Learning at its Best

Toilet Paper and (Instructional) Tolerance

Posted by beckyfisher73 ⋅ May 25, 2013 ⋅ Leave a Comment

This post was co-authored by @BeckyFisher73 and @ELeclere01. So, which do you prefer – over or under? Just how did that preference come about? Is it really a personal preference or is it something you learned to prefer because of a significant other? What do you do when you enter into a bathroom where the … Continue reading »

To Give Students an Education, Give Them a Voice (Guest Post by Daniel Kao)

Posted by dloitz ⋅ May 22, 2013 ⋅ 2 Comments

The role of a teacher is evolving. As industries, technologies, and the needs in the world change, so does our approach to preparing the next generation for their lives ahead of them. In the past, teachers presented information in an organized and systematic manner in order to distribute valuable information to students. Schools were the … Continue reading »

A Thin Line Between Silence and Voice

Posted by charles kouns ⋅ May 19, 2013 ⋅ Leave a Comment

A few days ago, David Loitz, Imagining Learning’s Seed Steward, posted a rough cut of a new film he is making about the Voices of the young people (and some of the adults) who have been involved in Listening Sessions. In watching it, in listening to those familiar faces and voices that I met just … Continue reading »

Jeff Bliss Wasn’t Arguing Against Teachers

Posted by John T. Spencer ⋅ May 13, 2013 ⋅ 5 Comments

Or at least it seems that way. The truth is that I don’t know what Bliss believes. I don’t know the whole context and I don’t pretend to know. Which is pretty much the point of this post. I’ve seen people watch this and use it to say, “We need to get rid of all … Continue reading »

Positive Spaces for Engaging Young People’s Voice.

Posted by dloitz ⋅ May 10, 2013 ⋅ 11 Comments

Today a video of student Jeff Bliss, a sophomore at Duncanville High School in Texas, went viral fast. In the video below we are privy to Bliss passionately speaking his truth. He knows that learning is more than packets to fill out, more than passively fulfilling simple and mindless tasks. You want kids to come … Continue reading »

My Global Life, Our Global Living

Posted by aliciarice ⋅ May 7, 2013 ⋅ Leave a Comment

In four short months, I learned more than I had in the rest of my educational career. And it wasn’t that the rest of my education wasn’t valuable, but that those 4 months were able to open doors to me that fundamentally changed who I was as a person. In 2008, I flew to Thailand … Continue reading »

It’s a d*am shame. (Just a rant about STPP and whatnot)

Posted by Jabreel Chisley ⋅ May 6, 2013 ⋅ 1 Comment

The United States will criminalize itself off a cliff at the pace it is working to institutionalize this nation’s youth. It makes no sense that over 10 million youth are rotting away in this nation’s jails and prisons when half of them do petty crimes that can be addressed with conflict mediation or restorative justice. … Continue reading »

Not Reformation…Not Transformation, but Restoration

Posted by Stephen Hurley ⋅ May 5, 2013 ⋅ 1 Comment

I just posted this over at the Canadian Education Association blogspace! I have a bucket list, but it’s not the one derived from the movie of the same name. No, my bucket list is a compilation of all the household chores that I’m unable to complete in a cursory manner. The things on my bucket … Continue reading »

A Letter to High School Seniors: Don’t Accept College Rejections

Posted by zoeweil ⋅ May 2, 2013 ⋅ 1 Comment

I wanted to share a recent essay I wrote for Care2.com, an online community for people passionate about creating a better world. Here’s an excerpt from “A Letter to High School Seniors: Don’t Accept College Rejections”: Dear High School Seniors, Over the past few weeks, many of you have received letters from the colleges to … Continue reading »

Bridges and Ignoring Old Lessons

Posted by Paula White ⋅ April 28, 2013 ⋅ 3 Comments

Tinkering… makerspaces… engineering… design thinking… learning spaces… robotics… coding… These are all things that are big in my county right now… along with a HUGE push to use technology (all kinds of technologies, in all kinds of ways) and social media tools to connect kids and teachers to the world. Sounds incredibly progressive, right? Our … Continue reading »

The Alternatives to Compulsory Education

Posted by patfarenga ⋅ April 23, 2013 ⋅ Leave a Comment

I’ve been meeting with people over the past two years trying to find ways to connect and expand our different points of view about learning without compulsory institutions. Kirsten Olson, one of the founders of Cooperative Catalyst, was one of the people I reached out to, which is how I became part of this group. … Continue reading »

Introducing IncitED: The Crowdfunding Community for Education

Posted by jaimerwood ⋅ April 21, 2013 ⋅ 2 Comments

IncitED is the crowdfunding community for education where teachers and education supporters can fund, share, and replicate important education initiatives worldwide. Visit IncitED at http://www.incited.org. Like us on Facebook to get regular updates about how we’re supporting the work of educators: https://www.facebook.com/IncitEDTheCrowdfundingCommunityForEducation. During the last week of April, we’ll be launching two exciting campaigns: Open … Continue reading »

The Fault/Power Paradox of Traditional Schooling

Posted by jaimerwood ⋅ April 21, 2013 ⋅ 4 Comments

The student/teacher relationship where the teacher’s job is to maintain control and the student’s job is to submit to control is a pervasive characteristic of the traditional school paradigm, and I’d bet all of us have experienced it. Sometimes the exchange is subtle and involves the student feeling at fault for an unfair situation. One … Continue reading »

Letters to Michelle Obama (Guest Post by Christopher Chase)

Posted by dloitz ⋅ April 2, 2013 ⋅ Leave a Comment

If you’re a teacher, student or parent with children in American public schools then you probably have some first hand knowledge of the problems that have been caused by well-meaning but inflexible “No child left behind” policies and the new emphasis on “one-size-fits-all” common core standards. It’s not that all aspects of these initiatives are … Continue reading »

Why is Storytelling Important?

Posted by Paula White ⋅ April 1, 2013 ⋅ 4 Comments

I’ve recently become a member of the Executive Committee of the ISTE Special Interest Group about Digital Storytelling (#SIGDS on Twitter) and we’re trying to reach out to increase our membership and to “learn, share and celebrate the art of digital storytelling for learning.” We’re beginning Tweetchats this week, Wednesday at 9:00 PM ET, with … Continue reading »

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