, “In the last two decades,…
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Learning by Writing
Being able to write a clear and concise essay has become even more important in today’s world, given our tendency to write in short blurbs all over social media. But writing instruction has disappeared in many of our traditional schools, and young learner’s writing ability has arguably disappeared too. Recently, EducationWeek online wrote a story…
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Friday News Roundup
Here’s your Friday News Roundup! Seizing on Parents’ Frustration, GOP Governors Push for Education Savings Accounts (The 74) This week The 74 reported that, “Capitalizing on parents’ frustration with public schools during the pandemic, Republican governors across the country are putting education savings accounts at the center of their legislative agendas.” “Some hope to significantly…