January 2014 Blog Posts (8)

I keep forgetting to put links to my posts here.

University Professor Emeritus Joseph Harrington of Framingham State University, and former editor of The New England Journal of History, has just written a two volume work Conflicted Giant, American Foreign Policy, 1945-2012, “a citty upon a hill” versus Realpolitik.The work presents the ongoing struggle to follow John Winthrop’s 1630 description of America as being a “citty upon a hill;” suggesting that America had a mandate to follow God’s moral code. The United States…

Will the real OFSTED please stand up!

(a Headteacher’s perception of the current framework, having just been inspected!)

I think all schools, Headteachers and governors fear the OFSTED call. Phones are kept visible and audible until 2pm each Wednesday just in case the call comes (OFSTED can’t inspect that week under Section 5 inspection framework,  if they don’t notify schools…

http://readingbyexample.com/2014/01/17/why-my-pln-is-like-a-haystack/

We are a technology magnet school and I am proposing our PLCs transform into PLNs. This blog post is a pretty great argument for the power of a collective of educators. 

Today, music occupies a special place in the hearts of those in the field of childhood development. This is because music supports learning in a number of ways. Let’s take a look at three of them:

• Music Aids Brain Growth and Development
• Music Improves Verbal Recall
• Learning Music Improves…

From my introduction to Dan Pink through his book Drive I was amazed at how he could write a book about business that pertained so much to what educators do. It was not in the sense of how to create widgets, which is often a business approach to education, but rather what incents people to do what they do in the best way possible. It was more than just the best way to drive students, but the best way to drive educators to their highest potential as…

On January 15, 2014 my Blog will be three years old. With this post included I have written 223 posts just for my blog. In addition, I have done several dozen guest posts for other blogs. On a week-to-week basis I strive to write something new about education, or at least a new take on an old subject, but there are some subjects that linger with very little change.

Social media’s influence in education is a great example of…

As long as I have been involved with education there has been a discussion of whether or not technology is making a difference in learning, and whether or not we should use it in schools. This discussion takes place on a teacher-to-teacher level, as well as an administrative level. It occurs on primary, secondary and higher education levels. It may be time to shift the discussions to what we need our kids to learn and how they will implement that learning in our…