When you are in the middle of the forest, sometimes you forget to look around and take a look at the various new projects which have germinated around you. I know that I spend time spreading and cultivating ideas and it exciting when things begin to take root. I want to share a few of the projects and with you. 1st Grade Blog and VoiceThread Just over a year ago, to support a social studies unit on Community, our first grade teachers created a blog (Getting to Know Us, Getting to Know You) to begin to connect our first graders […]

I have been asked by Will DeLamater at the TeacherPlaces Book Clubs to lead the February discussion of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. For the first post, I elected to focus the discussion around how we at schools provide the 10,000 hours that Gladwell asserts are needed for to new teachers and to students to gain mastery of a subject to become expert. New Teachers To get us started, I want to take a look at the assertion that exists in chapter 2, the 10,000 Hour rule. When we take a look at our own schools, do we allow for individuals to […]