Development
Paragraph Six - Students' Questions and Planning for Surprises
Update on “The Question that Fed My Writing Unit.” You noticed the title change, didn’t you? From “The Question that Ate My Writing Unit” to “The Question that Fed My Writing Unit?” I may be jumping the gun, but my hope is only growing that teacher Tom McMurrer’s second grade writing unit on letter writing is becoming more meaningful in response to the students’ unexpected questions: (“Where do you get a stamp?” “What happens...
Paragraph Six - Living with Questions
Promised update on The Question that Ate My Writing Unit: Tom McMurrer, the second grade teacher at PS 124 whose unit was in peril, has decided to contact the United States Postal Service to see if he can organize a class trip to answer the students’ questions. We have trepidation. What if the recession has caused the USPS to cut back its...
Paragraph Six - The Question of Questions
Last blog post, I settled on the piñata as a metaphor for how big ideas work in the classroom. You whack it hard enough, and out bursts a hailstorm of essential and guiding questions.
Essential questions are the crown jewels of the curriculum. They dazzle us with their value and beauty at the front of the classroom, posted above blackboards (or whiteboards, or smartboards.) They are a constant point of reference during the year’s, the unit’s, the week’s, the day’s lessons. They inspire and...
Paragraph Six - Big Ideas and Bodhisattvas
In my last post I claimed, with the help of Zhongkui the Demon Queller and a few statements of understanding, to have vanquished the teacher’s main demon of time. I can tell from the looks on some of your faces that you’re not quite convinced. Let’s take the time to go into it a little deeper. (When the revolution’s complete, that’s what all teachers will be able to say instead of “We have to move on because we have so much to cover.”) Let’s hear what a few writers have to say about...
Election Day Whole School Improvement
Election Day has just passed, and across New York City people were engaged in a process of contributing their voice to the decision-making processes of the city. Three New York schools were also involved in a similar process - giving voice to teacher leadership and empowering all teachers in a faculty to make critical strategic decisions about their whole school improvement plans for the year. This has taken time and most importantly, working through a...
AUSSIE Workshop on Data Recap
On Thursday October 22, 2009 a group of NYC educators gathered with AUSSIE to investigate using data to drive instruction in their schools. The sessions centered on assessment and using and analyzing assessment data to drive instruction. Brian Green, one of the presenters, said “there was plenty of strong discussion that I hope continued with teachers and staff when everyone returned to their schools.” Liz Irwin, the other presenter, commented on the...
Paragraph Six - Big Ideas
In last week’s “Paragraph Six” I was walking out the door of her classroom when pregnant 7th grade teacher Maria Carrua told me she would soon be going into treatment for breast cancer. I pick up here with what she said to relieve my consternation: “I’m all right. It’s really all about perspective. You can beat these things if you have the right perspective. To tell you the truth, I’m mainly worried about...
Maximizing School Technology Investments through Sustained Professional Development
Over the past few decades, schools across the country have invested heavily in building their technology infrastructure, ranging from broadband connections and connected computer labs to 1:1 computing initiatives and interactive white boards in every classroom. But are our educators effectively leveraging these hefty technology investments to improve teaching and learning? As we travel from district to district, partnering with PreK-12 schools across the country, we are finding that many of our instructional leaders and classroom teachers are not...
