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"I use the term beautiful work  broadly: ...Always, in all subjects, there is a quest in my classroom for beauty, for quality, and we critique all that we do for its level of care, craftsmanship, and value." - Ron Berger quoted from Buck Institute Recently a colleague of mine, a grade 7/8 math teacher, emailed me with his reflections from reading a book he borrowed from the bookshelf in my office. After a discussion about homework quality and quantity with his colleagues during the final professional learning day of the school year, he stopped by my office to share his thoughts about what makes student work worthwhile. I handed him An Ethic Of Excellence by Ron Berger and encouraged him to read it and dig a little deeper into those thoughts. About a month and a half into summer, he emailed me with his thoughts: "Beautiful work is the idea that schoolwork is about the process of producing something beautiful. In that process learners learn the lesson. It i

Often when administrators are asked about the current state of education technology in their school or district, they make declarative statements: We are 1-to-1. We use Google Classroom. We adopted Microsoft 365. We have a makerspace. I've learned that those are unfinished statements. The sentiment they express is not the vision or leadership that educators and learners need. I'm shifting my perspective. Here's why. The "roll-out" of new devices or tools is often the first edtech goal an administrator has for her district, but it should not – it cannot – be the last. A roll-out is all about strategy and planning. Once equipment, software, and programs are in place, the work has just begun. How will student learning be affected? The statements above should look more like these: We are working toward... We are excited about... Our plan is to... We have started to... Each of these 4 statements should be finished with phrases that include the wo

Access to our screens – and the information and connections those screens make possible – is an essential part of our personal, academic, and professional lives. But the amount of time we spend looking at those screens is having an impact on our brain development. Based on my research into neuroscience and my work every day in schools and classrooms, I put together this Ignite talk (5 minutes total, 20 slides, 15 seconds each) for the 2017 International Society for Technology in Education Conference . It answers many of the questions we have about how much is too much and which uses of technology are worthwhile. How are you incorporating screens in healthy ways at home and in your school? How are you working with all stakeholders – students, teachers, parents, administrators – in your community to establish a clear culture of healthy technology use? The research and testing doesn't stop here. This is just the beginning. I'm looking forward to learning and sharing