The holidays are upon us, and it's nearly impossible to check your email, listen to the radio, or watch TV without being bombarded with ads for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or some other sale. If you are looking for a great gift, I have a couple of book suggestions!
I often think about how lucky I am to have the fly-on-the-wall vantage point that I do, because it is in the tribulations and triumphs of the process of design and tinkering that student learning is most visible, not in the end product.
Students often ask parents and teachers questions about what they are learning, and how we answer those questions conveys powerful messages that can influence a child's sense of their own abilities and confidence.
As my trail crew of 7th graders and I went over the plan for our final day in the Yosemite backcountry, we began preparing ourselves for a big day on the trail. Two days earlier, we had hiked seven miles and climbed more than 2,000 feet in elevation from Tioga Road to our beautiful campsite right alongside the largest of the Ten Lakes.
Over the summer I listened to an episode of the podcast Note to Self, which is described by its host, Manoush Zomorodi, as, "the tech show about being human." The topic of the episode was kids and screens and the special guest was Elizabeth Englander, a researcher, professor of psychology, and the executive director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State University. I found the episode surprisingly comforting. Why?
