In the wee early days of education blogging (2004), Ian Jukes, an author and public speaker from New Zealand began a blog titled: “The Committed Sardine.” The blog seems to have faded into cyberspace, but I wanted to share his original post where he explains the meaning behind his title. Jukes’ powerful metaphor is a great way to […]

In my previous post (A Quick Glimpse In the Mirror), I proffered some thoughts and suggestions relative to the current teacher shortage in Oklahoma and across our country. I have no intent to absolve our current Governor and legislators for their abject failure to adequately address the funding of public education in our state.  The fact […]

By [email protected] July 27, 2015 Uncategorized 8 Comments The topic du jour among the Oklahoma Edublog community recently has been the expanding teaching shortage in our state. The discussion ignited last Thursday with the report of the OKSDE approving 182 emergency certificates at its monthly board meeting, just five short of the entire total from […]

Ray Bradbury’s Future–Are We Here? By [email protected] July 19, 2015 Uncategorized 16 Comments “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” – Ray Bradbury I really wasn’t sure what to expect from Bradbury’s famous 1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451, when I picked it up to read a few weeks ago, […]

By [email protected] June 22, 2015 Uncategorized 11 Comments I wonder how people would react if I snuck into the next meeting of the Oklahoma English Language Arts (ELA) standards writing committee and proposed raising the age of formal reading instruction to age seven, sometime when students are in second grade. With our state’s current push […]

Summer Shorts – The Fragile Nature of Motivation By [email protected] June 18, 2015 Uncategorized 5 Comments One of the more popular training programs for people trying to lose weight or gain aerobic fitness is Josh Clark’s “Couch to 5K.” The goal of the program is to take nearly any person, regardless of current weight or […]

Okay, admit it. After reading the title, you were a little hesitant to open this post, weren’t you? Well, there is no need to worry.  Everything you are about to view has received a “G” rating by the American Bloggers Association. Here is what the title really means. With the official start of summer just […]

By [email protected] May 24, 2015 Uncategorized 15 Comments Memorial Day weekend has become the unofficial start of summer. A time when our thoughts naturally turn to long restful days at the lake, cookouts with friends and neighbors, pool parties, and family vacations. It is also an opportunity for many major retailers to promote special “Memorial […]