One criticism of education (and there are many :)~ is that schools fail to teach kids about money. If you haven't come across a money system created by fifth-grade teacher~ Rafe Esquith~ you need to read his second book "Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire." There's a lot of good ideas in that book~ but the money system is something I believe should be taught in all classrooms across... the country.
Essentially~ the kids...

I want to share an idea that worked really well for me.

A few weeks ago~ I had the students come to school dressed like a super hero of their own creation. I was dressed like a villian~ black cape~ black mask. I also used a voice scrambler to sound like Darth Vader.

The class then competed against mein a series of challenges that tested math~ vocabulary and science skills. Every time they got an answer right~ they got a point. The same went for me. While the...

"Your time is limited~ so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma-which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important~ have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."...

Editor's Note: Today's guest post comes from Dr. Scott Taylor~ an educator from New Jersey.

A Protocol for Developing Meaningful Curricula
The actual process of developing curricula has not been properly defined for educational leaders who aspire to collaboratively engage their teachers in a thoughtful and sincere codification of the programs they are expected to implement in their classrooms. There are plenty of curriculum...