LessonCast helps learning communities design professional development that targets specific needs and changes instructional practice. We support a continuum of professional learning that spans support for teachers new to the classroom, experienced teachers with expertise to share, and leaders guiding a community in improving instruction. The Common Core Conundrum – Why We Can Set the How or the What but not Both
2013-05-02 12:17:50
Once upon a time, I learned that in leading a school initiative I could specify the how or I could s...
Archive for June 2012
How I am Going to Change the World
2:15 pm on the first full day of ISTE 2012. I grabbed an exorbitantly priced Naked juice and slid into a seat to hear Adam Bellow’s presentation, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future.” I am among hundreds of other educators packed in the room waiting for the presentation to begin. At first, I’m impressed by the mood music and gripping slideshow, highlighting powerful quotes related to the state and purpose of education. As the presentation launches – if you have seen Adam launch is an appropriate …
Can Technology Solve Education’s Woes?
About 26 minutes into his weekly podcast with Audrey Watters, Steve Hargadon asks the astute question: Are there times when we’re tricked into thinking that technology is going to solve problems that are not easy to solve? As much as we want to believe, the perfect tech tool is not going to be developed that will solve all of our education problems. Why not? Because changing teacher practice is hard work; changing practice on a school level is even more difficult. Education companies that promise to solve all student achievement problems without …
Why Do I Blog?
Following on the heels of Audrey Watters’ public posting, I too decided to make my response to Alice Bell’s edublogger survey. Blog URL: LessonCast.org/author/Katrina What do you blog about? I enjoy blogging about education issues, including discussions about reform movements, issues facing teachers and administrators, the importance of STEM education, the need to redesign professional development to make it more job-embedded and tied to improving student outcomes, a need to shift to a transdisciplinary approach to learning, and perhaps most often, the importance of educators being at the font line …
Summer Reading Suggestions
As the school year draws to a close, I’m inspired to create a Summer Reading List. I’ve started with a few recommendations that have influenced the way I make sense of the world, I’ve added others that I’m eager to dive into, and I hope others will share their suggested gems. Made to Stick by Chip Heath, Dan Heath The author’s SUCCES acronym for sticky ideas has multiple applications for getting people (even students) to care about ideas and move into action. Great read that also suggests other insightful books …
LessonCast Goes to ISTE 2012!
We hope to connect with many members of our LessonCast community while we’re in San Diego for ISTE’s Annual Conference! Here are some of the ways you can connect with the LessonCast team (If you aren’t able to attend ISTE, you can still view some of our events and follow us on Twitter and Facebook): Interested in Meeting Coaches and Mentors at ISTE? Come share best coaching practices at the Birds of a Feather Session, Mentor Teachers Multiplied: Building Teacher Capacity, on Tuesday, June 26, 2012, from 5 to 6:15 PM. Coaches …
A Critical Common Sense Debate
Education reform debates are often reduced to a tale of two extremes: We need to wipe out the current K-12 public education system, which is a miserable failure based on a 19th-century factory model designed to indoctrinate and exploit. vs. We need to maintain the status quo and guarantee individual teachers the autonomy to decide how and what to teach without any outside involvement or pressures. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere along the continuum, or perhaps each point on the continuum is true for some student somewhere. Rather than debate …
