Archive for August, 2010

Great Video by Yong Zhao

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Youg is the author of a recent book, Catching-Up or Leading the Way, that takes NCLB to task for its emphasis on standardized testing that has been a problem for China for the last 1,400 years. Thanks to the people at The NewLearning Institute, you can now watch a ten minute video in which Yong explains the essence of his vision regarding education and standardized tests. If you want to get a group of educators or parents talking, just show this at a meeting. You should also consider purchasing Yong’s book.

Click here for Yong Zhao’s 10 minute video.
Click here for my summary of Yong’s Book.

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Social Pollination – Great tips for managing your social media effort

Friday, August 20th, 2010

Monica O’Brien’s book gives the big picture along with abundant detail on how to manage the social media feed for an organization or an individual. While it is written with businesses in mind, it certainly applies to educators and schools as well. My summary focusses on the concepts. If you want the detail, buy the book. Someone in your organization should have it.

Click here to see my summary Social Pollination.

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Yo Congress: Focus on Poverty

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

Current NCLB rules require schools to show progress for each of five approved ethnic groups in addition to kids who are poor regardless of ethnic group. I see these groups as somewhat arbitrary and I believe that keeping track of groups serves no real purpose and complicates our efforts. I believe that poverty is the one thing we should focus on. I hope you agree that the slideshow linked below helps make this case. It may take a minute or two to download as it is mostly pictures.

Click here to see my Diversity Slideshow .

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All Hands On Deck – Culture Trumps Strategy

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

This book by Joe Tye uses a fictional format to explain why organizational culture is so important and how you can get the people you lead to help you create the kind of culture you want. My summary deals with the key concepts, but you need the book to access the compelling story and valuable appendix. This would be a good read for your entire team to discuss.

Click here to see my summary of All Hands On Deck.

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The Web Means the End of Forgetting

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

If you have ever posted something about yourself and wished you hadn’t, you should be interested in this article by Jeffery Rozen from the July 25, 2010 New York Times Sunday Magazine. He starts with the story of a student who was denied her teaching certificate thanks to a posting on MySpace, and goes on to cover many legal and technological aspects of this topic. If you find my summary interesting, check out the article.

Click here for the article.

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