Is Your School Ready for the Apple Watch?

by | Dec 24, 2014 | Andy's Deep Thoughts

Do you remember the days when monitoring student technology was as easy as making sure their calculators were put away…oh the days of TI-85 tetris.  That calculator’s around here someplace just begging for a reboot. Today, it’s becoming almost impossible to monitor what kind of technology students bring to school.  We have a “no phone during the school day” policy at my school, but only the naive can really believe it works. The battle for monitoring student technology is about to get a lot harder as Apple’s new Watch goes on sale later this year.  It’s been somewhat reasonable to asks students to keep their phones in their locker or bag, but an Apple Watch will be a whole new level of difficultly. So is it worth it?  Is it time to stop monitoring student technology?  What are you going to...
Why the Best Schools are Party Schools!

Why the Best Schools are Party Schools!

by | Dec 20, 2014 | Blog

I’ll never forget my first experience working at a parent-teacher conference as a young 22-year-old public school teacher in Minnesota.  It wasn’t the conversations with parents or students that I remember but one seemingly simple event in the evening…dinner.  At this school there was a break for 45 minutes for teachers to eat dinner together in the cafeteria.  What a nice idea, right? At this particular school we had class all day, and then conferences started immediately after school and end at 9:00 pm–for two days in a row.  For the average teacher this was two 14-hour days in a row.  So a little time to break bread with colleagues could be a nice treat.  In fact, the administrators were even serving the teachers, which was a nice touch. When I arrived at the cafeteria a cue had already begun to wrap around and zig-zag through the folding lunch room tables.  Teachers either stood silently saving their energy for another 3-hours of conferences or were busy debriefing on this-or-that parent.  Tonight’s meal coordinated by the school was take out from a local pizza chain. It wasn’t until I reached the table where the administrators were serving the pizza that I noticed what was really going on.  Yes, there was pizza, and yes it was being served by administrators, but at a price…$5 for two slices.  Truthfully, it might as well been $100 or $1 for that matter.  It didn’t matter what they charged, the fact that the school was charging teachers for the pizza was what really stung.  After all, the teachers were working extra long hours, away from family in order to be there. I mention...

Are you raising an evil genius?

by | Dec 1, 2014 | Andy's Deep Thoughts

My daughter Hattie loves the outdoors, in fact if it was up to her she’d spend every waking moment outside (good thing we live in Honolulu).  This became even more apparent last year after she began to unlock the deadbolt of our front door to make a mad dash to the courtyard of our apartment building.  So like any responsible parent we added an extra lock at the top of the door about 6-and-half-feet high; clearly out of her reach..or so we thought. Yesterday, as we were eating lunch, we watched Hattie’s insistence on going outside shift from words to actions.  At first she attempted her escape with the help of a small step stool from the bathroom. But she came up short by about 3 feet. Then she grabbed her empty backpack. Still need about another 2 feet 11 inches to cover. Of course, like all good parents, Lisa and I continued to eat lunch while mocking Hattie’s attempts with our smirks and eye rolls.  Not to be deterred, and somehow without us noticing (you know that kind of moment when you’ve somehow blocked out what your kid is doing, like eating a stick of butter while you’re making cookies), Hattie climbed onto the nearby table and with a final stretch managed to unlock and open the door. So what do you do next as a parent, educator, and all-around encourager-of-resourcefulness? We clapped! We gave Hattie the applause she deserved for accomplishing more than we thought was possible. Watching Hattie makes me think, “Do I really know what she’s capable of doing?”  If you’re a parent you should...