Toward the end of The Mailbox Work Day yesterday, I was chatting with two other editors about life, the universe, and everything, when one of them announced to us that her phone was telling her that it was time to go home. It has learned her habits that well. We’re not sure how it’s done…
interactive whiteboards
Theory Into Practice
Some things are good in theory but pale when put into practice. I’m thinking, of course, about a family pack of high-powered water guns as a Father’s Day gift. Or the platypus. Or teaching a class of seventh graders the word masticate. On the other hand, there are good ideas that end up being even…
So Shiny and New
It was a marvel. A toy for teachers. But not just any toy. It was a toy we wanted to play with so badly we were nearly straining out of our shoes. As the salesman demonstrated its marvels, we felt a little like Ralphie in A Christmas Story; we wanted one of those fantastic interactive…
Calling All Creative Technophiles!
I have seen teachers dumbstruck by the marvel that is the interactive whiteboard. A demonstrator flips the switch, lights dim, and The Beatles’ “Got to Get You Into My Life” seems to play quietly in the background. Manipulating terms, circling important ideas, playing multimedia, allowing students to play the role of educator, getting instant feedback…
Don’t Know the Reason I Stayed There All Season
Having a classroom on the third floor of an 85-year-old school building in New England in the middle of winter was pure joy. Before students started streaming into the building, I could stand in the silence and look out my classroom windows to watch thin trails of pure white steam rising from rooftops of neighboring…
The MacGyver of Room 212 Giveaway
Here at The Mailbox, we were celebrating the start of autumn with a Mexican fiesta. Editor Diane Badden (hostess with the mostest at our Be the Difference blog) and I both bemoaned our lack of proper fiesta headwear—a very large sombrero. I suggested that The Mailbox editors are surely crafty enough that we could all…
Techno Uh-Oh
I’ll never forget the first time I saw an interactive whiteboard on display. It was at a teacher convention, and I think that when I saw it I suddenly had visions of myself jogging around the flight deck of Discovery One on my way to Jupiter.* That hulking piece of interactive technology, mounted professionally at…
The Next Great Debate? Probably not.
The next great cataclysmic education reform debate is about to erupt with the power of several hundred burning suns. Or maybe not. Perhaps the next great education reform debate will fizzle out like a damp firecracker in a rainstorm. Cursive handwriting: in the standards or not? Mrs. Worthy, Mrs. Singer, and Mr. Winters all managed…
A Can of Worms: Education Reform and Technology
Despite the risk of opening a can of worms in our third post at the Upper Grades Exchange, I am going to talk about two things. Here, there, and everywhere in education circles, two refrains are heard over and over again: “Reform is a must” and “It’s technology or bust.” Recently over at our sister blog, Be…