Search form

Back to Blog

Student Blogs to Effect School Change

saladTired of being forced to eat what she felt were nutritionally sub-par meals at school, a 9-year-old student took to her blog in an effort to draw attention to the issue. It didn’t take long for that attention to go viral as Martha Payne's blog, Never Seconds, was eyed by several media outlets in her native Scotland. The attention grew to the point of a nationally-televised interview with the BBC. She explained how she would take pictures of the meals presented to her with a digital camera and write up a summary of the food including a Food-o-meter rating of how much she likes it, a mouthful count, a health rating and a number for how many pieces of hair were in the food.

She started in April and by May 15, school and town officials were seen leading journalists on tours of the school’s dining area. It was then that Payne blogged that there was a new system for ordering food, and that "cherry tomatoes, radishes, carrot and cucumber shreddings," began appearing in the meals.

More

Tips for the Aspiring Principal

Many assistant principals (although not all) want to be a principal. To be an assistant principal (AP) at any educational level is a very complex, demanding and difficult challenge and always underappreciated. So is the principalship! In most school districts they have three to four times the number of APs as principal’s so the numbers alone may mean that you might never become a principal. Here are some simple strategies that I hope will make those aspiration become reality!

The AP...

Growing Your Own - Preparing for the...

All senior educators are very concerned about the tremendous need for new and better principals. Different strategies are in place to fill vacancies in the principalship. Principals can be developed from the existing ranks of educators, hired from outside the education field or through a combination of both. To meet the immediate needs, most school districts want to grow their own principals. Many districts will hire from outside their districts but there can be a learning curve involved....

Presidents' Day is Coming:...

 
PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA


1. Dogs, cats and birds have often found a home in the White House. 

2....

Using Morning Procedures to Start the...

Dr. Shipley hears the school bell ring and knows that the children will be entering the classroom soon. Everything is set up, organized, and ready for the day. The room is spacious and quiet, but any minute it will be busy and inhabited by the community members that live there each day. Daily procedures are taught from day one and continue throughout the entire school year. Students know what to expect and what...

Here's What's Missing from...

Examine any standard lesson plan template and you’ll likely to see the same categories and domains: standards, learning objectives, step-by-step plans, accommodations for various student populations, assessment, etc.

Lesson-planning is fundamental to teaching. Working from a well-thought-out plan (while it might and probably should change as you teach and gain more knowledge of your students) is a sound strategy. Some teachers use spartan plans while others utilize long, scripted out...

Why the Art of Visual Writing?

ArtofVisualWriting

Do your students struggle with written or oral expression? Imagine bringing writing to life so every learning style is engaged, enriched, encouraged and expressed. What if writing is more than scratching the surface of a paper with the narrow tip of a pencil, but embellished with the broad strokes of a brush &...

Valentine's Day Fun Facts

 

Valentine’s Day and the...

Around the World in 30 Days – January...

C.M. Rubin’s Global Education Report

Biased algorithms are everywhere, so at a critical moment in the evolution of machine learning and AI, why aren’t we talking about the societal issues this poses?  ...

The Global Search for Education: AI,...

“Algorithms are as biased as the humans who designed or commissioned them with a certain intention. We should therefore spark an open debate about the goals of software systems with social impact.” — Ralph Müller-Eiselt

Biased algorithms are everywhere, so at a critical moment in the evolution of machine...

Pages