“Learning is not a counting noun,” says Dave Cormier, “so what should we count?” His question – a writing prompt, if you will – comes from Week 2 of his latest MOOC on “Rhizomatic Learning.” It’s an incredibly provocative question as I think it recognizes that we cannot really count learning and that, at the […]
Rethinking “What Counts” Read More »
Let’s start with a simple truth: If I had to choose between spending an hour in a school-wide professional development session covering a mandated concept being rolled out to our entire staff or spending an hour in my classroom learning on my own, I’d choose to learn on my own every time. I love the
Agency and Autonomy in Learning: Starting Points Read More »
Earlier this year, an article “written by an actual teen” made the rounds on social media. The article promised “A Teenager’s View of Social Media,” and the author’s pronouncements were taken as gospel: “Facebook is dead to us.” “Instagram is by far the most used social media outlet for my age group.” “To be honest,
How Teens Use Social Media Read More »
It’s a well-known fact that there are far fewer women in science and technology careers than men. Just 12 percent of those earning computer science degrees are women. And tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Apple have admitted that only one-fifth of their technical employees are female. Conventional wisdom was once that women are
The printing press changed our relationship with knowledge and helped spark the Protestant Reformation, which one could say helped bring about the Enlightenment and all of those scientific advances (such as modern medicine) that we now take for granted. The Internet is once again changing our relationship with knowledge, whether we like it or not:
Why Curriculum Constrains Learning Read More »
Finland’s Education Reforms. Each week, Educating Modern Learners picks one interesting current event – whether it’s news about education, technology, politics, business, science, or culture – and helps put it in context for school leaders, explaining why the news matters and how it might affect teaching and learning (in the short or in the long
What You Should Know This Week Read More »
The best part of my day is always second period, which is called “Spartan Time” in my school. That’s the thirty minutes set aside in our school’s schedule for students to participate in remediation or enrichment experiences offered by their teachers. While many of my peers use that time to get students who were absent
What Motivates Learners? Freedom. Read More »
When you think about the amount of time, energy and passion that has underpinned the move to ubiquitous computing access over the past 25 years, it still comes as a bit of a shock to many that we have so little to show for it. Not that there aren’t exemplars, and it was pleasing to
The Mystery of Pedagogy Read More »
(The following is a draft excerpt from my new book From Master Teacher to Master Learner, which will be published by Solution Tree Press in June, 2015. Feedback welcomed!) When we talk about transformation in schools, we too often forget what we know about good learning. Transformation is not about more technology, personalized learning, or flipped
From Master Teacher to Master Learner Book Excerpt Read More »
When a teacher assigns homework, she makes some big assumptions about students’ home lives. Do they have the requisite supplies? A quiet place to study? Supportive parents or guardians who will motivate them to work? Knowledgable guardians who can assist with challenging problems? But even these questions have significant assumptions underlying them. Do students have
Homework is a Social Justice Issue Read More »
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” – Albert Einstein I spend much of my free time with 3 year-old twins, and the questions that spill out of them are awe-inspiring. The sheer volume, the pivots they make in reasoning, the deepening of complexity all leave me
Who decides what teachers teach? More importantly, who decides what students learn? Cedar Riener’s recent article for EML unpacks some of the implications of academic freedom in the classroom. He cites the AAUP’s statement on academic freedom, which states that “[t]he common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition.” Riener
Academic Freedom is for Students, Too Read More »
I am a college professor, but I was raised in a family of teachers. My father taught English for many years at my DC Public High School. My mother is a nursery school teacher. My wife has taught English for speakers of other languages and social studies to children of all ages. While my primary
Beyond Academic Freedom and Dignity Read More »
Inspired by the title of Lee Skallerup Bessette’s article last week, Listening and Hearing I’m a faculty developer, so my role often entails conducting assessments of other people’s teaching. This comes sometimes in the form of entering a class and having a confidential discussion with students to get their feedback on a course, and reporting
Are We Really Listening to Our Students Read More »
What if we focused less on scalable pedagogy and more on sustainable pedagogy? When someone proposes a new idea in education, that proposal is often followed by the question, “But can you do it at scale?” While “at scale” can mean a variety of things, in this context, it usually means doing it big —
Sustainable Pedagogy Read More »
