Tomorrow is the start of the Innovative Learning Environments Conference in Ohio, and I am so excited.  Last year, I was only able to attend a few days, but this year, I’m in for the whole week. Last year honestly changed my mindset.  I wrote about being open to buying an iPhone (which I did), joining Twitter (which I did), and working diligently ...

Ever given any thought to that question?  Both members of the TU  were fortunate to receive a good education during our youth, I think.  This was not an accident.  It took hard work from parents, educators and even us.     Stepping back to gain a wider view might be helpful since we are all trying to provide the best for our young people.   We ...

Governor Kasich signed SB 316 into law on Monday. Here is the original text of the bill as submitted to Kasich….all 592 pages of it. This beautiful annotation of the Legislative Service Commission’s comparative analysis highlights the most important aspect of the legislation, and this “Fiscal Note & Local Impact Statement” zooms in on the ...

You may have heard about the amendments to SB 316–the delay of the Third Grade Reading Guarantee and the new report card system.  I’m busy reading the actual legislation because as much as I love eye-crossing, long, and laborious legalese, I want to know what it actually says rather than what everyone tells me it says. Consider this your post ...

Do you love seeing a professional, exciting, safe and fun live animal show at your school, library, scout meeting, party, or special event?  Are you in favor of inspiring children to care about wildlife and the environment?  How do you feel about small businesses providing jobs and income for families? RIGHT NOW there is legislation, both passed ...

Can anyone oppose what's ''good for kids?''While perusing the Interweb the other day, wading past the funny cat videos, I stumbled onto an interesting article dealing with the word ''reform''.  Reform Is Not a Dirty Word:  The real meaning of school reform by Kayla McGannon.  This commentary posted by the Interim Executive Director of Stand for ...

The school year is just getting swinging.  You have been given the task of hiring and hosting this year’s school assemblies.  You have finished hiring your performers – now it’s time to get ready for the show. Step One:  Choosing the Right Location for the Show A variety of factors make up a good school assembly performance space. Availability ...

Sticking with the current events theme of some recent posts, there continues to be a great deal of conversation about the Occupy Wall Street movement.  More of that in a second. The TU was at the annual ''Making Connections'' conference held by our division at one of our local High Schools. We indeed connected with our fellow educators and  in an ...

So your first weeks of teaching are wrapping up.  At times you've struggled to recall why you became a teacher.  But in the past few weeks no doubt you and your students have learned a great deal already.  Still nothing could ever have prepared you for the past month.  The lessons learned are too numerous to recount.  So the TU will recount ones ...

Photo Credit: http://www.glasbergen.com/ We have a lot of teachers doing a lot of wonderful things in education right now.  As I’ve said before, through all the muck, we are making some amazing strides for our children. Particularly in the realm of technology, where so many teachers are taking risks, learning new ways to teach content, and ...