While having a common set of educational constructs to set a “minimal” benchmark for educational achievement sounds like a good idea, the real issue surfaces when you dive into what that really means. Are we aiming for the minimum, rather than encouraging students to achieve to their maximum potential? School administrators and teachers will say,…

Since this site contains a series of articles titled “Continuous Improvement ≠ Transformative Innovation,” here’s an example. This isn’t your typical music appreciation class. It’s an example of instructional excellence.  

In the January 26, 2017 edition of our local newspaper, a story appeared titled, “Chancellor says state-owned university system ‘unsustainable,’ orders sweeping review” (http://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/11835303-74/state-system-brogan).  Interestingly, the same finding was reported in the Fall of 2015, as the Commonwealth’s budget was not approved until December of that year, causing funding to be withheld from public school…

There’s lots of talk on the Internet, in the news media, and throughout those antiquated communication forms of magazines and newspapers about the Millennials, and how they’re unlike any generation that’s come before them. Actually, they’re a lot like the Great Generation…that wave of children of immigrants that were born between 1926 and 1946 and…

Here’s a note that every “Technology Instructor” should receive from their administrator: Dear Instructional Technology Specialists: Your job is to help the teachers…not implement the latest tech trend. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Principal The problem is that a school may not have an Instructional Technology Specialist.  They have a Technology Instructor…

This suggestion is not for your “run of the mill” administrative meeting where you’re explaining policies or implementing new directives.  This would be for those meetings where everyone’s input is important to generate new ideas, and to break down the silos between teachers, administration, and technology (which, interestingly, has gained a new importance in the…

Over the past few weeks, the articles on this site have had the constant theme of “Continuous Improvement ≠ Transformational Innovation.”  They looked at how we can “start all over again,” by teaching young children with strategies that wire their brains for success, rather than giving them more and more emphasis on the “basics” of…

Happy new year! I’m sure you’ll be heading back to the classroom on Monday, so let’s savor these last couple of days of the holiday break before we’re all back at it! Just as today’s brands are created by customer reaction rather than from a marketing team brainstorming session, new words make their way into…

To be clear, this doesn’t mean that there should be prayer in public schools.  Actually, if the local community wants prayer to be present “in” the public school, it should be allowed…but that’s another topic for another article. Regardless of prayer being permitted or not permitted in the school, the school and its students should…

One of my earliest childhood memories was snuggling up to my mom on the couch on Sunday mornings and she would read the comics to me.  It didn’t matter that I may not have understood the humor the cartoonist was presenting, because mom would explain what was going on in the pictures.  I still remember…