School writing: Assignments by teachers who don’t want to read them, to students who don’t want to write them; a perpetual and unnecessary misery upon which hinges the student’s future, and the teacher’s present, livelihood.

Thanks to Jeff Utecht and the students in my activity block for this little demonstration of what real learning can look like now. Jeff’s in Shanghai. I’m in Seoul. We’re both in Twitter and Skype, though, so distance doesn’t matter.  This kind of international travel is free. And no airport waiting. Read the tweets, then [...]

I don’t want to analyze this stuff, when I can just link to it. I’ve blogged recently about the blog of Eeho, a student at my school with whom I’ve never spoken, and never had in a class. But I read him, and comment, and he comments back, and it’s real fun. It’s real, period. [...]

Just for fun: we’re at the wedding beautician, about to have our photos taken. I’ve never been into blow-dryers and make-up, and frankly feel like Liberace. The sound on the Flixn embed is bad, but I just loved my fiancee’s reaction when I answered her question, “Who is this video for?” [Update: here's a second, [...]

[Update: Correction about Chris: He's one of the few teachers that didn't need Skype training because he was already savvy that way.  He's also produced some of the best laptop learning in the biology class he teaches. I hate when I under-credit people by accident!] I’m taking a personal day today for wedding photos. I [...]

Just a quick bit of strategic advice if you want to pull or push your school into classroom blogging: become the English department chair. Failing that, bribe the existing one to adopt blogs as part of the writing component of the department. I’m the English department chair for our high school this year. Next year, [...]

By Bill Farren on video I’ve invited Bill Farren, who teaches at an international school in the Dominican Republic, and with whom I’ve become acquainted in our Project Global Cooling project planning Ning, to guest blog on Beyond School once a week for as many weeks, really, as he desires. My hope is to help [...]

I’m about to go out to a Friday night teacher social, but feel compelled to share this dialog I’m having in a comment thread on a new student blog at my school. I don’t know this student – don’t even know the gender – but he/she is in an English classroom on my floor, taught [...]

Another Excused Absence: I’m still planning with , who will divorce me before we get to the altar for posting this picture. The ceremony will be on March 8. (Jeff Whipple says I should Ustream it. Since my parents, family, and friends can’t fly out to Korea to be there, I’m actually considering it. How [...]

Silly Twitter Sonnet I tweeted to my twitterverse last week From high up on a twig on my lone tree. From that frail height I sang of what I seek: A future free of grinding schooletry. I sang of learning far beyond the walls of bricked-in class, and space, and time, and age; and students [...]