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About a year ago, I was part of a group, the Technology Leader’s Forum, who was challenged to stop talking about the stuff of 21^st century education, and to start describing what the learning looks like. Since then, I’ve discovered the TPaCk framework and its emphasis on the alignment of technology, pedagogy, and curriculum. This framework has been profound in changing my thinking, and provides a glimpse of what a 21^st century classroom should look like.  Now, I pay much closer attention to the false positives that technology in the classroom can produce. A classroom equipped with an interactive whiteboard is not suddenly a 21^st century learning space if students never demonstrate their learning with it. A teacher who uses laptops/netbooks hasn’t de facto differentiated his lesson plans. And a student wiki is not necessarily an example of an essential learning, although the content in it could be. 

 If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the rest of this post is superfluous.  Heritage High School Principal, Ken Mortiz sent this picture to me after returning from his trip to Sierra Leone, Africa.  His school started a project they call "MAD Week" about three years ago and raised money to build a school in Kabala, Sierra Leone.  MAD Week stands for "Making a Difference" and just looking at this picture, it is clear that the mission has been accomplished... and yet still goes on.  Several students made this trip in past years and brought back impassioned stories about the poverty and the courage of the people of Kabala.  This picture is on the steps of the school that kids built for other kids.

Don't ever believe you can't change the world. 

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Laptop projects are popping up everywhere and some even go away (see NYTimes article on school dropping laptop project).  Recently, a small Indiana school implemented a laptop rental program using HP Mini netbooks charging students $55/year to fund their initiative (see Indiana DOE press release). 

In Littleton, lots of kids have access to technology from iPods, to netbooks, to smart-phones and even laptops.  Indeed, our high schools all welcome student-owned technology and we provide filtered wifi services that our students can freely access at school.  Yet, after two years of wifi availability, I don't see digital technology squeezing out paper and pencil in the study halls and cafeterias I walk through to see kids doing their school-work.  A curious sophomore asked me what I was peering at as I scanned an area full of kids doing homework and when I told her, she remarked "oh, I bring my...

On October 30th, 2009, guests from the NSBA T+L conference visited East Elementary School. Lunch was provided by the NSBA as visitors came to hear our vision for technology, visit classrooms, hear from students and dialog with staff. But before going further, there are some factors that are important to note. For two days prior to this visit, we had one of those classic Colorado blizzards; 60 degrees on Tuesday, 14 inches of snow by Thursday morning, and the sun peeking out on Friday. Also, one might notice that 10-30-09 would be the last school day before Halloween which fell on a Saturday this year... meaning kids wanted to have some celebrations on this day.

The miraculous staff at East Elementary had dress up time and a parade in the morning, but by 11:00, they flew into action and transformed their school into readiness for important visitors. In a matter of minutes, you would not have guessed that it was the day before Halloween. The school was spotless and clean. The sheer volume of quality...