Staff Picks: Longer School Days, Steve Jobs, & Assessment

Karen Picks the Article “Why Longer School Days Work for Families” by Rhonda Present

Karen says, “I’m famous for Kamp Karen…..summers at home were all about continuing the learning process.  Reading lists were continued and even my niece who came to stay in the summers found out that activities commenced once reading lists and book reports (yes, book reports) were finished.  Tom worked on the math with them and we went on many a field trip.  180 days a year is not enough.  The agrarian society that our education system was started on is long over.  Time to pay attention to learning in this century.  At home learning can continue with online learning throughout the breaks.”

Caroline Picks the Article “‘You’ve got to find what you love,’ Jobs says” by Steve Jobs

Caroline says, “Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

Sarah Picks the Article “Steve Jobs Inspired Me to Dream Big Again” by Wesley Fryer

Sarah says, “I enjoyed Wesley Fryer’s blog post this week on Steve Jobs. He walks through the personal experience and inspiration he received from the innovations of Jobs and Apple that brought new light to his teaching. His thoughtful post shows the ways in which innovative people, ideas and technologies can be reflected in education. The legacy of Jobs – that is at the forefront of our minds this week – is a reminder to us all that in education, we can dream big – again.”

Tom Picks Assessment as the topic of the week.

Tom attempted to tackle teacher evaluation and standardized testing this week–both complicated and controversial subjects.  In Good Evaluation Requires Good Data–And Sound Judgement.  He said, “Teaching is not like golf, you can’t reduce it to a single score for one contributor.  That’s been true and will increasingly be the case as learning environments blend a variety of strategies and technologies.”  Today, Tom wrote Good Assessment Key to Strong Accountability where he discussed the role of assessment in school accountability.  He said, “The shift to personal digital learning and from data poverty to data abundance will eliminate the need to use one year end bubble test for everything.”