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Rescuing The Reporters Last week I gave a talk on newspapers at the Shorenstein center. (They did an amazing job with the transcript, including annotating the talk with a remarkable amount of linking.) During the talk, I ran through various strategies for funding local reporting, including an idea I first saw articulated by Steve Coll that reporters should become employees of non-profit entities. After the talk, I decided to do a “news biopsy,” as a way of thinking about Coll’s idea. I wanted to see how much newspaper content was what Alex Jones calls the iron core of news — reporters going after facts — and how much was “other stuff” — opinion columns, sports, astrology, weather, comics, everything that was neither a hard news story or an ad.

Look at the front of the classroom from the students' perspective. What do they see? In schools where it is feasible, they see a tech rich experience for the teacher: a computing device, an IWB, a projection device pointing at the front. Perhaps we see a teacher with an iPad, an iPod, or a doc camera. Regardless, we see a very tech rich experience for the teacher - a teacher-centered technology environment. Now flip it. What do educators see when looking at students? Paper. Pencils. Print texts. Notebooks. Pens. What an absolute disconnect!

I'd rather see teachers improving their ability to create contexts for powerful discussion, engage students with diverse approaches, facilitate project-based learning, etc. I'd rather see teachers open the doors to the kids getting their hands dirty with technology. I'd rather see teachers focusing on transformative aspects of the classroom than minor upgrades.

In fact, I'm not sure when it comes to EdTech, you need all this technology to teach better. Where its purpose is strongest is in the hands of students as they create their path and connections. It isn't when they watch from the seats this high-tech, fun flashy devices and hardware

“Who could have known that, unless someone taught them?”

Some writing experts caution that championing expository and analytic writing at the expense of creative expression is shortsighted.

formulaic instruction

teaching the basics of analytic writing, every day, in virtually every class.

a coherent, well-turned paragraph

the essay questions were just too difficult. Many would simply write a sentence or two and shut the test booklet.