Most Influential Education Blog Post of 2013 - Edublog Awards

Още когато бях ученичка се вълнувах от наближаването на първия учебен ден. Не знам дали това ме е правело „зубърка" или „задръстена," при положение че повечето ми съученици виеха от мъка и се оплакваха на всеослушание, че животът свършва, а скуката ще се шири месеци наред до следващото лято.

Dear Minister, My daughter Hazel (5) and I recently had an interesting exchange concerning our education system which I feel compelled to share with you. To grasp the true beauty of this exchange, please take a moment to study the image below. Hazel: What are the kids doing mammy?

Dear Teacher, I need to tell you something. Thank you. Thank you for your diligence and hard work to prepare our children for the future. Thank you for giving them the chance to succeed, for pushing them harder, and for showing them how to correct their mistakes.

"Teaching is a high pressure and stress filled profession, Justin. Lots of people just aren't cut out for it." My principal's words were salt in an open wound. They cut deep. And they hurt. They hurt because I knew he was right. The after school conversation was not what I had hoped.

In this article, I'm, not just on a proverbial hobby-horse but whipping it frantically as I gallop wildly into the Valley of Death. I may even end up offending some readers but hopefully make some new friends along the way. So saddle up and join the posse!

During our philosophy seminar this week, we were talking about John Locke's theory that at birth the human mind is like a blank slate (tabula rasa) upon which sensory experience writes when the issue of fear of the dark arose. Is it learned or innate? You know, the ol' nurture/nature argument.

When I first started teaching, I spent nearly every second of my life in my classroom. If I went off to my own mental space, the class instantly got out of control and I was screwed. I spent the drive to and from school reflecting on how things were going.

It's already back-to-school time in many parts of the U.S. Over the next few weeks, I'll be publishing, or re-publishing, much of my back-to-school content to help you start the new school year right. Today, I feature two "Dear Student" letters that I wish all students, of all ages, everywhere would receive from their teachers.

Get a bunch of kids. Let them walk over a big hill, eat outside, run a bit wild, jump in a river, toast marshmallows and sleep under the stars in their clothes. Here is what happens: Many thanks to all the children and teachers involved in this microadventure.

Increasingly teachers are speaking out against school reforms that they believe are demeaning their profession, and some are simply quitting because they have had enough. Here is one resignation letter from a veteran teacher, Gerald J.

Dear Bammy Awards, For the last 16 hours or so I have been trying to find the words to describe what last night's event did for me as a teacher, not as an honoree. And while this letter may come off as too blunt, there are things we need to talk about.

We are almost at the end of our 7-week blog-a-thon on #closereading! We invite YOU to join in! Find more on how-to here. Several selected posts have already been linked to on the Contributors page and we are looking forward to your addition. Let's closely read the practice of close reading together!

A day or two before leaving for a long stint away from home, speaking at UW-Madison and then on to Boston for NCTE and CEL, it was a typical afternoon. Right around 2:40 my mother-in-law and I were getting ready to leave to go pick up my kids.

Here's my TEDxDesMoines video (8:19) from yesterday. Happy viewing! A big thanks to everyone at TEDxDesMoines for a fantastic event, particularly the video editors who somehow turned our videos around in less than 24 hours. Amazing!

In case you haven't heard, the whole educator evaluation process here in NYS has changed dramatically over the last two years.

This academic year, we have shelved #LearningWalks. This is nothing to do with fashion or fad. It is purely a localised issue, dependent on the needs of our own school. So please, do not take this blogpost as verbatim. Slightly short of 3 years, I first arrived at my current school as assistant principal, with...

The number one shift in UK education I wish to see in my lifetime is the demolition of private schooling. Let me explain. I don't just mean the existence of schools that you have to pay to attend. I also mean the social prejudice that believes a private school education is somehow superior to a...

The quote above is one of my favorites about digital citizenship. My classroom is a global classroom but I don't "teach" digital citizenship. My students are actually digital citizens and we learn about the digital world by being a part of it.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming!

The TouchPaper Problems are haunting my dreams. Before last Saturday's presentation about the Problems, I already wrote 7 questions - two of which I revealed in the talk. To decide on them I thought back to the problems that frustrated my own classroom practice and the times when I wondered: "How the heck am I going to do...

Jim Collins said he wanted to write a book about great organizations not great leaders. But as his research grew, he realized great organizations had one thing in common, great leaders. He ended up writing, "Good to Great," a book about leaders. Never underestimate the power of lousy leaders to demotivate people and destroy organizations....

Show me the money There are a great many blogs written on the topic of education. I read a fair few, and I suspect that what I get the chance to read barely scratches the surface. I'm struck by the passion with which they are written and the dedication of those who write them.