Blog Posts

What a great day at TCEA in Austin, Texas. I learned so much my first day at my very first large conference and exposition. Today I met with education technology companies to learn about new trends and what's on the horizon for key players in K12. I had great conversations with representatives from DimensionU, Empowering Writers, ePals, SureScore, MindPlay, AMX, HP, Adobe and others. I loved hearing that the district where I taught last year is adopting SureScore to improve college readiness and also now uses MindPlay with struggling readers and English language learners.

Elliot: Are you ready for the storm of protest that will rain upon us when we critique the un-revolutionary Apple announcement about textbooks?

Cathie: We were called iPad haters (even though we each have one and we develop apps for it), now we will be called iBook haters. Elliot, this is not a good reputation to have.

Elliot: But we are not haters! The Age of Mobilism empowers the world's youth as never before.

Cathie: Flowery, very flowery. But, let's talk about the iBook; bring it on.

If I had a dollar for every press release I received from an education advocacy organization expressing angst over the delay in reauthorizing the Elementary Secondary Education Act—known to most as No Child Left Behind (NCLB)—I could most definitely buy the new iPhone 4s I’ve been stalling on.

Educators have cried for years to fix the broken federal mandate signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002. Their criticisms of the law’s emphasis on standardized testing, unfunded mandates, and harsh sanctions are legitimate and universal.

Cathie: I am not sure you noticed...

Elliot: Oh, I am sure I didn't ... but I'll bet you are about to tell me what it is that I missed!

Cathie: On the Myers-Briggs you are off the scale "intuitive..."

Elliot: ... and you are off the scale "sensor" and that's why we work well together... that is, if you don't clobber me first!

Cathie: ... as I was saying... have you noticed that we are zero for two with respect to the getting our letters published in the New York Times.