EdReach Show

The EdReach contributors hash through the Facebook teacher firing fiasco, brought to you by the great state of Georgia! We also wade through Indiana’s controversial idea about hiring superintendents and educational leaders who have no formal education background. Are there appropriate times where hiring outside of the “Ed” pool can work? Blog Watch: We focus on Kristina Dell’s thoughtful and brilliant post in the Daily Beast on the negative effects from the trend to hold your student back from entering kindergarten. If everyone does it- where’s the advantage? Finally we end on Twitter talk and hand out some of our favorite educators to follow, such as @karlfisch, @riptidef, @larryferlazzo, and @kernkelley . Of course, we explain all of our reasons for doing so. Last, but not least our the On the Radar tools, like Curatr and the Google Art Project! Check them out, and enjoy the show!

In this week’s EdReach Extra, we have a litte fun with “The EdReach Moment of Validation, as Alfie Kohn echoes our words from last week’s podcast, only with real data and much better articulation.

For Educators this week, the news really was EduCon, EduCon, and EduCon. What is EduCon, you ask? Well if you are a new teacher, or a veteran teacher looking for a different kind of education conference, Mr. Jon Orech came by this week to explain the many benefits of one of education’s most progressive conferences, which took place in Philadelphia last weekend. It’s all about ideas. What we gain from hearing about the EduCon conference, is Jon’s enthusiasm for the ideas that were shared there. While many folks go to conferences looking for tools, tools, tools, Jon emphasizes that EduCon is all about ideas. That’s a radically different focus from many, more mainstream education conferences. Does EduCon have a PR problem? One of the topics we cover with Jon is the fact that EduCon is not really talked about much in the MSM outlets. Jon offers his insights as to why that may be, plus names drops some of the best educators to follow on Twitter. We explore Liz B. Davis’ post about the let down educators feel about why things aren’t changing fast enough. This discussion also helps us frame whether EduCon can be used as a catalyst for change, as asked by Jon Becker. I think the answer is surprising, but truthful. Enjoy the thoughts, and thanks for all the great #educon reflections that were shared on Twitter.

This week’s EdReach Extra question: Is gaming important in Education?

This week’s show has us wondering what our real Sputnik moment is. We go over President Obama’s State of the Union speech, dive into the bits and pieces of Race to the Top, and decide whether test taking helps learning. Also, the vitriol that was seen on Twitter during the SOTU has us questioning Twitter’s use as a constructive place to host controversial conversations. Finally, eat up some nice new tools from the Chrome Web Store!