Adventures in Administration

Reflective Teacher 30 Day Blogging Challenge Day 21 "Do you have other hobbies/interests that you bring into your classroom teaching?  Explain" I believe that while there is a professional relationship that is critical to maintain with your students and their parents, there is also the need to allow them to get to know you as a person on some level.  I believe that when students and parents (and teachers in my case) see you as more than just your title, a healthy level of respect can develop which ultimately strengthens the relationship and allows for a smoother educational experience overall.  So I have always introduced aspects of my non-academic life into my job. In the beginning... When I was a younger teacher, I would often share my love of salsa dancing with those students who were dancers.  That opened up new opportunities for communication that hadn't previously existed.  When studying Latin America or Europe with my students, I would share some o...

Photo: http://centeredchef.com/images/class4.jpg Reflective Teaching Blogging Challenge Day 17 "What do you think is the most challenging issue in education today?" Today's question is really big.  It seems like it would require much more than a paragraph but I will do my best to stay brief.  One of the biggest challenges--I say "one of" because I think that there are several key issues faced by education--is the age-old problem of "too many cooks in the kitchen."   Let me explain... So, What's Wrong... It is touted in the news how students are being failed by our schools.  Their scores are nothing to celebrate on international exams, our students are behind many other nations in reading and math, we lack enough prepared student to assume jobs in the STEM fields, the United States issues more PhD's to international students than our own, and on and on.  So this education "crisis" has resulted in one plan after another: NCLB...

http://pixabay.com/p-63916/?no_redirect I have just finished a very full two days of learning.  First, I attended Lead 3.0 (#lead3).  It was my first time at this conference and all I can say is "WOW".  It was a solid two days of connecting, learning, and being inspired.  I had no idea what to expect and left with much to mull over, take back to share, and a to-do list a mile long.  As that conference wrapped up, I booked on down the freeway to Stanford University for an afternoon workshop on Design Thinking and Common Core at their d.school K-12 Lab(@k12lab).  This was a packed 3 hours that blew my mind. I came away knowing that I was at these two unrelated events in the same weekend not just because I am an #edunerd who loves learning, but also because I was meant to connect with some specific people. So this brings me to my title because I have to question if my vision for our school is cutting edge or bleeding edge.  Indulge me for a moment...

http://goo.gl/hN3wJH The Renaissance is perhaps the most popular example in the western world of creativity  And why not?  Just think of the art, architecture, and literature that we have inherited from that time.  We marvel today at the ingenuity and originality of the times.  And we sometimes long for just a smidgen of the talent represented by that era. I believe that technology is presenting us with an opportunity to reclaim some of that creativity and originality.  I believe we are living in a new renaissance.   However, because it is driven by technology I think many discount the potential. When Brunelleschi figured out how to complete the  duomo  atop Santa Maria in Florence in the 15th century, he was creating.  He saw a problem and took a risk.  The result?  A spectacular piece of architecture that is still marveled at today.  He had some tools at his disposal and with some design thinking, built a structure ...