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I have thought about writing on this subject for quite sometime. I even did some research in advance, hoping that I might find some kind of inspiration or direction. I have found none. Part of the problem is that no matter what the federal E-rate funding regs say, I am, and always will be against Internet filtering. Regardless of what those who advocate Internet filtering say, I can’t agree. This...

Sometimes I do not think we come to realize just how dependent on something or someone until it is gone. There’s that cliché again, but it adequately captures this morning when I opened my laptop to discover the LCD panel was damaged. For now, I have set aside how it happened because there is no explanation. It worked fine last night, but somehow during the night the screw holding the panel in place...

Just this week, there were states who announced with great fanfare their submission of an application for the latest education program to come out of Washington, “Race to the Top.” If you notice, the fanfare and elation is mostly coming from politicians. There’s just not much coming from us school level educators, except maybe some suspicion and extreme caution. I myself have twittered my fingers...

I have struggled immensely over the past two days over just what I could possibly say about Secretary Arne Duncan’s and the Obama administration’s new education initiative called “Race to the Top.” Honestly, as a voter and supporter both electorally and monetarily of the Obama presidency, I feel disappointment. As a veteran educator who has struggled immensely and painfully with my fellow teachers...

When I started teaching about twenty years ago, a veteran teacher once told me when I elatedly said that I was glad our state government was changing some education regulation, “Be careful what you wish for. What they often come up with is often worse than what we have.” Twenty years later, that veteran teacher’s fear is alive and well inside my head as discussions heat up about the re-authorization...

If you are an administrator looking for an overview of read-write web tools that are useful in the classroom, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Web Tools for Classrooms Second Edition is an excellent starting point. Richardson starts the book explaining the nature of the read-write web and discussing in a general way its promise as an educational tool. The he proceeds to describe seven read-write...

Recently, I was asked by our central administration the question, “What is your school doing to prepare students for the 21st Century?” Honestly, I had a difficult time answering that question. First of all, there’s the issue of “What does 21st Century Learning Look Like?’ The answer to that question depends in one sense on who you ask. The individuals at The Partnership 21st Century Skills have their...

9E4Y8EU5UBZD In a couple of weeks I will be moving on to a new principal’s job at a new school. In preparation for leaving, I have been trying organize everything for the incoming principal. In the old days I suppose a principal, who was leaving, would just need to make sure everything is filed and accessible in the old file cabinet. My problem is, as a 21st Century Principal, I did not use the file...

The other night I downloaded a trial version of Inspiration 9. I have used the software all the way back to version 6, and I even had a copy of version 8 on my laptop. Inspiration’s ability to allow me to take web formatted notes while reading during my masters program and then my EdS program was invaluable. These webs could then be easily converted to outlines and printed for my notebooks. I even...

Yesterday, I completed reading Adam Penenberg’s new book entitled Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves. This was one of the most fascinating books I have read in recent times. Penenberg provides an interesting look at how entrepreneurs are capitalizing on a characteristic of the Internet to create successful online businesses. Not really a “how-to-do-it”...

In the day-to-day business of running a school, it is often easy to get caught up in the concerns of what resources we lack in trying to educate our students. In tight budget years like the ones we are experience now, it is much too easy to become a pessimist and look at the proverbial glass as being half empty. Yet, after reading Greg Mortenson’s latest tome Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with...

When I made the move from classroom teacher to school administration, I really was not prepared in some ways for all of the phone calls, voice mails, and emails that suddenly started coming across my desk. When I became principal of a middle school, the volume of that communication increased even more, especially the email load. One of my earliest struggles was how to manage the email overload, and...