Learning on the Blog: Collected Posts for Educators and Parents

Best-selling author Will Richardson's Learning on the Blog is a compilation of posts by the author on his acclaimed education blog weblogg-ed.com. Each blog specifically relates to trends and goals of the kinds of educational reform that can be accomplished through new technologies. The author reflects on the developments in how technology is used in the classroom, highlighting what we've accomplished and how far we have to go. Each selection includes actions steps for educators on how to address critical issues and provides tips and strategies to effectively integrate technology in the classroom. A parent of two middle-school-aged children, Will Richardson has been writing about the intersection of social online learning networks and education for the past 10 years at Weblogg-ed.com and in numerous journals and magazines such as Ed Leadership, Education Week, and English Journal. Recently, he shifted his blogging emphasis to willrichardson.com. Formerly a public school educator for 22 years, he is a co-founder of Powerful Learning Practice (plpnetwork.com), a unique professional development program that has mentored over 3,000 teachers worldwide in the last three years. His first book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (Corwin, 3rd Edition 2010) has sold over 80,000 copies and has impacted classroom practice around the world. His second book, Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education, was released in May, 2011. His articles have appeared in Educational Leadership, EdWeek, English Journal, Edutopia, and Principal Leadership, among others, and over the past six years, he has spoken to tens of thousands of educators in more than a dozen countries about the merits of learning networks for personal and professional growth. He is a national advisory board member of the George Lucas Education Foundation and a regular columnist for District Administration Magazine. Will lives in rural New Jersey with his wife, Wendy, and his children Tess and Tucker. About the Author Introduction: Invitation to Participate in the Dialogue Part I. Teachers as Master Learners On My Mind: Teachers as Master Learners Personalizing Education for Teachers, Too Urgent: 21st Century Skills for Educators (and Others) First Why Is It So Hard for Educators to Focus on Their Own Learning? Teaching Ourselves Right Out of a Job The Next Generation of Teachers Teachers as Learners Part 27 Unlearning Teaching "What Did You Create Today?" Get. Off. Paper. Opportunity, Not Threat Response to Jay Matthews at the Washington Post Part II. Learning is Anytime, Anywhere, Anyone I Don't Need Your Network (or Your Computer, or Your Tech Plan, or Your . . .) What do We Know About Our Kids' Futures? Really. Aggregator as Textbook The Steep "Unlearning Curve What I Hate About Twitter It's the Empowerment, Stupid So What Is the Future of Schools? The End of Books? (For Me, at Least?) No, Actually, You're Out of Balance Making Kids "Googleable" "I Never Knew I Could Have a Network" Part III. The Learner as Network The Learner as Network Social Learning "The Less You Share, the Less Power You Have" "School as Node" Part IV. Learning and Leadership Don't, Don't, Don't vs. Do, Do Transparency = Leadership Yeah, You've Got Problems. So Solve Them. "Willing to Be Disturbed" "Tinkering Toward Utopia" "What Do We Do About That?" Who's Asking? Part V. Parent as Partner It's the Parents' Fault. Not. Dear Kids, You Don't Have to Go to College "So Why Do You Only Give Your Kids 45 Minutes a Day on the Computer? A Parent 2.0's Back to School Dilemma A Summer Rant: What?s Up With Parents? Owning the Teaching . . . and the Learning The Ultimate Disruption for Schools Part VI. The Bigger Shifts . . . Deal with It The Bigger Shifts . . . Deal With It Failing Our Kids Why Blogging Is Hard . . . Still The Wrong Conversations Index