news & tips for teachers
News & Tips for Teachers
ISTE NETS*A Part 1: Visionary Leadership
October 10th, 2010
After two sets of articles on the National Educational Technology Standards for both students and teachers, we embark on my most ambitious series yet: the standards for administrators. I have been a student most of my life, and I have been a …
The Science of Soda Pop
October 6th, 2010
In my school we have just begun to restrict student access to pop machines throughout the day. The students were a bit unhappy about this change and that provides a teachable moment where we can dig into what is in soda and …
Back to School Night
October 6th, 2010
This week we are supposed to be hosting our annual Back to School Night for the parents of the students that we teach. Past years have proven that in our district, Back to School Night is not a well attended venue. Parents …
From Shortage to Glut
September 29th, 2010
I stumbled upon a Newsweek magazine dated October 2, 2000. The two inch headline posted across the cover posed the question: “Who Will Teach Our Kids?” Written in smaller print underneath: “Half of All Teachers Will Retire By 2010”. Well, well, well. …
Lab Reports 101
September 28th, 2010
It is that time of year when the leaves turn colors and science teacher’s hair turns gray over lab reports that are not up to standards.The kids work hard in labs and often, in my classes, the lab reports did not reflect …
Money Talks
September 28th, 2010
This past week, Mark Zuckerberg, owner and founder of Facebook, donated $100 million dollars to the Newark New Jersey public school system. A charitable act worthy of the Oprah show, the donation is a sizable portion of the Newark district’s entire yearly …
Your Father’s Famous Four Questions (Part 2)
September 23rd, 2010
In my last blog post, I shared four questions that parents typically ask their children before letting them out the door. These questions came to me from Lori Getz, who writes about them in detail in the Parent Resource Center of her …
Your Father’s Famous Four Questions (Part 1)
September 23rd, 2010
Last month, I had the fantastic opportunity to participate in CUE’s first-ever Rock Star Teacher Summer Tech Camp in central California. The days themselves were amazing, but an added bonus was the time spent at Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino, where we …
Sleep Tight and Don’t let the Bed Bugs Bite
September 22nd, 2010
The news is filled with news that the United States is under assault from bed bugs. If that isn’t enough to peak kids’ interest and make their skin itch then they have not been watching the news. The good news is that …
The Great Pandemic
September 21st, 2010
A while back a colleague and I did a wonderful unit in which we took kids to a local cemetery and asked them to look at the patterns they saw in the numeric data on the gravestones. As it turns out this …
More for Less
September 20th, 2010
As I search in vain for affordable airfare for my annual holiday trip home this year, I have noticed a disturbing trend in business: expect to get less, but pay more. Alot more. Airlines have started to charge for everything from checked …
Losing Our Edge
September 16th, 2010
In 1992 I decided to write my masters thesis on creativity. My thesis advisors protested against the topic arguing that assessing creativity was difficult if not impossible. I proceeded anyway because I felt that the single most important component of an educational …
Photo Science
September 15th, 2010
Most schools have a few digital cameras sitting around the media center and lots of students have them at home. These can become exceptionally powerful tools for teaching science especially when the seasons change. Around your school there are interesting places that …
What Have We Learned?
September 13th, 2010
It has been nine years since the horror of Sept. 11 2001. We have had nine years to grieve, contemplate and learn from the tragic incident, but have we? Captain Jason Dahl, who piloted United flight 93 which went down in Pennslyvania …
Black Light
September 8th, 2010
I was asking a group of energetic 6th graders what questions they had about science. I will detail more of the questions in a later blog but one in particular stood out. One young man with a father deployed overseas asked why …
Lesson Learned (Again): Always Make a Backup
September 8th, 2010
A few summers ago, I learned a very tough lesson. There I was, working on a PowerPoint for a presentation I was giving the next day for my summer job, when the computer froze. Annoyed, I did a hard restart of the …
ISTE NETS*T Part 5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
August 26th, 2010
This is the fifth in a series of five articles about the NETS*T (National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers) from ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education). We are accustomed to thinking about standards for student achievement. But we can really raise …
The Great Migration
August 25th, 2010
I was watching the kids in my neighborhood wander in small groups to the bus stop on the annual migration back to school. This made me think of the possibilities in teaching more about animal migrations in my classes. The two are …
Leading by Example
August 19th, 2010
A few weeks ago the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City hosted a week long series of workshops for teachers. Throughout the year, Roundabout works with and in the New York City public schools to promote arts education in the school …
Inquiry from The Start
August 16th, 2010
The students will be marching or sauntering into your classroom this week or the next. There will be a thousand administrative things to do. I think that a good inquiry might be the best way to start the year. You can take …
How Does an Artist Paint a Teardrop?
August 12th, 2010
I am going to show you something my friends Ken Shelton and Jerome Burg shared with me some time ago. I don’t want to take credit for something I neither created nor discovered. I just want to share it, because it is …
How Geeks Spend Their Summer Vacation
August 1st, 2010
First of all, let me tell you right up front that I can’t remember my last summer vacation. Oh wait, I remember now. In 2003, when I was pregnant with my son, I spent almost the entire month of July in Britain, …
ISTE NETS*T Part 4: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
July 30th, 2010
This is the fourth in a series of five articles about the NETS*T (National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers) from ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education). We are accustomed to thinking about standards for student achievement. But we can really raise …
Big Brother is Watching (You Take Pictures)
July 28th, 2010
So, a few weeks ago, I met my friend Burt after a long two days at Google (the subject of another blog post, I promise), and we were talking about a LOT of things, but he mentioned to me the EyeFi SD …
Dress Code
July 26th, 2010
I was talking with a friend of mine this morning about the sad state of education these days and the conversational content included a concept that might be a bit touchy for teachers these days. Dress. Not student dress, but teacher dress. …
When is a Rolex Like a Work of Art?
July 19th, 2010
Imagine a program, similar to those of the Renaissance, where young artists who wish to refine their craft can have an opportunity to study with a master artist. Individual, one on one training and experience with someone who is considered a luminary …
Hot Topic
July 17th, 2010
The sun is beating down today and so we are thinking about solar energy. We are actually thinking about going to the pool but at 112 heat index inside in air conditioning writing a unit on solar energy is a bit saner. …
A Day at the Studio
July 15th, 2010
This summer I am teaching a program at my studio which incorporates arts and academics. The students, ages six through twelve, experience a rich curriculum of social studies, science, language arts and math- all taught through experiential learning and the arts. This …
Decisional Thinking in Science
July 13th, 2010
I am still tackling the task of tweaking my lessons from last year to make them more effective. That task never seems to end but it is made easier by a file cabinet full of idea sheets that I have saved from …
Important Questions
July 13th, 2010
When the weather turns warm and the kids next door become tired of what they are doing they turn to neighbors and begin to ask questions. The first question is “what are you doing?” Those who are not teachers would miss this …
Who Says You Can’t Create on an iPad?
July 13th, 2010
A few months ago, I got an iPad, primarily with a mind for seeing how it could be used effectively in education, both by students and instructors. The early buzz had a lot to say about how this new device was primarily …
Photo Essays
July 6th, 2010
I love interesting photos almost as much as I love a good lab. I know the labs teach more but there is some really unexplored teaching potential in photography. This is especially true with the cheaper digital equipment that is available today. …
Healthy Eating
July 5th, 2010
I watched a neighbor place a plate of veggies in front of a group of 3rd and 4th graders and then, to my amazement, they attacked it as though it was ice cream. My neighbor must have noticed because she began to …
Art and Design
July 5th, 2010
At the 59th street stop on the Number 4 subway, the doors of the train open and release a stream of teens plugged into their ipods, talking and texting on their phones, laughing and joking with each other. They walk a few …
ISTE NETS*T Part 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
July 5th, 2010
This is the third in a series of five articles about the NETS*T (National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers) from ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education). We are accustomed to thinking about standards for student achievement. But we can really raise …
Summer Advice
July 4th, 2010
Is it midway into summer vacation already? Even though the days are longer and lazier, the summer seems to slip right by us. All the best laid plans of reading all those books and articles that we just can’t seem to get …
Building Your Own Science Equipment
July 1st, 2010
With the mid summer time coming into view most of us are up to our ears in home projects and if you are like me you may need a break from those painting, plastering, sanding, and cleaning tasks. I needed a break …
The Science of Floods
June 24th, 2010
Many of you will experience an overabundance of rainfall sometime in your lifetime. Here in the Midwest we call those floods. When a significant amount of rain falls on already saturated ground the water tends to cause the rivers to overflow their …
Crayons or condoms?
June 24th, 2010
I heard today on the news that starting in the fall, Provincetown Massachusetts will enact a policy in their schools allowing for the distribution of condoms to elementary age students. According to the policy, students as young as first graders will be …
Ten Most Important Features of a Learning Management System
June 22nd, 2010
I am a teacher, and I have been one for almost twenty years (in a number of school settings), so I can say this confidently and without apology: educators are difficult people to work with. In faculty meetings and lunchrooms, they behave …
This Day In Your Life Has Been Brought to You By…
June 15th, 2010
…the many advances in technology that didn’t even exist five or ten years ago. We’ve gotten to where we’ve got it too easy. Today was the big day in which my son and I drove up to San Francisco International Airport to …
The Big Story of 1952
June 15th, 2010
Sometime in the 1980’s my school brought in a staff development video (remember videos?) that was titled “What you are Now is What You Were When”. The gist of the video was that the way we view the world is shaped by …
Summer Vacation
June 14th, 2010
Only a few days into summer vacation and already the thought of school is far behind! The frenzy that is the last few weeks of school can leave educators drained and empty, so the summer is not just a respite from teaching, …
Summer Science Fun
June 10th, 2010
I know that the last thing on your mind is what will your students be doing to extend the science learning you have begun. I do think we miss a lot of solid connections and collaboration between those of us in the …
Seeing Rightly
June 10th, 2010
When I first opened my art studio I was fortunate enough to have a young man who was blind enrolled in classes. Both he and his twin brother (who was not visually impaired) started classes with me when they were seven. It …
Paying for Education
June 10th, 2010
With only two days of the school year left, I look back on what has been the hardest year in my educational career. Larger classes, less money, higher stress levels. Next year is slated to be even worse with the addition of …
Sometimes You Have to Stop Relying on the Technology
June 8th, 2010
Today I took my fifth grade students outside to go geocaching on our campus. It was mostly just a fun activity to kill time, since my grades for them were due last Friday and this was our final class meeting of the …
Summer Idea Notebook
June 7th, 2010
It is a week into summer and my batteries are beginning to recharge. When that happens my mind starts to think of great things to do next year. In order to remember these brilliant ideas I keep a notebook handy and jot …
ISTE NETS*T Part 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
June 7th, 2010
This is the second in a series of five articles about the NETS*T (National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers) from ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education). We are accustomed to thinking about standards for student achievement. But we can really raise …
Summer Idea Notebook
June 7th, 2010
It is a week into summer and my batteries are beginning to recharge. When that happens my mind starts to think of great things to do next year. In order to remember these brilliant ideas I keep a notebook handy and jot …
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