Bell Labs and School

So, I’ve been thinking a lot about the article in The New York Times from February 23rd: ”True Innovation“. Jon Gertner is the author of a forthcoming book about Bell Labs called The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation and this was a kind of preview. There was plenty of detail [...]

Closet Clean-out

So, I’ve been thinking about what is in my closet. My school closet-not my clothes closet. There are clearly too many shoes in the one, and a lot of work from previous students in the other. I rearranged my classroom, again, just a minor change this time. That means that I have  a spare small [...]

An Idea

So, I’ve been thinking about EduCon and conferences. EduCon is always in Philadelphia at SLA. I live in the area and can get there easily. So, even if not every session I attend is earth shattering, and really that is a lot to expect, it’s worth it to me for a number of reasons: ideas, [...]

My New Colleagues

So, I’ve been thinking about what I call my class as a group. I know some teachers do the “friends” thing. My personal kids go to a Quaker school so their teachers certainly do that. And, I hear lots of teachers, usually of younger children, use “friends” at my school as well. I wasn’t sure [...]

No More Assuming

So, I’ve been thinking about what I assume my students know. In my class, I explain fairly early on that we won’t assume anything, because when we assume “it makes an ass out of you (u) and me.”  5th graders love that I say this; I mean I say the word “ass.” And, it’s not [...]

Bringing in the Experts

So, I’ve been thinking and writing about seating arrangement a lot this year. Just on the off-chance that you didn’t catch those earlier posts, I’ll summarize quickly. I did some reading over the summer about seating and then bought tables from IKEA that were not only inexpensive, but easily move around the room. Then, even [...]

A Different Perspective

So, I’ve been thinking about seating arrangementt this year. I’ve written about my ideas and my new IKEA tables and how well I think the new plan is going. Then, I had to rearrange, briefly, for ERB testing. I hated it. The desks were in rows; the students were all facing me when we were [...]

iPad Update, the Shortest Version

So, I’m still thinking about iPads and my 1-1 iPad experiment. Here’s how I might summarize it in as few words as possible: Are the iPads everything I could ever want? NO Is being a 1-1 (of some sort of technology) classroom what I want? YES Would I like laptops sometimes? YES Has anyone offered [...]

Transformation

So, I’ve been doing a lot of planning for the next weeks and new year and it’s seeming like this year is going to be a big change. I know, it’s after winter break and I’m a little late to be noticing this key fact. (Since I started this post ages ago, it’s really been [...]

I Might be a Blogger

So, I think I might be becoming a blogger. I started a blog in January of 2010 after attending EduCon (if you’re a teacher you should go). I gave it a try for a while, but it just wasn’t happening for me. I felt like it was something I should do rather than something I [...]