Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

The college president announced no vacations will be approved for mid-August through mid-September next year. Some folks are upset, I’m wondering who was taking vacations then anyways.

When IT problems affect school leaders, they get solved. If those problems remain for students and teachers, then it’s time to run.

I work in education and have since 1988. I’m used to leaders freaking out when their data demonstrates they were wrong.

Leaders: We would like you to do x.

Teachers: That makes it impossible to do y, which is what you told us to do last month.

Leaders: No, keep doing y, but just do x too.

This, my friends, is how schools work.

If you became a teacher because you like answers, you are missing the point of education.

As a writer, I know my audience… or at least the one individual whom I have in mind who really needs to read my work.

We used to depend on an editor “giving permission” for us to read text by approving publication. Now, anyone can publish. Is it better?

I’m always amazed at the number of educators who are not bothered by advertisements on YouTube video used in classrooms.

Without artificial light, many books would go unread.

“Can someone come to my classroom immediately, my computer monitor is broken.”

Tech walks in and turns it on.

That, my friends, is why IT looses patience on occasion.

So many great conspiracies theories are ruined by skeptics.

I’m trying to find a way to say “personal incredulity isn’t evidence” in a way that does not seem condescending.

“Do you want to chair the committee?”
No.
"Do you want to serve on it?"
No.
Yup, I'm that old.

Question everything. But realize there are consequences: Others don’t like it and you may not like the answers.

Superfluous words in email. Please stop.

When I hear teachers talk about “knowledge acquisition,” something just sounds wrong.

I really question leaders who have ample evidence something is broken, but carry on with the toxic positivity.

Note to educators: if you have a “thing” you do that you love (critical inquiry, exit tickets, think-pair-share, etc.) there are some students who react “not this again.” They may not express it, but they feel it, and they don’t (cognitively) engage with it.

When news of Abraham Lincoln’s death arrived in some areas by telegraph, it was thought a hoax because of how the news arrived. Have things changed?

I’m often asked by faculty who are leaving to “nuke” their online classrooms to prevent others from using their materials.