“We didn’t ban calculators. We taught math differently. We didn’t ban the internet. We taught research differently. So why are we trying to ban AI instead of doing the same?” We’ve been here before. I was a young teacher when the internet showed up in classrooms in the 90s. Educators panicked. Teachers worried it would make students lazy, that it would only be used for cheating, and that memorizing facts and dates would go out the window. They were right. Sort of. The internet did change things. But it didn’t destroy learning. It made us rethink what was worth teaching and how we wanted to spend instructional time. It pushed us away from memorizing trivia and toward analyzing, questioning, creating, and connecting. The same thing happened with calculators decades before. There was real fear that students would lose the ability to compute. But what actually happened was that students stopped getting stuck in multi-digit calculations and started spending more time doing real math. They m...
“Beyond Slogans: Our Commitment to EVERY Student’s Achievement” or “One Team, One Dream: And a Whole Lot of Coffee” “Education is not just an opportunity; it is a fundamental right that demands our unwavering commitment to every child’s success.” So, I have a plan with over 200 topics mapped out for blog posts, but sometimes I see something or think of something that I need to write about immediately. That was my experience this afternoon… I walked past this school district vehicle from a rural district in California. “Whatever it takes…our kids are worth it,” embodies a powerful commitment to student success. This mindset is essential in education, where the stakes are incredibly high. To honor this commitment, we must recognize that achieving proficiency in literacy and numeracy is not just a lofty goal but a fundamental RIGHT for every student. Education must be held to the highest standards, much like any critical profession. Just as we expect a surgeon to h...