Ideas & Innovators

By Melissa McQuarrie….At Parkway Elementary School in Virginia Beach, students are learning about improving their own communities and mapping their own destiny. Through a partnership with From One Hand to Another and the Urban League of South Hampton Roads, students are growing their own brain food, envisioning their futures through dream mapping, and learning how they can take action to improve their communities. This after-school program lets kids learn by “getting their hands dirty,” giving them real-life experiences and linking these experiences to making their dreams become realities. 

By Allison Zmuda

This week I worked with Wethersfield High School staff in Wethersfield, CT on how to design learning experiences that engage the learner in rigorous and meaningful tasks. As I was chatting with Carl, an art teacher (his wall was posted earlier in the week) I asked if I could wander into his classroom later on in the day. Pictures attached are a simple idea to give voice to student vision and expression. Artwork was designed by students to communicate a given message.

By Allison Zmuda

Working at Henry Street School for International Studies and a teacher was describing a project that engaged the students as well as taught body systems. Had to see it for myself! Attached are photos of the project explanation and a sample of student work.

By Mike Fisher

In this day and age, technology knowledge and understanding isn’t limited to any particular stakeholder in a school. While teachers sometimes feel the need to know all the ins and outs of technologies that may potentially use with their students, the reality is that their students may be their own best resources.

 At a recent EdCamp in Buffalo, I had a discussion with other teachers about the creation of Technology SWAT Teams, or Students Who Assist Teachers with Technology. I thought this was a fabulous idea and that it really brings student voice into the curriculum design arena in a specific and purposeful way.

The picture here is of my daughter, who, at 4 years old was teaching two adults how to operate and navigate an iPad...

An Interview with Mary Beth Lugo, By Allison Zmuda

Mary Beth Lugo is an inspiration — she took action on an idea and turned it into a viable business that addresses a real need. Kazam bikes have garnered numerous awards including and has been featured on The Today Show and Parenting magazine. I first met Mary Beth when I overheard that she is going to be featured on Shark Tank on May 10 — one of our family’s favorite shows. We started talking that many kids and adults have great ideas, but  little faith that they can do something about it. This interview is dedicated to taking action, pursuing dreams, and getting results.

Zmuda: Kazam bikes have received numerous awards and recognition. Fill our audience in — what make the bikes special?

Lugo: KaZAM has a patented frame design wit...

Great YouTube clip from Larry Rosenstock and Rob Riordan at High Tech High. What do you think of the premise? How might that impact what we teach? How we assess? How we create? Use #kidsandschools on Twitter or comment below.

By Connor McLean

“Accept others”. We’ve all seen it advertised. Anti Bullying commercials, ads in black and white with sad affected faces gazing wistfully into the camera that your remote “magically” manages to flip past every time they come on. Posters, covered in neon and inexplicably smiling kids from every background and neighborhood, all plastered onto the white washed halls of your school. Mandatory guidance assemblies, given by people thrice your age and clearly out of touch, orating in auditoriums that vaguely smell of mildew, the soft glow of a thousand games of Angry Birds decorating the students faces as they do their best to get through to next period...

By Allison Zmuda

As a 17-year-old high school senior, Nikhil Goyal took on the traditional nature of schooling and the impact it has on kids through his book One Size Doesn’t Fit All. Now he has been sought after as an international speaker, has over 10K followers on Twitter, and is shopping his second book around to various publishers. In addition he has both graduated from high school and leading a Learning Revolution movement to transform the American school system.

Nikhil continues to carve his own pathway and turns his attention to taking action to inspire reform rather than signing on for another four years to get another degree.

Zmuda: So why not college?

Goyal: What we’re realizing first and foremost, is that student loan debt is surpassing credit card debt at over a trillion dolla...

By Allison Zmuda

The State of California has translated the complexity of CCSS into terms that kids and parents can more readily understand, Kindergarten through 5th grade. For example, the first grade goals for number sense:

By Allison Zmuda

On my flight home, I struck up a conversation with Alex who trains sales teams on how to effectively have a conversation with prospective clients.

As I learned over the course of our conversation, the problem of typical sales force trainings is that they overwhelm the learners with too much detail. The typical trainer uses technical vocabulary to review every product one at a time. Alex described that this training has a numbing affect on the sales force; it discourages them from asking questions for remediation or relevancy because they don’t want to look foolish in front of their managers or their peers. Rather than confronting the reality, the managers indulge it...