Grant Kashatok faces challenges that most other principals can’t even fathom. He acts as landlord for the housing where his staff of eight teachers live, manages his community’s limited supply of fuel and water, and ensures balanced nutrition for school meals when fresh food is delivered only once a month. Oh, and he’s also deeply [...]

So often, we hear that students need to learn “critical thinking.” After watching “Waiting for Superman” and hearing the unrelenting chorus of support for that movie, I’d say many adults need to improve their own critical thinking skills. Filmmakers, even those who call themselves documentarians, muster the facts they need to support their point of [...]

I’ve always had kind of a split personality at the start of the school year. There was the little girl who looked forward to donning a new outfit, strapping on a new pair of shoes, and rushing off to meet my new teacher. But there was also the worrier Joan, the one who was in [...]

I just finished an hour-long webinar (Kappan Conversations: Beyond the Printed Page) with Steve Wolk about his article in the April Kappan, “What Should Students Read?” In this exceptional article, Steve challenges schools and teachers to get out of the rut of teaching the same books year after year. By broadening the literature that students [...]

Kappan is close to announcing a set of themes for the 2010-11 publishing year. Here’s one that’s ready to share now. Please spread the word to your colleagues. This will take you to a PDF that you can send to colleagues: www.pdkintl.org/kappan/docs/KappanCall_0310.pdf Theme: Digital kids, innovation, and stone-age schools Deadline for submissions: June 15, 2010 [...]

I rattled around the country quite a bit growing up — 18 moves and 10 schools in my first 18 years. And, no, neither of my parents was in the military! At a young age, I learned that different schools had different expectations for kids and different ways to teach those kids. I started learning [...]

I’ll be spending part of my weekend with the deans of the leading schools of education. They’ve formed a group called the Deans’ Alliance and meet several times a year to share concerns about teaching, learning, and research. With their cooperation, Kappan launched a new column this year titled R&D. Each month’s issue of Kappan [...]

I thought I’d take advantage of the blog to get out the word about a Call for Manuscripts that we’ve posted. Kappan editors will review a wide range of manuscripts related to each of the following topics. The questions listed are intended to be guides for writers and are not intended to be an exhaustive [...]

If you care about truthful and accurate reporting about education, then consider this tale about the authorship and content of a new report on charter management organizations. The story begins with Education Sector co-founder Tom Toch (now Kappan’s Washington View columnist) and his extensive research on charter management organizations (CMOs) and their ability to thrive [...]

If you’re not a runner, you may not be aware of the debate about whether you can be a “real” marathoner if you take six or more hours to run 26.2 miles. The most recent backing-and-forthing began with a snarky comment from a marathoner in the Oct 22 issue of The New York Times. “It’s [...]