Category

Service Learning

Category

During conversations with teachers last week, one mentioned how overwhelming it is to move writers through the revision process and how, all too often, what comes from the effort is more a reflection of the teacher’s thinking and work rather than the writer’s. “If I don’t do the work for them, their revisions are never deep enough. Their final drafts are still pretty weak,” she said. Truer words are rarely spoken, and this is why…

What a great week it’s been, and today was the icing on the cake. This year, I’ve been facilitating the first phase of a high school business department curriculum redesign. I am blown away by how hard these teachers have worked and by how willing they are to move far outside of their comfort zone. Together, we’ve created three distinct endorsements that high school graduates may work toward as they complete a pathway through the…

Although I may not be spending quite as much time blogging this year, I’ve been finding myself far more active elsewhere online, and in my travels, I’ve found much to recommend. I’ll still be reflecting on what I’m learning and discovering here, but much of that is happening on the ground inside of the classrooms that I get to work in and in some of these spaces: The WNY Young Writers’ Studio is about to…

Paula’s post connected with a bunch of different things I’ve had on my mind lately, including the way in which we approach service at home and in schools. Initially, I was most curious about how we might better inspire kids to serve by helping them define their interests and connect them to actions that allow them to give back in some way. Then Chad Ratliff shared Renjie Butalid’s work on Twitter, and it shifted my…

Yesterday, I spoke about the power of small moment stories. Today is Spread the Word to End the Word Awareness Day, and as I was contemplating this post, I remembered Soeren’s speech. It’s built around a moving small moment story. I hope you’ll watch it, and I hope you’ll share it with your students. Please invite them to sign the pledge and to spread the word in their own way.That’s what Noah Gray is doing…

I realize that I may be the last person on earth who will finally own her very own Flip Video Camera, and I’ll bet none of you are suprised that the only reason I ordered it is because someone tweeted about a sweet deal that Woot was running earlier this week.  Thanks, Kevin! So, here’s the icing on the cake: my daughter Laura had enough money saved up from her bottle-returning efforts all winter to buy one as…

Last week, I was asked to begin crafting a guest post in response to the question I’ve posed in my title. I’m curious: how would YOU answer that question? Service learning is something I have a keen interest in and limited experience with, but the experiences I’ve had have been profound. I’ve watched students define a place for themselves in the world outside their classrooms, and I’ve watched them work hard to effect change by…

My daughter Laura skipped four days of school this week. So did Noah. They were accompanied by dozens of other kids from all over the globe who met in Boise, Idaho to participate in the Special Olympics World Games Global Youth Summit. I know that Laura and Noah are grateful to their teachers for supporting them on this one. Laura did her homework on the plane, and Noah shared his accomplishments with his classmates upon…

Last year,  Jenny Luca reached out to my daughter Laura and invited her to Skype with her students, who live a world away from us in Australia. I remember how mesmerized Laura was by this possibility and the way her eyes widened when she caught view of Jenny’s students on our monitor. “They look like the kids from Harry Potter!” she said, marvelling at their uniforms, which are a novelty to her. Since that day, Laura has been…