It’s a new year, and I decided to let only a few days pass before I (sort of) contradict myself. I love eBooks, and you should too. Sure, I love paper. I can’t live without it. And, as I said Tuesday, despite owning a high-profile eReader, I still purchase mostly traditional paper books. However, when…
Author: Todd Savelle
Your Classroom Library
A day that I thought would never come finally arrived in the first half of 2013. I bought an eReader. Without disclosing the brand directly, let me just say that it comes from a huge online retailer of books (and just about everything else under the sun). And while it is more than just an…
Top 5 Things I’d Like to Note from 2013
2013. Just when it was getting interesting—with a surprise Beyonce album, an actual bipartisan budget deal in Washington, DC, and a Boston Red Sox World Series celebration duck boat parade—it’s time to turn the calendar over to 2014.* Here’s a look back at some of the highlights from The Mailbox in 2013. The Mailbox turned…
Please Take the Quiz
More pay for public school teachers. Universal preschool. Increase the curriculum focus on STEM learning. Smaller class sizes. Longer school days. Or an option of your own description. Last week I assigned The Mailbox Blog readers a simple, one-question quiz. Which idea would do the most to improve the quality of public education in America…
Sell Me on Teaching
“You should be a teacher.” I heard that quite a bit from people in the ten years before I switched careers and became a teacher. Most of those people were rational, arguably sane individuals. However, none of those people were teachers, so their advice and enthusiasm should have been suspect. When the time came, I…
Pop Quiz #1210
As you might guess, I am not employed solely to write a blog. That means that I don’t necessarily have all the time in the world to follow each development, large and small, in the great big world of education. Still, I try to keep my eye on things, write about what I know, and…
To Code or Not to Code
The first computer “terminal” I sat behind was literally that—something I could sit behind. It was itself a desk. It had a built-in keyboard made of keys you had to exert real effort on. I believe they were designed to survive a nuclear catastrophe (which was a real possibility in those days, kids). The monitor,…
Holiday Creep
So Thanksgiving is now nipping at the heels of Black Friday for the title of Biggest Shopping Day of the Year. What a shame. Many stores were playing holiday music to lull shoppers into a gift-buying mood when they were shopping for back-to-school, which itself now seems to begin sometime in late April. And I…
Our Address
Last week, we got it in our heads that we could be the difference. We thought we could really start the ball rolling with teachers and students and show you how easy it is to participate in the Learn the Address effort. So come on! Join us! Learn the Address (learntheaddress.org) is an invitation…
When I Grow Up
If everything had gone according to plan, today I’d be a firefighting fisherman with a large and amazing pickup truck for a primary vehicle and a Formula 1 car for getting things done on the weekend. Also, I’d have a helicopter pilot’s license and live in Australia. But the best-laid plans of our childhood are…