Nocking the Arrow

" I believe that all roads lead to the same place - and that is wherever all roads lead to." - Willie Nelson Is today Saturday or Sunday? I woke up this morning at my usual time of five o’clock. Checking my look in the mirror, apparently, a clowder of feral cats used my face as a scratching post sometime in the middle of the night. When did I become old and worn? I felt light-headed and broke out in a cold sweat. Thinking about the previous few days of travel, my fear was, even after all of my precautions, I had contracted COVID-19. This was too much to deal with at this early hour. Clearly, I was overreacting. I flopped back in bed and let the ceiling fan cool my thoughts and my skin. I couldn’t sleep as my mind was reviewing the thirty-six hundred miles traveled over the past three days. If you are an over-the-road truck driver of someone who travels for a living, I have a deeper appreciation for what you do. My step-son, Billy, a junior at Arizona State University, needed

"Formative assessment  encompasses all those activities undertaken by teachers, and/or by their students, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged."  -  Dylan William Last week, my old pickup truck started acting funny - loping, inconsistent idle, delayed erratic transmission shifts. Through years of experience, I know how most repair shops work, and I'm not in favor of spending money diagnosing an issue I can research myself.  It took roughly twenty minutes with Google and YouTube for me to pinpoint the problem. Luckily, I didn't need a new transmission, but I didn't have space or tools to do the repair myself. Several online forums and auto repair sites told me what I likely needed was an input speed sensor replaced on the transmission; a thirty dollar part, cool! I called a local repair shop, booked an appointment, and limped my truck to the shop. It's incredible how

" Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world. " - Robert McKee It's that wonderful time of year. It's time for us to submit our content for the handful of conference sessions we'll be facilitating during the coming year. I'm fortunate enough to have been able to attend more than one hundred conferences through the years, I present at nearly all those I visit. I used to have an aversion to public speaking, that's long gone. My preparations and presentation strategies have evolved. Unfortunately, many of the so-called innovative #edtech sessions I've attended recently are still mired in the sit-n-git style of the previous century. We can do better, and if we aspire to make our classrooms places of great learning, then we must do better. ** Caution, this post is likely to contain some snarky sarcasm, but for the most part, my purpose is to share some observations and some research-based practices to help you win your con