An Exciting Month…

July 2014 will go down as one of the more exciting months for me professionally. After more than 2 years and a total of about 400 hours of planning, writing and editing, I am very excited to announce that my first book has been released through ASCD!     The book is currently available for

Double Dip: One Idea in the When vs. If Power Struggle

  The more I look at school grading schemes, increasingly I wonder: ‘why do schools put an unhealthy amount of emphasis on WHEN learning took place compared to IF it took place?’ For whatever reason, many educators continue to award a higher rank (or grade) to the student who learned something sooner than another student.

I can’t assess that…

Imagine a student delivers her math project in the form of a song.  In response the teacher declares, ‘I am not creative, so I can’t assess that.’ While I understand this sentiment, I don’t think it is necessarily true. The teacher is not the person who needs to be creative in order for creative projects

Learning on the Rocks

Elijah has become a very good mountain bike rider in a time span that baffles me.  He just turned 9 and he is riding sections of our trail that I would have predicted he would consider tackling in his teens. I have tried to dissect this experience in an effort to isolate some of the

“That is a nice big target, especially if I can see it.”

I really enjoy my subscription to Scientific American Mind.  I stumbled upon a small article from July/August 2011 about a visualization experiment conducted by researchers at the Free University of Amsterdam. The experiment was really simple: –         Ask three different groups to putt a golf ball at a target 5 feet away. –         Let each

The Best Learning is Difficult to Define

Our district has a program running within it called Through a Different Lens (TADL).  As best as I can tell, it is a whole bunch of things that serve to personalize learning, without being one thing in particular. Even people in the project seem purposefully vague when it comes to attaching labels to it.  Here

Hockey, Measurement and Cognitive Dissonance – What do I do with what I know?

So it is that time of year again…hockey season.  Perhaps not for the NHL, but seemingly everywhere else in Canada.  My wife and I braced for the inevitable this fall – two kids in minor hockey and all the related practices, games, meetings and miles. As a parent I lace ‘em up for my own

Poverty and the Grading of Homework

The conversation around how schools can react to poverty typically centers around reduced breakfast and lunch programs.  On a few occasions I have heard people express concern as to the access that poverty-affected students have to sports programs, band and other extra-curricular activities.  I have never heard people discuss specifically how the grading of standardized

“That is a nice BIG target, especially if I can see it.”

  I really enjoy my subscription to Scientific American Mind.  I stumbled upon a small article from July/August 2011 about a visualization experiment conducted by researchers at the Free University of Amsterdam.   The experiment was really simple:    Ask three different groups to putt a golf ball at a target 5 feet away. Let

“Take as long as you need…”

Ok, so apparently the Georgia Senate is looking at passing a piece of legislation – Bill 364.  To read it in full, visit: http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2011_12/versions/sb364_As_introduced_LC_33_4469_2.htm  The Assembly is opposed to ‘standards based achievement’, ‘formative assessment’ and ‘assessment for learning’ (page 3). Here is what most leapt off the page for me regarding GA Senate Bill 364…   The