Wonder is Worth It!

No Future Left Behind

wonderisworthit — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 17:18:40 +0000

The future is here, we’ve been invited to come along. Who are the educators ready to make schools for creating, analyzing, and inventing better ways. . .?

We can create the school of the present and future if we listen to what students are telling us.

The Conversation to Have

wonderisworthit — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 00:37:24 +0000

Why not here, why not now? Chris Lehmann, an instructional leader and educator, asks the hard questions.

What is our role in educational development for our schools?

Could We Miss the Point Any More?

wonderisworthit — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:19:44 +0000

There’s a fine line between educational development and making something really stupid out of research results–

http://www.youtube.com/v/BpmQZ5MXs8c?fs=1&hl=en_US

Could this happen here?

Teaching: The Unprofessional Profession at Technology In Class

wonderisworthit — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:19:39 +0000

I have included a blog posting that speaks sternly to us as educators about our willingness to allow ourselves to be set-aside as real child advocates, classroom leaders, curriculum and pedagogical experts to be categorized as needing someone to tell us what to do and when to do it.

Pedagogy for the 21st Century

via Teaching: The Unprofessional Profession at Technology In Class.

Just this week I was speaking with a young educator who was complaining that because the books weren’t present in the school yet that she and her colleagues were just waiting until they arrived and were “just waiting” to be told what to assess. I continue to replay this in my head as I see the evidence of aspiring teachers capability to make good instructional choices based upon their own ability to assess the needs of their students and respond. What happens to us that makes us a profession of “waiters?”

Thank a Teacher

wonderisworthit — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:39:51 +0000

Teachers, You are the molders of their dreams

The gods who build or crush
Their young beliefs of right or wrong.
You are the spark that sets aflame
The poet’s hand or lights the flame
of some great singer’s song.
You are the god of the young,
the very young
You are the guardian of a million dreams
Your every smile or frown
can heal or pierce the heart.

You are a hundred lives, a thousand lives.
Yours the pride of loving them
And the sorrow too.

Your patient work, your touch
Make you the goals of hope
Who fill their souls with dreams
To make those dreams come true.
by Ronald Reagan

Education Development Challenge

wonderisworthit — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:57:02 +0000

Are we preparing our students for our age or theirs?

Lead, follow, or get out of the way. . . Thomas Paine

Ordinary People can do Extraordinary Things

wonderisworthit — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:22:09 +0000

As the school year nears in the UAE and thoughts begin to turn towards our goals for the year, what we’ll do differently, what we’ll pay a little more attention to in order to make a difference; we pause to remember that we can do extraordinary things. Make this year a revolution in your classroom and in your school.

The Child-Driven Curriculum

wonderisworthit — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:44:03 +0000

Could this happen in the UAE? What if we really believed that all children can learn? What if educators, politicians, and the world’s leaders really believed “He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” Richard Henry Dana Jr

Make this school year the beginning of an educational revolution in the UAE!

Revolution in Education

wonderisworthit — Mon, 31 May 2010 18:28:55 +0000

Sometimes you have to listen, really listen to the rhetoric around you to realize the message that is being screamed isn’t the message you thought you were hearing. What if teacher and principal preparation was moved out of the university and into “teaching schools?” If you imagine the concept of “teaching hospital”, the idea of “teaching school” may come into clearer focus.

What if the last year of the teacher preparation program was completed at a Teaching School where the teacher candidates would be assigned to two learners who would become their personal study and education on literacy development and numeracy development. What if these teacher candidates were each assigned, in addition, to a classroom where they served as teaching assistants and support to the teacher, working with reading groups, centers, recess and supervision help, and did some tutoring and teaching in small groups. The same candidate may be assigned to a professional development community where they worked with colleagues and new teachers on developing professionally in areas that new teachers typically struggle.

Is it possible to find schools or agencies that would want to work this way? Is it possible to find schools or agencies that could give the school the autonomy to identify a principal who wants to work in this way, identify teachers who are prepared to teach or desire to learn to teach in elementary environments as grade-level teachers rather than subject teachers? Is it possible to find educators who are committed to doing what’s in the best interest of the students?

Gulf Comparative Education Symposium

wonderisworthit — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:18:42 +0000

Ras al Khaimeh was the host to a group of scholars, researchers, and educators engaged in two days of sharing of research, dialogue about educational reform in the GCC. The symposium, sponsored by the Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation, brought forth information about reforms, government sponsored processes and policies, a variety of perspectives and lenses through which to view the reform activity in the GCC, and a great opportunity to networ in the spirit of comparison and collaboration and study of the very things that make us similar and those things that we can learn from each other.

Many thank to His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi and his support of educational development and the support of this academic dialogue that brings forth new collaborative relationships and ideas for the benefit of the UAE. His foundation will also sponsor next years symposium as well. Our thanks go, also, to Sultan Qaboos University in Oman for sponsoring the symposium in 2012.

A tribute to the development of the UAEs future scholars was the number of Masters and Doctoral students in attendance and their enthusiasm for presenting their own research findings at the next symposium.

Many thanks to His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi for your support of education development in the UAE.