Author Archive

Class Rank Weighs Down True Learning by Thomas R. Guskey

Thursday, April 10th, 2014

Class Rank Weighs Down True Learning by Thomas R. Guskey – Phi Delta Kappan, March 2014, V95 N6, pp. 15-19. This is my summary of this fine article, which makes the point that teaching and grading schemes that work to select the most talented students often fail to benefit all students and to notice promising students. This may cause you to rethink what your high school is doing regarding this matter. Here is the link to the abstract. You will probably need a subscription if you want to view the full article, or you could hit your nearest college library.

Thomas R Guskey, PhD

  • Thomas is a professor of educational psychology at the University of Kentucky. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago, and began his career in education as a middle school teacher. He served as an administrator in Chicago Public Schools, and was the first Director of the Center for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning, a national educational research center. He is the author/editor of 18 books and over 200 articles published in prominent research journals as well as Educational Leadership, Phi Delta Kappan, and School Administrator. You can find him on Twitter @tguskey or email him at guskey@uky.edu
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The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance by David Epstein

Tuesday, April 8th, 2014

The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance by David Epstein (© 2013, Penguin Group: New York, NY) may not sound like a book for general educators and parents, but it is as it explores the messy relationship between biological endowments and the impact of training. You don’t need to be a sports fan to appreciate this look at modern genetic research that should apply to any kind of human accomplishment. Be sure to click at the bottom of any page to purchase this captivating book.

David Epstien

  • David is an award winning senior editor for Sports Illustrated where he covers sports science, medicine, and Olympic sports. He was a track start at Columbia University and has a master’s degree in environmental science.

Innate or Will to Train

  • The book opens by wondering how much of an athlete’s success is based on innate genetic composition (nature), and how much is a function of the will to train and time spent doing so (nurture). The first story deals with how a top flight women softball pitcher can routinely strike out the top men baseball hitters. How is it possible that girls can hit this stuff while top men can’t.
  • In addition to action sports, David looks at how chess masters can reconstruct a chess game in progress after a quick look. This is where chunking theory came from. It was discovered that what the chess masters remember were clusters of pieces rather than each individual piece. Others also discovered that elite players of action sports need less time and less visual information to know what will happen in the future. Top tennis players, for example, can discern from the minuscule pre-serve shifts of an opponent’s torso whether a shot was going to their forehand or their backhand. No one is born with such anticipatory skills. Such skills are analogous to software, while genes are analogous to hardware.
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It’s a Technological World, Are Your Teachers Up to Par? by Ken Myers

Saturday, March 15th, 2014

It’s a Technological World, Are Your Teachers Up to Par? by Ken Myers is aimed at helping education leaders with their vision in regard to modern technology and its use by teachers. Since just about any decent job today requires technical skills, we can no longer abide teachers who aren’t interested in making the most of their school’s technical resources.

Ken Myers

  • Ken Myers is a father of three and passionate about great childcare. He’s always looking for ways to help families find the support they need to live fuller, richer lives. He is the owner of GoNannies, a nationally known nanny recruiting website. He strives to provide parents and caregivers with quality and up-to-date content. Find out more about expert childcare by checking out @go_nannies on Twitter.

It’s a Technological World, Are Your Teachers Up to Par?

  • As we live in the digital age, technology is abundant no matter where you turn. Our pockets are full of gadgets and gizmos that make life more efficient on a professional and private level. With every innovation, education has been impacted by the same technology as well. However, many teachers are simply not using the tools to their fullest potential. Statistical analysis and device capabilities look good on paper, but they don’t live up to expectations of educators if they’re not used correctly.
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Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture by Erez Aiden & Jean-Baptiste Michel

Saturday, January 25th, 2014

Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture by Erez Aiden & Jean-Baptiste Michel (© 2013, Riverside Books: NY, NY) explains how they use Google’s repository of 30 million digitized books to investigate human culture. Their analytical tool lets them see how words and phrases have come and gone over the years and what these trends can tell us about ourselves. As more data becomes available they see many positive and negative possibilities. This is one book you don’t want to miss. Click at the bottom of any page to get a copy of this important book.

Erez Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel

  • Erez has a PhD from Harvard and MIT. After stints at Harvard and Google he joined the faculty of Baylor and Rice were he directs the Center for Genome Architecture. In 2009 he was named as one of the world’s top innovators under 35 and has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
  • Jean-Baptiste is a French and Mauritian entrepreneur and scientist and the founder of Quantified Labs. He is an associate scientist at Harvard and a former visiting faculty member at Google. He has a PhD from Harvard, is a TED Fellow, and one of Forbe’s “30 Under 30” winners.
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Humor, Music, & Cool Stuff Greatest Hits 2014

Tuesday, December 31st, 2013

In addition to the education and leadership resources I post daily, I always end with this grab bag category so you can have some fun, and maybe still learn something. So read through the list and have some fun. The greatest hits of my other categories were posted on previous days along with my best book summaries from 2013. Have a happy new year and thanks for your continued support.

11/27 Key and Peele’s Substitute Teacher bit – If you are new to these guys be sure to watch some of their other videos. @DrDougGreen

11/27 Regina Dugan: From a mach 20 glider to a hummingbird drone. The nerd as a hero and how we all have nerd power. Be sure to at least watch the humming bird drone at 9 minutes. @TED_TALKS

11/26 A quadriplegic gives a TED Talk using a robot. This is amazing, extremely cool, and inspirational. [10:22] Be sure to watch until he flies his drone. Students need to see this. @TEDx

11/22 Google Street View Team traumatized by Florida’s nude beaches. Lesson for kids: you never know when you are on camera. @HuffPostMiami

11/21 14 school mascots that may be more offensive than the Redskins – Nothing says team sprit better than Hobos. @sara_bee

11/19 All mammals that weigh as much as cats on up take the same amount of time to pee. This is real science and young students will probably get a kick out of it. (It’s the “Other Golden Rule” story.) @scifri

11/18 Princeton is the top school on Trojan’s list. Yes it’s the condom maker. @HuffPostCollege

11/13 Product Testing – The Rollie by Glove and Boots. After watching this, the ad for the real product will probably seem funny. @Fafagroundhog

11/10 Man returns to burning house to save beer. Don’t worry, it’s a happy ending, sort of. @NYDailyNews

11/9 Glove and Boots sing their version of All Together Now. This is so cute and funny. @sbarness1

11/6 Now we have robot baristas. The joke on NPR was now we finally found work for robots who majored in English. Don’t get me wrong, I think English is a fine major. My dear departed wife was one. @qz

11/2 Freestyle Finger Snapping – This starts with a tutorial and goes on to an amazing demonstration of this art. [4:05] @reddit_tv

10/31 The nine most-hated Halloween treats – This is pretty funny. @HuffPostBiz

10/17 Bacon lowers sperm count while white fish increases it. Who knew you could use bacon for birth control. :) @theage

10/15 Dilbert creator Scott Adams discusses his new book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. Passion and goals are way less important than process. Watch the video [5:13] first. @millermarinellc @WSJ

10/10 The difference between porn sex and real sex – This is informative and funny. There is no sex, just food, but it may not be appropriate for kids who haven’t had a reasonable amount of sex ed. If you plan to have an Internet porn conversation with your kid, this might be useful.

10/6 Professional kayaker rides down drainage ditch at 35 miles and hour. This could be bad for your kayak and/or your body. @dailydot

9/27 Mac Story – This is a short parody of Toy Story [2:24]. I gave it the funny rating. @digg

9/26 Glove and Boots test products you can only buy on TV. Gorilla using the Slap Chop brought tears to my eyes. @Fafagroundhog

9/17 Young American tourist shows off features of a Japanese vending machine. Looks like they are a few steps ahead of us with this technology. @digg

8/28 The places that European explorers really did discover first. @GuyKawasaki

8/23 Overcoming obstacles: This is a short inspirational TED Talk [4:22] by a physically disabled student who made the varsity basket ball team as a freshman. All students should see this. @rmbyrne

8/22 iPhone app rates your performance in bed. The [1:24] video is funny and probably PG rated. @mailonline @TheImusShow

8/22 Mickey Mouse in a Bad Ear Day [3:51] – This is very clever. Show it in class and have students critique. This can promote some critical thinking. @ValmontGod

8/9 The fries that bind – Here is a cool infographic on where you find or don’t find McDonald’s. No two countries that both had a McDonald’s have ever fought a war. Your students should find this interesting. @digg @foodbeast

8/7 Ten reasons to drink coffee. @GuyKawasaki

8/2 Pupils at David Bowie’s alma matter make a tribute video [10:01]. This is pretty arty. Perhaps it will inspire other kids to get creative. @SchoolsImprove @eveningstandard

7/31 Kid solves a Rubic Cube while juggling it. [1:35] This is officially Awesome!

7/30 London firefighters notice an increased use of handcuffs. @USATODAY

7/25 Tom Thum: The orchestra in my mouth – [11:41] This guy is amazing. @TED_TALKS

7/22 Yuck Movie – A 4th grader does a documentary exposing the truth about his school lunches. Lesson for adults: not only are the kids watching, they just may be filming. You also may be interested in the story I got this from in the @NYPost.

7/21 Drumming grandma (possibly great grandma) really rocks it. [1:25] @iEducator

7/16 San Francisco TV station reports names of pilots on Asiana flight 214 that recently crashed. Here is a news story that explains how it was a racist prank that made it on air. Don’t feel bad if you think it’s funny. @TheImusShow

7/3 This is a great TED Talk [18:06] by an autistic kid. “Instead of being a student of your field, be the field.” Also see his 60 Minutes piece from 2012 when he was 13. @millermarienllc

‘6/22 Eight-year-old sings opera (Queen of the Night from Mozart’s Magic Flute). This is one of opera’s biggest show off pieces. [3:08] @DrDougGreen

6/18 Manal al-Sharif: A Saudi women who dared to drive. This is very inspirational. Make sure your kids see this. @TED_TALKS @Montberte

5/21 The lighter side of Sweden from the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. The you can’t understand all the lyrics, here they are. This makes fun of Swedish culture and it’s right on. I’m a Swedish-American and have been there many times. @GuyKawasaki

5/21 One high school’s epic ending to the school year – This video features every kid in school and what seems like the entire facility. Every sports team and activity in the school in their uniforms are also represented. What end-of-year tradition does your school have? @Guykawasaki

5/17 How Irish dancing got started – This is hilarious. Be sure to watch it all. Thanks to my Swedish cousin Morgan Johansson

5/15 Visit the International Space Station while an astronaut sings the David Bowie classic. This is pretty awesome. ISS astronaut Chris Hadfield wows with Bowie’s Space Oddity. @adambellow

5/8 Bohemian Rhapsody parody by Syracuse students – This is very well done. @millermarinellc

5/3 The Evolution of Music by the Pentatonix – This is a great history of music lesson. @catmiller2 @millermarinellc

4/26 It’s Monday – A parody of the Rebecca Black Friday song – This is pretty funny. @adambellow

4/24 World Yo Yo champion tells his story and shows off. The lesson here is to follow your passion. @TED_TALKS

4/14 The gorillage people – I love these guys. @ValmontGod @FafaGroundhog @MarioGlove

4/5 The 40 hottest women in tech list – Should women on this list be offended? You could title this list Accomplished Women in Tech for my money and run it as is. I got this from This Week in Tech which has many of these women as guests. They are all smart, hard working, interesting, and great role models.

3/14 Three minutes of fun for any French class with Mickey Mouse. This would be excellent for beginners. @ValmontGod

2/19 Nine-year-old banjo wiz with his brothers on guitar and fiddle. This is what can happen when kids don’t have video games. Thanks to Douglas Thaler, retired rock star manager

1/16 Two BBC Trailers with Monty Python songs. Love this stuff. @FastCompany

1/16 Porn study scrapped due to lack on men who don’t watch it. It also notes that most boys watch it by age ten. Parents take note. If you don’t provide sex ed your kid will probably get it online. @MailOnline

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