Peekaboo, I C U !
You already have zero privacy. Get over it. - Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems (1999)On a recent morning, I spent some time cooling my heels in purgatory – or, in more secular terms – the...
View ArticleGateway News 8-30-12
We are excited to announce that JES & Co. has received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to expand the Achievement Standards Network (ASN) and to develop new ASN services. Click...
View ArticleRetrofitting Existing Lessons with Applicable Standards in the ASN
In my last column, I gave a brief overview of our Achievement Standards Network, or the ASN. The ASN is a vast (and ever-growing) repository of educational and professional standards that are described...
View ArticleRelating to the ASN: Behind the Scenes
Each week for the past couple of years, Joann and I have discussed how teachers can use resources from the Gateway to 21st Century Skills to successfully integrate a huge variety of topics into their...
View ArticleHow to Explode Educational Standards
One of the perks of working in education is the ability to be creative and to think outside the box. Lots of things in education can also be fun, such as science experiments, game-based learning, mock...
View ArticleASN on the Move: A Framework for Mobile Students and Teachers
A military child knows the drill all too well. Pack up your things, say goodbye to your friends, and head off to your new adventure: A new school, a new teacher, and, many times, a bunch of new...
View ArticlePortraits and Self-Portraits Across the Curriculum
Last summer, I spent some time with upper-elementary and middle school-aged students who were involved in a week-long art camp. The focus was portraiture, and the students could not have been less...
View ArticleRube! A Physics and Creativity Challenge
Humans spend a lot of time and effort simplifying processes, making tasks more efficient, and finding better ways to get things done. The ultimate goal of innovation, after all, is to make life better,...
View ArticleWriting Over the Summer
It’s summertime, and the livin’ is easy – perhaps too easy. It’s a well-known fact in education circles that students generally lose between 1-3 months of their acquired learning over summer vacation....
View ArticleSmart Searching
Two of the scariest words to a teenage student 20 years ago were “research” and “paper.” Even now, the words conjure up in my mind stacks of encyclopedias, piles of dimes for copies, and lots of time...
View ArticleThe Lords of Discipline: Teachers and Classroom Management
It’s August, and summer is waning. While students are still wrapped in the bliss of summer vacation, teachers in many districts are beginning to prepare their classrooms for the opening of school in a...
View ArticleUnderstanding Ancient Egypt
An ancient Egyptian proverb says, “To know means to record in one's memory; but to understand means to blend with the thing and to assimilate it oneself.” Teachers want students to truly understand,...
View ArticleThe Real World: Trade & Outsourcing in Geography Class
A few years ago, American students’ low scores on national geography tests sounded an alarm in political and education circles. The tests’ results revealed that most American students were unable to...
View ArticlePeace through Knowledge: The study of Islam and other World Religions
Putting the words school and religion together in a sentence is enough to make many people cringe. Separation of church and state is an important facet of the U.S. government, and teachers tend to...
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