Tag Archive | "Collaboration"

Why Florida Schools Were Left Behind in the Race to the Top

Monday, April 5, 2010

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Why Florida Schools Were Left Behind in the Race to the Top

It came as quite a surprise for some when Florida was not listed among the winners of Race to the Top. What went wrong? A look at Senate Bill 6 & House Bill 7189, reveals Florida's failure to collaborate.

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Integrated Living. Separated Learning? (Part 2)

Friday, June 26, 2009

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Integrated Living. Separated Learning? (Part 2)

(You can read Part 1 here) In such an integrated world, where the reverberations of problems and solutions ripple far beyond their localized sources, we must learn to think in terms of systems (called systems thinking), to see beyond compartmentalized events, and work with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures toward common goals. That’s a [...]

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Integrated Living. Separated Learning? (Part 1)

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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Integrated Living. Separated Learning? (Part 1)

I marvel at my phone.  It surfs the internet, finds my e-mail, lets me twitter, takes calls, and gets along well with my computer.  It’s a calendar, a stopwatch, a newspaper, and a means of distracting my daughter when she needs distracting.  It’s the height of integration (for now).  So many systems amalgamated. So many [...]

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(Re) Emerging Trend: Disruptive Innovation

Friday, May 1, 2009

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(Re) Emerging Trend: Disruptive Innovation

Let’s take a moment to flip through some snapshots from our Educational Landscape Photo Album: Here’s Achievement Gap on a culinary tour of Urban Areas, circa 2009.  Bigger than ever and looking healthy. Take a look at High Stakes Test — that trickster keeps giving our schools bunny ears. How cute! In this one the [...]

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Parent Involvement – “What’s Your View?”

Thursday, April 16, 2009

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Parent Involvement – “What’s Your View?”

The involvement of parents and families in schools is often cited as one of the most important ways to improve education. High levels of parental involvement correlate with: improved academic performance higher test scores more positive attitudes toward school higher homework completion rates fewer placements in special education academic perseverance lower dropout rates fewer suspensions” [...]

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Emerging Trend: Giving Teaching the Ole Tire Kick-Test

Thursday, April 16, 2009

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Emerging Trend: Giving Teaching the Ole Tire Kick-Test

In his article, Creme de la Career (titled “With Finance Disgraced, Which Career Will Be King” on-line), Steve Lohr of the New York Times suggests that “the financial crisis and the economic downturn are likely to alter drastically the career paths of future years.” This trend proved true during both the Depression and “cold war [...]

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The Freedom to Sing

Sunday, April 12, 2009

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The Freedom to Sing

This week, while walking around the hallways and classrooms of my school, I found myself acutely aware of all of the different noises that take place on a daily basis. There were the typical facility-related sounds, such as bells signifying the change of classes and doors opening and closing. I heard phones ringing, papers rustling [...]

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Emerging Trend: Collaborative Curve

Friday, April 10, 2009

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Emerging Trend: Collaborative Curve

Recently, on the Harvard Business Publishing website, The Big Shift team (John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison) posted an article titled, Introducing the Collaborative Curve. They tell the story of how a fax machine, by itself, is pretty worthless.  However it becomes increasingly more valuable as more fax machines are added to [...]

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