A new documentary is stoking the fires of educational debate as is makes its way through its release schedule. The Revisionaries is on par with Waiting for Superman in terms of controversy and has some questioning the way textbooks are written.
The Revisionaries follows the Texas State Board of Education as they review and rewrite the curriculum standards for the next decade. Every 10 years these new requirements are sent to textbook publishers who incorporate...

During the last week of school~ I decided to try an experiment. Inspired by a documentary about John Hunter~ the fourth grade teacher who created the World Peace Game~ I began playing a simulation with my gifted fifth graders.

I called it Crisis~ the game.

The reason I called it Crisis was because I wanted my students to become problem solvers~ and what better place to solve problems but in the world.

The rules were simple:

1. 1. Solve whatever issues or problems...

Sometimes~ it feels like a no-win situation.

You position the students desks facing each other~ in cooperative learning style~ and their eyes are on each other~ instead of you.

You face the desks toward you~ and it may discourage discussion and create the feeling of being an institution.

I think teachers~ in general~ struggle with the best way to arrange the desks in their classroom.

That is~ until you learn about Desk Olympics.

The concept involves training...

Want to dip your toe into the "flipped classroom" water without a big investment or learning curve? A free online tool that records actions on one's computer is winning fans among educators. Screencast-O-Matic, which allows users to create narrated videos of the actions that appear on their computer screens, is being hailed by some as the next level of digital learning.