Choices and Priorities
Newsletter
In this newsletter, we examine how our choices reflect our beliefs and values.
In this post, I reflect on the costs of technology in our lives despite the benefits they might bring (through the example of a speed trap and Google Maps).
While writing the previous post, I thought more than once about the excellent book Hamlet’s Blackberry: Building a Good Life in the Digital Age by William Powers.
When we assess our student’s reading, are we accounting for their engagement as well as their achievement? It’s a question I considered in this post.
I mentioned the Goodreads Challenge in the previous post, something I have participated in for the last eight years. My goal this year is 50 books.
What we do as educators can matter just as much as what we say, an idea I was reminded of with my son’s “new” adopted reading strategy in this post.
Two books I recommend for learning more about close reading are both authored by Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey: Teaching Students to Read Like Detectives and Rigorous Reading.
In this post, I share ten leadership actions that a group of educators (including me) developed that may lead to an effective coaching culture.
The Elena Aguilar/Education Week article referenced in the previous post, “Why Your Coaching Program is Failing”, can be found here.
The most recent issue of Educational Leadership (ASCD) focuses on developing a culture of coaching in schools.
In a post for this summer’s book study of The Listening Leader, Annie Palmer describes the conditions necessary for growth through strategic listening.
Is Facebook an effective space for professional learning? If not, what conditions are necessary for ensuring that social media serves our needs? I examine the role of informal online learning in this article.
The workshop model is heralded as almost essential for teaching readers and writers. Yet the reality of implementing this framework for instruction is much easier said than done, something I found out after my experience teaching 5th graders on how to deal with writing deadlines.