Matthew Joseph led the first 1-to-1 device rollout in a public school in Massachusetts more than a decade ago, and also spent 11 years as an elementary school principal. Now director of digital learning and innovation for Milford Public Schools, he is overseeing implementation of the district’s 1-to-1 Chromebook program in grades 3 through 12. […]
Why is it important that social-emotional issues and unconscious biases are addressed? All of us have biases. It doesn’t matter who you are. But self-awareness becomes critical, particularly in schools. Anybody who interacts with students has responsibilities toward their social and emotional wellness, not only their academic instruction. There’s a lot of power, not only […]
The Aerospace Engineering and Aviation Technology program at Duval High School in Maryland recently graduated its first class of 43 students. For a senior research project, one of those students met with third-graders at an area elementary school. She used music and dance to teach the students the forces of flight—lift, thrust, drag and weight. […]
I read recently that experts in any field do not often make the best teachers. It was the opposite of the old “those who can’t do, teach” and the writer, Adam Grant in the New York Times, was suggesting that, often, “those who can do, can’t teach.” That took me back to April 1972, when […]
Co-principals Shy-Quon Ely II and Brooke Beavers recently took over Elder W. Diggs School 42, a struggling campus that Indianapolis Public Schools restarted as an innovation school. Beavers and Ely, who previously co-led a local charter school, will focus on improving test scores and preventing state intervention. The duo has hired nearly all new teachers […]
When North Carolina adopted the Common Core in 2012, Principal Sherry Robinson and her staff at Bald Creek Elementary School spent the year feeling at a loss. The rural Title I school was facing its usual host of challenges—a high achievement gap, a transient population and at-risk students—but now it lacked the resources to shape […]
Fed up with funding cuts and policies passed without educator input, some 170 current and former teachers, principals, and other educators are running for seats in state legislatures this year, a Washington Post analysis found. These candidates face the challenge of balancing a demanding career with a political campaign. Educator involvement in politics has increased […]
With $20 million in voter-approved “innovation” funds as part of a $576.5 million bond issue, the Boulder Valley School District’s schools were tasked with integrating technology in curricula and rethinking innovative spaces. Examples include a makerspace, digital music studio and even mobile technology stations. Each school in the Colorado district received a stipend—from $200,000 for […]
The recent success of Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, the documentary about Fred Rogers and his groundbreaking children’s television program, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, has educators returning to the program’s social-emotional lessons. The recent success of Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, the documentary about Fred Rogers and his groundbreaking children’s television program, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, has educators returning to […]
As a math teacher at Harry S. Truman High School in the Bronx, Sheldon Vleck didn’t give much thought to the master schedule. “I never saw it. The only thing I’d see were kids sitting in front of me” he says. “You’d take a look at a kid and say, ‘Well, this kid is really […]
