One of the greatest challenges that the education community faces in implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) initiative is ensuring that the education workforce is ready to help students succeed under these new, higher standards.

Facing this challenge requires providing the current workforce with high-quality professional learning opportunities, something we talk about a great deal at the national level. But it also...

" Go big or go home. Because it's true. What do you have to lose?"
Actress Eliza Dushku

This school year, I implemented a school wide enrichment cluster program---and boy, did I learn a lot.

Anytime, you roll a program out to the entire school population, you better be ready for some things to go wrong. In fact, after I expanded this enrichment program, the problems seemed to grow exponentially.

The good news is that the benefits to students and the...

1. Technology is something we clearly want our students to know how to use extensively and responsibly. However~ I am discovering lately that more and more young students are unable to use social media wisely. In a recent conversation in my Constitutional Law class~ I realized that the most media savvy generation in the world may need teacher guidance on the use of Twitter. More than a social media for the exchange for personal opinions and silly gossip~ we as their teachers need to use...

Joe loves to take on an activity---if he knows he will be successful at it.

He devours books and racks up points by taking tests on the Accelerated Reader program. With a gift for gab~ he gets recognized for his work as the anchorman for the schools morning news. You definitely cant call Joe a lazy student.

However~ give Joe an assignment or task where success is not certain~ and it can be like slamming the brakes on a car. Complete stop. He grows anxious~ tries to...