http://weblogg-ed.com Learning with the Read/Write Web Mon, 20 Jun 2011 19:06:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en So last week it marked 10 years since my first blog post, a full decade of writing and sharing online. As I've said many times before, it's been an amazing journey. I don't think I could have imagined the many ways that blogging was going to change my life, in ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/10-years-of-blogging-time-for-a-change-and-a-book/ (Warning: Elitist, preachy, liberal, rantish stuff ahead.) Lately, I can't seem to get out from under the feeling that a) this country has pretty much lost its way and that b) at the end of the day, our education system carries much of the blame. No question, my parenting lens is ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/the-uncommon-core/ So it's been about five years now since I wrote this to my kids: Dear Tess and Tucker, For most of your young lives, you’ve heard your mom and I occasionally talk about your futures by saying that someday you’ll travel off to college and get this thing called a degree that ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/a-different-path/ This quote from Robert Krulwich of NPR caught my eye yesterday: But there are some people, who don’t wait. I don’t know exactly what going on inside them; but they have this… hunger. It’s almost like an ache. Something inside you says I can’t wait to be asked I just have to jump ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/there-are-some-people-who-dont-wait/ So this morning it's David Weinberger that's got me thinking. No doubt, David has been one of my favorite Web philosophers for a long time, someone who almost always seems to open the window just a bit more for me. Today, it's this: ...we knew all along that atoms were never ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/what-weve-always-known-about-education/ (Cross posted to Huffington Post) The last couple of days I've been soaking in a new white paper "Right to Learn: Identifying Precedents for Sustainable Change," a document that I think nudges the serious conversation about real change in learning down the road a few steps if not more. The paper, ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/have-schools-reached-their-limits/ Tim Stahmer's post "There's No Normal to Return To" has me thinking this morning. He writes: At the same time we in education are also doubling down on the “back to basics” and on teaching kids how to follow someone else’s instructions. Our leaders, both political and business, want us to ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/the-new-normal/ So, the biggest learning news coming from the Richardson household last week has, as is more often the case than not, little to do with the classroom and everything to do with doing. Two quick stories, both involving my 13-year old daughter Tess: Story 1 Three weeks ago, Tess decided (on her ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/and-what-do-you-mean-by-learning/ (Cross-posted at Huffington Post) First, let me say that I'm not specifically picking on the teachers and kids at Emerson Elementary in Pennsylvania, who put together this 12-plus minute video of their Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) pep rally for the state standardized tests, and posted it to TeacherTube a ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/what-we-need-is-a-prep-rally/ From the Shameless Self-Promotion Dept. comes my TEDxNYEd Talk that I gave a few weeks ago. It was a real honor to be asked to do this talk, and I hope I did it justice. I found it incredibly difficult to say everything that I wanted to say in 15 minutes ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/tedxnyed-talk/ I get the great pleasure of spending an hour "teaching" in a classroom next Thursday with some 5th Year students at a school just outside of Sydney, and I thought I'd write a quick post soliciting some ideas for what I might do. They're just starting a unit on China ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/crowdsourcing-a-lessonyour-thoughts/ The past couple of weeks have reminded me how hard it is for teachers to consider change when they don't have a context for it and, most importantly, when they don't value it. Case in point: recently I was working with a group of teachers trying to help them re-envision their ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/valuing-change/ (Cross posted on the Powerful Learning Practice blog as a part of an ongoing conversation with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach.) Dear Sheryl, (Note: I’m grumpy and tired after being sick for a week so I apologize for the somewhat random thoughts that follow. Hope you can make sense of it.) I've been thinking about your ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/unforgettable-learning/ (Cross posted at the ASCD Whole Child Blog, here is a snip from my new book, co-authored with Rob Manabelli, which comes out in May.) Seventh/eighth grade teacher Clarence Fisher has an interesting way of describing his classroom up in Snow Lake, Manitoba. As he tells it, it has “thin walls,” ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/personal-learning-networks-an-excerpt/ Meant to post this yesterday, but didn't get time. I think the headlines tell the tale around education right now. MICHIGAN NEW JERSEY WISCONSIN CONNECTICUT I didn't even get to look at Texas... These are some crazy days, and I fear we haven't even seen the half of it. And I wonder a couple of things. ... http://weblogg-ed.com/2011/crazy-days/