Ecology of Education

Fairtest, Parents Across America, Save Our Schools, United Opt-Out National, and regional groups such as Fund Education Now, are fighting to stop the corporate takeover of public education. It’s a David-Goliath match. ...

Social media has already revolutionized the college campus. Social media is far more than a slick website, to aid students in finding an online school, it includes all of the ...

In this Education Week article, Sarah Sparks reports on the nascent field of mind, brain, and education. It appears that many K-12 educators are being exposed to bits and pieces ...

Studying to create visual messages is the crux of every graphic design program. When looking at different graphic design programs for your degree, look for high-quality teachers who are on the cutting edge in the field. Also, look for students who generate a lot of creative ideas (and who are encouraged by faculty to generate [...]

Ancient physicians believed that humors ruled the health–both physical and mental–of the human body. Any imbalance was a sure cause for illness and disease. This belief gave rise to the practice of administering curatives such as bleedings, purgatives, diuretics, among others in order to restore the balance of humors within the patient’s body. Similarly, the [...]

Over the course of my 11 years in the classroom I lost a lot of sleep. Over students. Over parents. Over grading papers and lesson plans. During my last years, and even now as I leave the classroom to embark on something new, I’ve been up nights pondering the brand of educator professionalization being heralded [...]

In his best-selling book, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Malcolm Gladwell described how social change can occur dramatically and rapidly as it spreads contagiously from person to person – or, as we might say more than a decade after the book’s initial publication, as it “goes viral.”  As Gladwell [...]

Q: What is the purpose of public education? Public education guarantees every child good basic education and equal opportunities to further learning. Public education also equalizes the differences that income inequalities and other socioeconomic characteristics create to different learners. In brief, public education is basic human right and basic service to all children and their [...]

One of the unexamined dimensions of the history of the School Reform Movement is the role that Civil Rights law played in shaping its guiding assumptions and strategies. I was reminded of this the other day when reading an unpublished manuscript by an Oklahoma City based teacher named John Thompson, who pointed out that civil [...]

In this thoughtful Harvard Business Review article, Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson asks us to see beyond Jobs’s legendary roughness with people and appreciate the leadership qualities that made him one of the most successful innovators of our time. “The essence of Jobs, I think, is that his personality was integral to his way of [...]

We want to know that we matter. We want to know that we were heard and that what we had to say meant something. —Oprah YOU MATTER. This is more than simple, cheerful proclamation; it is a message that is at the heart and soul of our work as educators and more importantly our lives [...]

According to the dramatic arc, the Second Act is commonly referred to as the “Rising Action.” At this stage of the theatrical production, tension is generated both on the stage between characters and off the stage between the story and the audience. At this point, crucial information is given to the audience in dialogue, monologue, [...]

If you fly, thank Myron Tribus for helping make your flight safer. He played a major role in the development of the equipment that keeps airliner wings free of ice. Myron was a captain in the Army Air Force during World War II. Later, he was a gas turbine design engineer for General Electric, dean of [...]

Imagine a seed planted in the ground. To merely survive as a plant its needs are fairly basic. Dirt. Moisture. Light. However, in order to truly thrive, its needs become a bit more complex. Rich, aerated soil. Consistent, clean water. Full spectrum light. Climate, weather, competition, air quality, and locality all play a role as [...]

Hall Davidson, Director of Discovery Education Network, had a session at ASCD’s 2012 Annual Conference this morning on “Making Mobile Meaningful.” You can connect with his slides here. Here are a few of the resources he shared for utilizing mobile devices students in and out of the classrooms: Poll Everywhere: Students can text in answers [...]