A weekly collection of education-related news from around the web.

Educator’s Notebook #265 (December 9, 2018)

    • New York Times
    • 12/06/18

    “So you’re studying the Civil War — or Shakespeare, or evolution, or “The Bluest Eye.” Why? What does it have to do with your life and the lives of those around you? Why should you remember it once you’ve turned in that paper or taken that test?”

    • Bright
    • 12/05/18

    “A belief in the power of technology is becoming akin to an article of faith among education decision makers and commentators — along with preferences found in progressive pedagogy, like student-driven learning over teacher-driven curriculum, cross-cutting skills over traditional subjects, Google over memorization. But what if introducing more technology, and turning away from traditional ways of teaching, is actually making education… worse? …When applied correctly to a specific set of problems, technology has proven to be a useful tool that can have positive impact. But it must be accompanied by an honest discussion about what pedagogy actually works.”

ASSESSMENT

ATHLETICS

CREATIVITY

CURRICULUM

    • Slate
    • 12/06/18
    • ASCD
    • 12/01/18

    “We ask arts education to do something we seldom ask of other forms of education: justify itself in light of its effects on other fields. How often do we, for example, ask athletic directors to prove that playing baseball leads to better math skills or improves verbal skills? …Maybe instead of looking for research to prove or disprove the transfer of skills from the arts to something purportedly more important (or utilitarian), we should ask a different question altogether: What unique benefits does studying the arts provide students? Asking this question paints a different picture (pardon the pun) of arts education.”

HEALTH

HISTORY OF EDUCATION

HUMANITIES

LEADERSHIP

PEDAGOGY

SAFETY

    • Hechinger Report
    • 12/04/18

    “The CDC outlines four main pillars of school connectedness: adult support, positive peer groups, a welcoming school environment, and student commitment to education. Schools that choose to focus on these pillars reap the rewards.”

STEM

TECH

Z-OTHER

Issues

Every week I send out articles I encounter from around the web. Subject matter ranges from hard knowledge about teaching to research about creativity and cognitive science to stories from other industries that, by analogy, inform what we do as educators. This breadth helps us see our work in new ways.

Readers include teachers, school leaders, university overseers, conference organizers, think tank workers, startup founders, nonprofit leaders, and people who are simply interested in what’s happening in education. They say it helps them keep tabs on what matters most in the conversation surrounding schools, teaching, learning, and more.

Peter Nilsson

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