Greenhaus Education and Other "Effects"

I have been quite remiss of late in posting on the blog.  Always an excuse - but let's just say, life is insane these days. Quitting job, care giving to parents, moving (so selling and buying a house), graduation, dissertation - yikes.  Making myself stressed just writing it down. So, I have decided to make it a little easy on myself and do a series on some of the fabulous Ignite talks that I have been privy to as part of my previous position with Key Curriculum. If you have never heard of, seen or been a part of an Ignite event, they are pretty amazing.  Participants have 20 PowerPoint slides that auto advance every 15 seconds, giving them a total of five minutes to get their point across quickly, using both words and visuals.  You wouldn't think five minutes would be able to provide much insight, but you would be wrong - it is amazing what you can learn and say in five minutes.  I have often thought this approach would be a great one to use with students for...

I just read yet another article about the push to lengthen the school day in order to improve student achievement entitled Learning Takes Time: Growing Movement Seeks to Expand the Length of the School Day by Celia Baker. The last paragraph of the article I think highlights the advantage of this idea: "More time and money won't help if they are not well-spent, Gabrieli cautioned. The National Center on Time & Learning report suggests that additional time be used for more engaged interaction in academic classes; broader curricula; enrichment activities that boost school engagement; and more time for teacher collaboration and professional development".  As with anything in education (think technology), if it's done right and planned out and designed to address specific needs, it will have an impact.  If it's done for the sake of being done with no real plan or purpose, it is NOT going to be effective. Adding hours to the school day so that students can ...

Four months since my last posting, which again, points to the turmoil and conflict in my life of late. In my last post I talked about change and three things to consider, since I was in the midst of some major changes in my own life.  To recap: Change is emotional. Resistance/reluctance to change is multidimensional Some changes may not be for everyone I am here to say that I have just about finished my first week of 'unemployment' because I decided to take change by the balls and do something drastic - quit my job. I gave it the old college try - 9 months of trying to adjust to the emotional and cultural changes of going from a small, education, technology driven company who's culture and approach to education I truly believed in and felt empowered by, to a large, educational corporate company, where I did not have this same sense of belief in the mission and felt at best, marginalized and insignificant.  What I learned is I am NOT a corporate girl. I want to be in...

I cannot believe how long it's been since I last posted. A clear sign that my life has been in a little bit of  turmoil these last few months.  But, hopefully, as the dust is settling, things will get back on a regular routine and I will not feel so completely overwhelmed. Why am I overwhelmed you ask? Change. Change in so many aspects of my life - my family, my career, my dissertation. All of it happening at once, which is probably why there is this sense of overload. Which brings me to my inspiration today. I have written about change before related to education - how teachers need support, time, etc. for change, such as Implementation Dip: It's Not Just Test Scores, It's Any Change and Instructional Change and Integration: It Takes A Village . What I wanted to focus on today is perhaps more of a justification for the time, support, understanding required of leaders as teachers (or anyone) are faced with so many challenges and changes to what, why, and how they are e...

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted!  Lord - obviously my life is a lot busier than I thought, and I thought it was pretty busy. Alright, let's get to it. Last year I did an entire series on hybrid professional development centered around teaching mathematics with technology and the Common Core, with specific use of Sketchpad as the technology tool (series listed at the bottom of this post).  It was a really exciting experience for me, and one that I have to say has sort of become my mantra - long term, supportive PD that provides time, practice, support, and collaboration using both a face-to-face and online component. Time is a key factor here - long-term, slow integration of technology into instructional practice where the focus is on how knowledge of the technology, the content being taught, and teaching strategies work together to provide learning experiences that help students.  For those of you in the know, this is TPACK - Technological, Pedagog...

In yesterday's weekly #edchat Twitter collaboration the discussion focused on the flipped classroom, where, naturally, there was quite a bit of debate around the idea of video lectures. What became apparent was the many different interpretations of the term 'lecture'. This came to the forefront for me when I offered up the idea of TED Talks as one option for learning rather than a teacher's video lecture, and someone said "TED talks are just lectures, so how is that better?" This stumped me as I have never thought of a TED talk as a lecture, which is funny, because now, forced to think about it, I guess they could be construed as lectures, depending on your definition. Which of course has led me to this post!  Obviously, my perception of a lecture is not the same as others. What is MY definition of a lecture? Perhaps it's my many years of being both a student and a teacher, but for me a 'lecture' has rather negative connotations, as I envisio...

I apologize for the lack of posts of late - I have had a slightly crazy, busy life of late and have not had the time or motivation.  I have been working on my dissertation proposal and defense, which, I will admit is causing me much angst and frustration.  I definitely understand why many folks who get to the ABD (all but dissertation) phase of a doctorate quit.  It is time consuming, especially when working full time and traveling every week for work, not to mention having a family to take care of.  I can't tell you how many times it crosses my mind to stop doing this.  But then, I remember, I am not a quitter. I have come this far, and need to keep going and see this through till the end. What kind of role model would that be for my daughters if I quit so close to the end? So...persevere I must, even if it causes me sleepless nights, crying fits, and little free time! But, I digress.  I do feel guilty about the fact I have not posted something for over ...