I remember feeling incredibly disrespected. I had worked hard designing, assigning and grading a project that got him to learn what I wanted him to learn, and he just threw it away. And, how dare he throw it out in front of me.

What I failed to see was how disrespected he was.

Cross posted I spent the better part of the beginning of this week at ISTE11 in Philadelphia.  While there is so much to digest, I want to share an initial reflection. To do that I need to return to January and Educon 2.3.  When I left Educon 2.3 this winter, I felt like something was different than Educon 2.2.  It wasn’t the speakers, discussions, SLAstudents, or organization.  In fact, the conference itself is world class and I love...

It isn’t until someone asks you to articulate why or how an event changed your life that you realize it is really hard to do. Maybe, for me, it’s because it’s been three years since my professional life changed and it’s hard to recall where I was in my thinking at that time. Or maybe it’s because life now is so much more fulfilling that I don’t reflect enough on the journey that brought me to the here and now. If that’s the case, it’s time to do so.

It’s that time of year again. Budget season. Please allow me to offer a few thoughts, not only on some of the recent local comments that I have read and heard relative to this year’s budget, but also of the value we place on education and the professionals we entrust to do our most important work:  Teach.  While this post originates from a very local place, my thoughts and beliefs are quite universal.   So, for those of you who live in...

A non-educator in whom I have unparalleled respect for was recently sharing her concerns over her son’s “young” teacher.  Her son (Johnny) was coming home complaining about his teacher’s inability to teach and while she reserved judgment at the time, she better understood Johnny’s plight after seeing how disorganized and scattered the teacher was at “Parent’s Night”.  She went on a bit about how Johnny was right, that this...