It’s not easy being a planet. For one thing, unless you’re Earth, it’s pretty lonely out there in the solar system. Sure, Mars is getting all the attention these days with some incredibly impressive visitors. But as red-hot as Mercury is, there’s not much going on. Saturn’s got rings, but no medals or awards. And…
Next Generation Science Standards
Are You Blinding Them with Science?
Life’s a funny thing. When we asked our Facebook followers when they knew they wanted to be teachers, an astonishing number responded that they knew quite early, when they were young children. When I was a young child, I wanted to be a firefighter, mainly because of my love for dalmatians. I’ve wanted to be…
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,…
Throwback Thursday
It’s Thursday. In social media circles, a major trend is to devote Thursdays to revisiting past ideas, classic photos, and more. It’s called Throwback Thursday and is often accompanied by the hashtag #tbt. In the spirit of #tbt, here are five of my favorite blog posts from 2013 that you should revisit or read for…
Gooey Gray Mud
If you had told me that walking knee-deep through the gooey gray mud of a tidal basin during a cold New England April would be one of the highlights of my high school years, I might have laughed. Right in your face, in fact. That’s if I had been paying attention. (I was not…
History Without Standards
I went looking for a different kind of standard. We have the Common Core State Standards, which cover mathematics and language arts. We also have the Next Generation Science Standards, already adopted by six states. But what about history standards? (And the arts? And civics? And common sense?) What I found was the National Center…
A School Year in Review
Let’s review, shall we? During the last school year, I touched on a wide range of subjects, both serious and not-so-much. On a few of them, I received many comments. On many of them, I received none. Good or bad, I think some of them are worth revisiting. And the passage of time may mean…
Time Out for Test Prep
You learn some interesting things sitting in the bleachers at a little league baseball field. While your children practice the fundamentals and intricacies of baseball, you get to commiserate with other parents about all kinds of things. This weekend, for example, a number of parents chatted about EOGs—the universal End of Grade tests administered in…
To Code or Not to Code
One of the most beautiful things in the world is the IBM Selectric typewriter. It looks like a work of Mondrian, sounds like a tango, smells like the future, and responds like a thoroughbred beneath one’s fingertips. (That covers four out of five senses. I’ve never tasted a Selectric.) When I was quite young, I…
Take the Tech Outside
It’s that time of year. Take your students outside for fresh air and supercharged STEM learning! Courtesy of the STEMblog, here are “5 Ways to Take Technology Outdoors.” 1. Mobile Devices – Smartphones and tablets, with their wide array of apps, a camera, and GPS abilities, are great tools for documenting outdoor observations. As a…