Hard to believe, but yet another school year has come and gone and now it’s time to chart a course for maximizing your summer break. What a tremendous chance to decompress, devour a few good books, and engage in a little personal learning. If you’re like me, you may often wonder where to turn for something new, compelling, and relevant. A great book should challenge you to think, maybe shift your consciousness a bit, and ultimately, change your practice. That being said, let’s dive right in! Let’s begin with a couple of my favorite contemporary thinkers in the field [...]

“Between the idea and the reality . . . falls the shadow.”      —T.S. Eliot A new report from our friends at the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the “Nation’s Report Card,” provides data on student performance in reading and mathematics across multiple grade levels across the country. This latest report shows us how well American twelfth graders performed in 2015 as compared with the last test administration in 2013. Those were two years of contentious Common Core adoption in many states, or resistance to Common Core and reliance on existing standards in other [...]

It is true, no two learners are alike. Some learn better through reading; others through listening or doing. For students with developmental disabilities, who have difficulty communicating with others and especially difficulty understanding what people in their environment are communicating to them, it is important to present information in ways that matches the student's learning style and optimize their ability to learn. Visual supports—concrete representations of information that is absorbed visually—are one way that educators can help students understand what is being communicated to them. Through visual supports, students can learn to communicate with others and make sense of [...]

Students with special needs have unique strengths, motivators, preferences, and interests in a learning environment. By identifying and addressing these elements, educators can encourage a higher level of engagement. In experience-based learning, facilitators take a step-back approach—allowing for natural discovery of consequences and problem-solving-based learning The result of this hands-on learning environment is an increase in motivation, self-esteem, and self-advocacy in students with autism, Asperger’s syndrome, visual and auditory impairments, learning deficiencies, ADHD, and ADD. Academic Career Transition (ACT) programs explore a hands-on learning model based on a multi-tiered program of life skills, academic skills, in-school employment, external employment, [...]

As I looked at the calendar and considered what I wanted to write about in this blog, I started to reflect on my last few months of work-related travel and my conversations with school leaders throughout the country. I also thought about the countless conversations about education that I’ve had with people in airports and on airplanes. My favorite conversations focused on teachers: what it is really like to be a teacher and how teachers spend their summers—taking classes, teaching summer school, working a second job, etc.; not the months of time off or vacation that most people envision. [...]

Over the course of my many classroom visits and teacher observations throughout my career, I am truly in awe of the master teacher. These teachers live and breathe all aspects of the teaching and learning process, from expert planning to delivery of engaging, differentiated lessons. They exude confidence and masterfully and effortlessly apply strategy knowledge and instructional pedagogy in teaching with differentiation for most needy students. Master teachers know how to use data to inform instructional decisions and apply core principles of intensive, systematic, direct instruction to accelerate learning. Such expertise does not come easily or naturally to many, [...]

Educators can readily identify the student who seems to lack motivation. While he or she is generally not a behavior problem in the classroom, the unmotivated student can cause a teacher many sleepless nights. There are a variety of labels used to describe a student who just doesn’t seem to find any purpose in school—the reluctant learner, the shut-down learner, the academically discouraged student. The unmotivated learner comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, from sullen and miserable to socially pleasant. But there is one shared—and very telling—characteristic: a frustration with school. This student is simply not interested [...]

Believe it or not, Twitter joined the digital world approximately ten years ago. A decade is ancient when it comes to technology, and for many teachers, Twitter has not been a friend. How many times have you had to tell your students to get off Twitter over the years? And really, how much can a person learn using only 140 characters or less? The truth is, Twitter can support your Personalized Learning Network (PLN) and your professional development. It really can. First, let’s look at the definition of PLN. Sometimes referred to as a Personal Learning Network or a [...]

“I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck.”       —Annie Dillard The South by Southwest (SXSW) Education conference just wrapped up, and I thought I’d take a moment to share some notes and thoughts for anyone who might be interested. Before registering, I hadn’t even been aware that SXSW had an education conference. What did I know? Education conferences are usually hit-or-miss affairs: some sessions are interesting; some are dull and ordinary. Some addresses bring new information and insight; some rehash things you’ve heard a million [...]

Women’s History Month began last week. In 1980, President Carter signed documents proclaiming March 2−8 to be Women’s History Week; by 1987, Congress passed a proclamation establishing March as Women’s History Month. This year’s theme is “Working to Form a More Perfect Union: Honoring Women in Public Service and Government.” With three women seated on the Supreme Court and a woman running for President of the United States, there could be no better theme for Women’s History Month 2016. In her Etsy Cartoon, Rebecca Cohen asks, “Did you know that a woman founded the oldest university in the world, [...]