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few subjects inspire more intellectual dishonesty and political puffery than "school reform." Since the 1960s, waves of "reform" haven't produced meaningful achievement gains.

no one has yet discovered transformative changes in curriculum or pedagogy, especially for inner-city schools, that are (in business lingo) "scalable" -- easily transferable to other schools, where they would predictably produce achievement gains.

The larger cause of failure is almost unmentionable: shrunken student motivation. Students, after all, have to do the work. If they aren't motivated, even capable teachers may fail.

The key for me is that I want this device to be a valuable tool in collecting data, staying in touch with my administrative team, unrestricted real-time access to my PLN, and as a form of motivation for my teachers to take more risks with technology to engage students in the learning process. 

"It's always been the case that whatever young people are doing now and whatever is the fashion now, there will be crusty and unfortunately ignorant people who think that somehow it has less weight, less heft, less intellectual respectability, less connection with our cultural identity, less seriousness," he said. "It's nearly always nonsense."

the government has set standards high for elementary and high school teachers, ensuring that only the very best candidates ever reach the classroom.

"Finland has one of the most competitive teacher-education systems in the world, and the teacher training program is more difficult to get into than the schools of law or medicine," Sahlberg said. "Many young people in Finland go on to study law because they cannot get into the primary school education program."

We want to put our money not into administration, but into supporting those people who need it."

What students are really motivated by are opportunities to be social — to interact around challenging concepts in powerful conversations with their peers. They are motivated by issues connected to fairness and justice. They are motivated by the important people in their lives, by the opportunity to wrestle with the big ideas rolling around in their minds, and by the often-troubling changes they see happening in the world around them. Technology’s role in today’s classroom, then, isn’t to motivate. It’s to give students opportunities to efficiently and effectively participate in motivating activities built around the individuals and ideas that matter to them.

Basically what I’m arguing is that finding ways to motivate students in our classrooms shouldn’t start with conversations about technology. Instead, it should start with conversations about our kids. What are they deeply moved by? What are they most interested in? What would surprise them? Challenge them? Leave them wondering? Once you have the answers to these questions — only after you have the answers to these questions — are you ready to make choices about the kinds of digital tools that are worth embracing.

So, how do you "write" the "right" proposal? Here are 10 tips and suggestions to help you with the writing part of the proposal process:

Transmedia storytelling is about telling a story in different forms, across different media. The prefix "trans" means across, and "media" refers to tools (or forms of communication) one can use to convey information, so trans-media storytelling involves telling a story that unfolds across various forms.Different media let you tell stories in different ways. A comic book can have spectacular action effects that would be expensive to make on a TV show but are easy to draw. A written story might have more time to devote to a character's personal history than a 30 or 60 minute television show. Websites can allow fans to learn about characters they love while easily skipping information about characters they find less interesting. Other media include songs, paintings, novels, commercials, newspapers, and blogs.

As teachers and students become PRODUCERS of content on their blogs it is becoming essential that we model good behavior when it comes to Copyright issues.