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If you could identify the single most important factor that is missing in schools, what would it be? For me, it’s an easy call. Imagination. I think schools can be imaginative, and have that capacity in their DNA, but its buried and hidden under the things that schools have to deal with in their current [...]
Catalyst. Something that encourages a reaction to take place. Catalysts are never consumed by the reaction, they just help it occur. When I taught students biology, catalysts were always an important topic as they are involved in just about everything the human body does. When students learned about DNA replication, they learned about DNA helicase, DNA [...]
Written at Educon, January 27, 2013 Report Card. Definition: An object for communicating performance, typically from school to parent, based on five letters of the alphabet. Traditionally delivered by mail and then intercepted by crafty and wiley students. For me, the report card joins the rank of those things I consider to be legacy elements [...]
Instruction. Definition: The process or act of imparting knowledge (The Free Dictionary). Typically done by teachers. Does your school focus on instruction? Does your organization seek to improve instruction? That’s a worthy goal, right? I think that most would agree that improving instruction is one aspect of school improvement. But, in the end, it might [...]
Clarity Definition: clearness or lucity as to perception or understanding; freedom from indistinctness or ambiguity…Dictionary.com There are times when you see things cleary, times when the path and course are illuminated with focus and purpose. During these times, seeing with clarity can lead to conviction, and conviction to action. At other times, the ability to [...]
Professional Development. An event where teachers gather and learn about some aspect of education. Typically, schools offer professional development days and most have professional development programs. Some schools even have specialized professional development events like “Technology Tuesdays” and my all-time personal favorite, the “Lunch and Learn.” Professional development is also referred to as “staff development” [...]
iPad A tablet device from Apple Inc., currently in its second iteration, that runs things called apps (applications). Wildly successful. Often labeled a “game-changer.” Go to any education event now, and you’ll see them. In fact, go anywhere. They’re everywhere. I have one and its nice. And I’ll even admit they’re pretty cool, slick devices. That’s [...]
Boundaries. Boundaries represent limits. Lines in the sand. Something not to cross. And if you do so, you do so at your own peril. Staying within boundaries means coloring within lines. If I was a kindergarten teacher, I’d give a kid an A+ for completing a coloring with everything outside the lines colored. (FULL DISCLOSURE: I don’t [...]
Textbook A book filled with text. And pictures. Textbooks are a leftover from an era when information was analog, scarce, and proprietary. Sometimes textbooks even have math problems, and sometimes these are story problems, which still strike fear into the heart of every person who ever attended school. I’m still not sure today how [...]
Blinders. From Google: define blinders: 1. A pair of small leather screens attached to a horse’s bridle to prevent it seeing sideways and behind. 2. Something that prevents someone from gaining a full understanding of a situation. Evidently, blinders, or blinkers as they are called as well, are designed to keep a horse from looking backward, [...]
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