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In my recent Edutopia post, I posed a problem that is plaguing many schools today: that of racial inequity in our honors classes.  Many of us at the middle school level are wondering what our role is in bridging gaps ...

We must embrace our diversity if we are to emerge a country that is a leader in this global community.  I would like to think that it starts in our schools.  And if it starts in our schools, and is ...

A short post today on how the debate about bringing your own device to school is superfluous and antiquated.  After all, they already do. Case in point: when a student wants to borrow a pencil, I have them leave collateral in ...

A few weeks ago, my parents called to tell me that my mom was getting the new iPad.  They wanted to know if they could give my 6 year-old, Ben, her original one.  We hadn’t been planning on getting him ...

The weekend after Sandy Hook (see my brief thoughts here) I began thinking of ways to access the topic in different and more effective methods for my classes.  They had left on that Friday not knowing what had happened.  Of ...

Rarely do I hit up my readers for help, but I'm looking for classrooms to participate in, what I believe to be, a cool interdisciplinary Project Based Learning opportunity that combines Shakespeare and the digital era. I was talking to Nina ...

At the top of the school year, I showed my students the following video by John Green: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x78PnPd-V-A   I then asked them what they felt was the purpose of school.  "Write what you feel," I asked, "not what you assume I want ...

Here's a little fluid grouping trick I've written about in the past.  I thought it might be fun to just record something to make it a little more tangible.  The basic thought is that you can insert a little content ...

My most recent post for Edutopia focuses on Meaningful Assessments.  I'm currently working on that chapter for my new book, and it's been on the brain as of late. In this post, I talk about using the 4Cs (Creativity, Critical-Thinking, Collaboration, ...

I love the teachers in my Language Arts department.  Ever since I became department chair, they have been willing to go on so many curricular adventures with me.  If I ask to try a collaborative website, they are game.  If ...