Three dimensions appear to be relevant in determining how to organize and deliver professional development. First, the primacy of the technology. If participants in the professional development are expected to (and they themselves expect to) leave with the ability to operate hardware or software, then technology of the prime purpose, and organizers approach the activity Read More
Category: Teachers
On #edtech Excuses
ON Excuses One of the most important roles for an IT professional in a school to remove perceived barriers to using technology for educationally sound purposes. I use “perceived barriers” as a euphuism for excuses. You will find, there are teachers (and others) who will find a series of excuses to avoid using technology voluntarily. Read More
Researchers and Practitioners
Teaching is a field in which one cannot just do whatever they want… actually, they can do what they want, but they shouldn’t. The purpose of teaching is to increase students’ capacity to apply the knowledge, skills, and habits in the curriculum to their lives. Because human brains are the product of nature, there are Read More
On Meaningful Teaching
In 1984, I was “between first choice colleges.” The university where I spent my first year was not a great fit. I realized early in the year that I was going to transfer, but I had to stick out the whole year so that all my credits would transfer. I expected to go to my Read More
On Teacher Burnout
I was a teacher for 30 years… well technically just over 29 years of service according to the retirement board, but close enough. I am still working to support teaching and learning in a community college. At multiple times over my career, I experienced burn-out. I know it well. I empathize with those who are Read More
On Control in #Classrooms
Whether we admit it or not, much of teaching requires students to do things they would not otherwise. Some students will read, write, compute, think, and interact for their own motivations or to comply, but in the absence of school and the assignments that accompany class, most students would not choose the work that comprises school. If we accept my premise, then one Read More
On Students Who Become Teachers
On January 17, 2022, I posted the tweet that is embedded below. It generated far more conversation than most of what I tweet, and the replies are worth the time to read. Some of the replies did challenge my overgeneralization and my lack of citing any references. Of course, those criticisms were spot-on. Most teachers Read More
Elevator Pitch on Emerging Teaching Practices
In recent decades, scholars have rediscovered the very effective learning that happens outside of classrooms. Because it is so difficult for “school learning” to displace the concepts learned outside of classrooms seems to confirm the strength of what is learned outside of school. As cognitive and neuroscientists have illuminated the changes in human bodies and Read More
Elevator Pitch on Censorship
Educated individuals value the free expression of ideas, yet we recognize some ideas are distasteful, others harmful, and some are likely promoted by quacks. It is through our capacity to critically analyze ideas to decide which deserve our attention, which should be seriously considered, and which dismissed. Our human nature and our professional ethics lead us to Read More
Epistemology Matters
Consider my friend and former colleague Mrs. D. Until recently, she was a first and second grade students teaching for decades. She knows the students that arrive in her classroom are diverse; some are readers and writers, some some are still trying to learn the alphabet. Mrs. D. is always looking for the next thing Read More