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I'll admit, I am a technology junkie.  In my opinion it is not very difficult to quickly become one as a result of the world that we live in.  The challenge for people like me is to develop a school culture that not only places an emphasis on academic rigor and excellence, but also one that promotes learner creativity and imagination.  I truly believe that students who are placed in...

Below is a message that I sent to my entire staff today prior to our holiday break.  The Holiday Season is a wonderful time of the year.  It is filled with gifts, family gatherings, festive celebrations, and most importantly scrumptious food.  I would just like to take this minute to wish each and everyone of you a break filled with joy, peace, and rest.  The next...

In my District I am part of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) with other administrators.  The focus of our PLC is the Classroom Walkthrough practice as a tool to improve student achievement.  During our professional day in October we decided to collect data on whether or not student-centered learning was taking place and present our finding to our respective staffs in January.  As...

The following is the second guest post from NMHS student Meredith McCann.  Meredith is a senior at NMHS and plans to pursue a career as a math teacher.I feel fortunate that the administration and staff of New Milford High School is made up of people who care for their students and are committed to education.  They are dedicated to our school, and they continue to look for ways to improve...

I have been engaged recently in numerous conversations regarding teacher effectiveness, motivation, peer mentoring, and pride in student achievement.  As many professional educators I can come up with a variety of strategies to employ with the ultimate goal of improving and building upon these areas.  This is not the point of my post however.  Shortly after one lengthy discussion...

Upon becoming Principal of New Milford High School in June of 2007 I made it one of my primary goals to work hard at sharing with my stakeholders all of the accomplishments centered around teaching and learning occurring on a routine basis.  As Principal I was aware of these things, but I was pretty sure that the majority of the educational community was not.  Combine this with the fact...

Last year I had the honor of sharing two guest posts written by New Milford High School Students.  I am excited to welcome senior Meredith McCann to A Principal's Reflections.  This is the first of two posts written by Meredith that I will be sharing.  Please leave comments as they will be shared with her.Decision-making is not always easy, especially when one decision will affect how...

After reading a great blog post this morning entitled "The Wisdom to Learn From Failure" I quickly began to reflect on how the majority of educational systems are set up in a way where failure, or even the thought of it, is unacceptable.  Early on in both my teaching and administrative careers I often found myself trying to avoid failure at all costs.  I now see it in the eyes of non-tenured...

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I was re-reading a recent post by George Couros (Is Change the True Barrier?) and began to reflect on some of the comments made directly on his site as well as those in the Twitter stream.  The following comment by David Jakes really got me thinking: "Perpetual never-ending conversation about change is the barrier."  As I looked more into the recent pleas for change in education I came across...

Large classrooms can make students feel anonymous, and as a result, many may feel less compelled to actively participate or pay attention during class. Whether it is in primary or secondary school, or in a college classroom, getting students to become engaged in the materials being presented can be a frustrating battle. This is especially true now that students can become distracted during class...

Cross-posted at The Educator's Royal Treatment.As I mentioned in a previous post I have been working on a educational technology presentation for principals in a NJ school district.  The title I chose was "Harnessing the Power of Educational Technology" as I firmly believe that the many free tools available at our fingertips possess the ability to enhance our effectiveness and efficiency as administrators....

This morning I attended a meeting with students that represent New Milford High School and my superintendent.  The purpose of the "Superintendent's Council" is to allow students to have a voice and empower them to make meaningful changes to the culture of the District.  During the meeting the students were asked what changes or initiatives they would like to see.  One freshman student...

Over the past couple of days I have been preparing a presentation for K-12 Principals entitled "Harnessing the Power of Educational Technology" (I'll share more about this at a later time).  I must say that I have been quite impressed with myself as I decided to create the entire full day presentation using Google Sites.  During what seemed to be countless hours of tweaking presentations,...

The following interview took place after Education Week's Leadership Forum "Unleashing Technology to Personalize Learning" on 10/5/10 in Washington D.C.  In order to increase access and use I am now utilizing Facebook with students and parents in my District.  There are so many people already using Facebook to interact with their friends and family. They’re always excited to find out that...

As a Principal, one of my most important responsibilities is the evaluation of instruction.  In general, the observation process is quite arbitrary.  The feedback a teacher receives really depends on the training a particular administrator has received, District vision, and what books or research have been read.  What I have tried to do is take a little bit of everything I have...

This week has been extremely gratifying in terms of the instructional practices I either witnessed firsthand or heard about.  Coincidentally they are all coming out of my History Department.  Here is a quick rundown:On Thursday, October 21, I observed Nicolette Perna’s American History 1 class where the lesson focused on the major patriots during the Revolutionary War.  After a few...

Check out this video for some great learning applications associated with Facebook.Do you know of other learning applications?  If so list them he...

As I write this post I am sitting in the Des Moines airport waiting for my flight back to the East Coast.  I was fortunate to spend the last few days here in Iowa as a guest of Scott McLeod who founded and runs the C.A.S.T.L.E. program at Iowa State University.  The purpose of my trip here was to learn about the deployment, facilitation, and observable impact of 1:1 laptop programs in various...

Facebook, the premiere social networking site, is used by hundreds of thousands of students all over the world. While the site has become somewhat of a nuance for most teachers—they distract from valuable study and class time—some schools are embracing the social media site with welcoming arms. Not only are some schools incorporating Facebook into their lesson plans, but they are also tutoring students...

On a crisp, sunny Saturday morning in October, approximately 400 passionate educators congregated at New Milford High School for the Tri-State Educational Technology Conference (TSETC).  The brainchild of Schoology and myself, we set out in mid-August to plan an unprecedented free conference that would provide educators of varying experience with practical strategies to successfully integrate...