molehills out of mountains

I find it intriguing that blogging has such a cathartic effect for me. There are many times that writing serves as an opportunity for me to organize thoughts, express frustrations, and admit to failures (or at least challenges) — an electronic confessional, if you will. We are into our eighth week of the school year, … Continue reading →

One of the unintended, but beneficial, outcomes of the attention the “flipped” classroom has received is an increased level of scrutiny regarding the way that school leaders utilize staff time.  As educators, we frequently lament the inadequate amount of time our teachers have to participate in meaningful professional development, yet we continue to waste countless … Continue reading →

Recently, while sorting through a pile of papers, I ran across an article that I think deserves some consideration.  The Power of Expectations, by Neal Cross, is a brief, but insightful reminder about the connection between expectations and student achievement.  The article is not available online, so it will take some extra effort to read … Continue reading →

This is a brief message written to our staff in anticipation of our first day of school (also posted on our school’s professional learning community blog). As we prepare for the arrival of our students, I hope you will take a few quiet moments to put aside lesson plans, forget about administrative tasks, and consider … Continue reading →

An honest admission… As a school leader, I am concerned about the number of times I pay “lip service” to being focused on students, but then allow any number of outside factors to exert undue influence in my decision making process.  We see it happen frequently at all levels (i.e. school, district, state, national), but … Continue reading →

Why do we ask kids to make presentations, on topics they don’t care about, to an audience that doesn’t exist? ~ Gary Stager At last month’s ISTE conference, I had the pleasure of hearing both Gary Stager (@garystager) and Chris Lehmann (@chrislehmann) speak during two separate sessions.  Both were very powerful, and thought-provoking presentations that, … Continue reading →

As a kid (a few years ago), I can remember helping clean out the garage at my grandparents home. Normally, the prospect of cleaning out a garage was met with limited enthusiasm, but working at my grandfather’s was different.  The garage was filled with interesting, but for the most part useless novelties – a virtual … Continue reading →

I have been giving some consideration to a recent post I read by John Spencer (@johntspencer), entitled 7 Thoughts on Bullying.  John shares his personal experience being bullied, and as the title suggests, several of his ideas, for educators, about dealing with the issue of bullying.  I found his second point in the post to … Continue reading →

Recently, a colleague was telling me about a math teacher at his school.  Students in this teacher’s class have done exceptionally well by a number of measures – including state standardized testing.  This lead to a discussion about the factors that have made that teacher effective.  The challenges to meaningful and effective teaching remain the same, … Continue reading →

How we treat our best students shows our aspirations; how we treat our most challenging students shows our values.  ~ Mendler and Curwin This past Friday, an incident occurred at school that had me seeing red.  While supervising in the cafeteria during the lunch period, I was asked by our one of our cafeteria staff … Continue reading →

Do you know me?  I am a student in your classroom. I struggle to find relevance in what I am being taught, but I have interests and passions. I am outspoken, but I may try to get through the day without any interaction. Actively involve me in learning and I will likely be engaged.  Lecture me and I … Continue reading →