A Better Path to Learning

Tag: teachers

  • We Pay Too Much Attention to Teaching

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    The traditional system pays too much attention on teaching and not enough attention on learning. I was privileged to work for and with Rod Paige. In fact, Dr. Paige was the superintendent who selected me for my first principalship. Paige went on to serve President George W. Bush as his first Secretary of Education. Paige…

  • Friday News Roundup

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    It’s Friday! Time for the News Roundup. Gov. Greg Abbott Appoints First School Safety Chief Four Months After Uvalde Shooting (The Texas Tribune) The Texas Tribune recently reported that, “Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday appointed former U.S. Secret Service agent John P. Scott as the Texas Education Agency’s first chief of school safety and security,…

  • What You Can Learn at a Big Band Concert

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    My wife and I like to go listen to a big band that plays in our town every Wednesday night. The band is made up of a group of excellent musicians, half of whom are K-12 band teachers. Last night a group of high school musicians joined the band for a few numbers, and then…

  • Bureaucracies Don’t Understand Transformation

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    I ran across an article in EducationWeek recently, titled “What It Will Take to Transform Public Education (in 4 Charts).” Written by Elizabeth Rich, the article states: “The EdWeek Research Center heard this summer from more than 1,000 educators in a nationally representative survey on their ideas about whether the pandemic transformed public education. Remarkably,…

  • When Learners Ask Poor Questions

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    Recently I was sitting outside at a coffee house with my wife and daughter. I was trying to figure out approximately what time I would arrive in Cincinnati if I left Des Moines around 7 in the morning. I’ll spare you the details of the subsequent conversation, but let’s just say I wasn’t getting the…

  • Friday News Roundup

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    As promised, I’m back. It was tough leaving Vermont. The fall foliage was poppin. If you haven’t visited New England this time of year, make a point to add the destination to your travel bucket list. You won’t regret it. Time for the Friday News Roundup. Traditional University Teacher Ed Programs Face Enrollment Declines, Staff…

  • Why the Traditionalists Can’t Focus on Learning

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    At the beginning of this school year, Will Richardson, co-founder of The Big Questions Institute, wrote a letter to returning public school educators. Part of that letter can be found below: “While every school is different, every school shares a common goal: to help children learn. (If that’s not one of your goals, you may…

  • These Charts Don’t Lie

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    EducationWeek released a report this past May titled “Laptops and Learning: 5 Trends in K-12 Education in 5 Charts.” What is revealed in these charts is interesting, especially if you are someone like me who is frustrated by the implementation gap between a young learner’s desire to learn virtually and an adult learning leader’s ability…

  • The Writing Is On the Wall

    —

    by

    svb802
    in ,

    Usually, the sign of a dysfunctional system is when outputs suffer. In other words, the system is not able to produce the results desired from its users. Recently, in the case of the current public education system, we have more evidence that today’s public school system is not working well for its users – namely…

  • What’s Real About Learning Loss?

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    Like most issues in America these days, there is a raging debate about “learning loss.” Because of losing school time due to the COVID pandemic, some fear America’s youth are falling behind in their reading and mathematical problem-solving abilities, while others feel young learners haven’t lost much ground in those areas and, instead, have become…