Author Archive

What the Internet does to your brain – Nicholas Carr

Friday, June 4th, 2010

The June 2010 Issue of Wired Magazine brings us a review of a new book by Nicholas Carr titled The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. It should be out some time in June 2010 from W. W. Norton and Company. The message I get is that we should balance the time we spend reading Internet material with hypertext links and other distractions with the time we spend reading linear text either online or in physical media. I look forward to reading the entire book and I strongly urge my readers to consider subscribing to Wired.

Click here to see my summary of this book review.
Click here to see the Wired article.

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Tags: Human Brain, Nicholas Carr, Wired Magazine
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Do Districts Need a Tech Director?

Friday, May 28th, 2010

I am now a guest blogger at Dangerously Irrelevant, which is a popular blog devoted to technology, leadership, and the future of schools. The author is Scott McLeod, L. D., Ph. D. who is a professor at Iowa State University. The post is an article that I did on the idea that districts should think about cutting the position of technology director. This is a position I held from 1982 to 1993 before I became a principal. Thanks to Scott’s popularity, my article has attracted a lot of attention from his readers and is getting much attention of high profile people on Twitter. Let me know what you think.

Click here for access to this article.

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Creating A New Teacher Profession – edited by Goldhaber & Hannaway

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Here is a review of an Edited book by Goldhaber and Hannaway that looks at a wide variety of human resource issues in education. Everyone who does any teacher hiring, evaluation, or staff development should have this book. It is also essential for policy makers. The bottom line is that we have an outmoded system and that we won’t know what works unless we try the type of alternatives discussed here.

Click here to see my review of this book.

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Tags: Education Reform, Human Capital Systems, Urban Institute Press
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Beyond Cut-and-Paste – Jamie McKenzie

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

For four decades Jamie McKenzie has been stressing the importance of engaging students in challenges that require original thought as they deal with new technology. This book takes on that challenge directly. It is designed to support teachers and leaders intent on raising a generation of thinkers capable of asking tough questions while generating good ideas. His insight and the resources in this book are ideal for staff development efforts and graduate courses.

Click here to see my review of this book.

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Tags: Beyond Cut-and-Paste, Jamie McKenzie, new technology
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AP: A Critical Examination of the AP Program Harvard Ed. Press

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program has grown significantly since the mid 1990’s as policy makers have added courses for students who are for the most part not ready. In AP: A Critical Examination of the Advanced Placement Program, a new release from The Harvard Education Press, seventeen authors share their research. The main point is that an AP course for an unprepared student is at best a waste of time and resources. It is clear from this work that more effort needs to be directed to earlier grades rather than simply raising expectations at the top.

Click here to see the summary of this book.

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Tags: Advanced Placement, AP, College Board, Harvard Education Press
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