About Spiral Notebook and the Contributors
Sometimes inspiration isn't enough. When people see something great, they want the recipe: How do I implement this at my school? What does it take? Where do I go for help?
We've profiled hundreds of exemplary programs and smart practices on this Web site. We want these islands of excellence to become the norm for excellent schooling in the digital age. It's time to scale these programs up!
So, through our network of professional colleagues, we'll be using our cumulative experience and collective intelligence to post items -- innovative, creative, mostly practical, and sometimes unusual -- to get you started on your journey to improve your classroom, school, or school district.
Input from you, our readers, will help us provide the content most relevant to your interests and needs, so post your comments and questions. But, more importantly, because you are innovators in your own right, we expect that many of you have the answers we're missing. Join our network of problem solvers, throw in your two cents, and let's change the world.
Online Consulting Editor
Diane Demee-Benoit
Contributors
Suzie Boss, journalist
Suzie Boss writes about the power of teaching and learning to improve lives and transform communities. Coauthor of Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age, she draws inspiration and insight from educators who push the boundaries of the traditional classroom. Previously an editor and writer for the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, she was also the lead writer for Intel's Innovation Odyssey, a daily online feature about effective uses of classroom technology from around the globe. She serves on the board of Springboard Innovation, a nonprofit organization that teaches both youth and adults how to be effective social entrepreneurs and improve their own communities with innovative, sustainable solutions.
Anthony Cody, national-board-certified teacher and peer coach
Anthony Cody taught science and math for eighteen years at Bret Harte Middle School, in Oakland, California. Cody became one of Oakland's first national-board-certified teachers in 2000 and served as a coach for certification candidates. He developed a teacher-led science-curriculum project in Oakland and is helping lead Project POSIT, a partnership funded by the state Department of Education that is helping teachers in grades 4-8 improve their science instruction through teacher research. Cody is an active part of the movement to redefine the teaching profession in order to create greater avenues for teacher leadership, and was one of eighteen teachers who authored the influential TeacherSolutions report on performance pay for teachers.
Diane Demee-Benoit, Edutopia.org online consulting editor
Diane Demee-Benoit, with an academic background in ecosystem biology, approaches school change with the eye of a dedicated trend spotter, systems thinker, and social entrepreneur. She analyzes patterns and promising trends and fits the puzzle pieces together. Her eclectic social network includes thought leaders in school-to-career, educational technology, service learning, environmental education, and integrated studies, as well as leaders in fields outside of education. Demee-Benoit has more than twenty years in education program development and has been working at The George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF) since 1998.
Maurice Elias, psychologist
Maurice Elias, a professor in the Psychology Department at Rutgers University, focuses on development of positive, constructive life paths for children and youth and the organization of opportunities to allow this to happen in equitable ways. Elias is director of the Rutgers Social-Emotional Learning Lab and principal investigator for its Developing Safe and Civil Schools initiative. He is also academic director of Rutgers's Civic Engagement and Service Education Partnerships program, coordinator of the university's internship program in applied, school, and community psychology, president of the Society for Community Research and Action and the American Psychological Association's Division of Community Psychology, and a founding member of the Leadership Team for the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).
Stephen Hurley, classroom teacher and educational adventurer
Stephen Hurley has been involved in public education in Ontario, Canada, for almost twenty-five years. He has served as a teacher and a curriculum and information technology consultant, as well as an instructor in the preservice program at the University of Toronto, and has, most recently, returned to the classroom to begin arts@newman, an alternative, arts-based program for grades 7-8 designed to capture the imagination of students who often find themselves on the edge of school. Hurley believes our classrooms are destined to be transformed by turning them inside out, allowing our students' everyday cultures and literacies to play a larger role in how we think about schools and education. Hurley is also an advocate of developing closer links between university research communities, teacher-education programs, and field-based practice. The proud father of eleven-month-old Luke, Hurley lives with his wife, Zoe, outside of Toronto.
Ben Johnson, administrator
Ben Johnson is assistant superintendent of Natalia Independent School District, located in a small, rural community just south of San Antonio, Texas. He also teaches online for the University of Phoenix's teacher-preparation program. As a cohort consultant for the Texas Principal Excellence Program (TxPEP), Johnson helps principals of low-performing schools increase their personal leadership. He has served as an administrator in large and small schools, as principal at a charter school, and as an educational-program manager for the University of Texas at San Antonio. He has a master's degree in educational administration from California State University, San Bernardino.
Katie Klinger, educator
Katie Klinger, a recognized leader and mentor in educational technology, was the primary designer of the National University Virtual High School and lead faculty statewide for National University's educational-technology master's degree program. In her spare time, she designs math and science project-based programs that foster investigative, hands-on learning. Her INSPIRE (Innovative Stories and Project-Based Learning Inspires Relevant Education) seminars role-model effective teaching strategies to inspire young women to pursue opportunities in math or science. She was the lead investigator for a four-year, $1.27 million U.S. Department of Education grant through the Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) initiative to recruit more women professionals as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) educators, working closely with higher education and master teachers to design lessons that helped more than 14,000 educators enhance their STEM skills. She frequently partners on mini-grants with Imaginary Lines, headed by former NASA astronaut Sally Ride, to empower elementary school and middle school girls to explore the world of science. Klinger's passions are digital equity and access, leading to her involvement with Project Inkwell; in addition, she works year-round with teachers and students in both traditional and charter schools in Hawaii, California, and the Navajo Nation. She is honored to sit on the Steering Committee for the International Society for Technology in Education's Digital Equity Summit at NECC 2007, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Bob Lenz, founder and chief education officer, Envision Schools
Bob Lenz is chief education officer and cofounder of Envision Schools, where he and his educational-support team help school leaders and teachers create the culture, processes, systems, curriculum, and assessments that produce powerful teaching and learning, a community of learners, and results. Lenz has served public education as a teacher, a student-activities director, a school-reform leader, a consultant, and a principal. He earned a bachelor's degree from St. Mary's College, in Moraga, California, and a master's degree in education from San Francisco State University. He lives in San Rafael, California, with his wife, Cathy, and their children, Evelyn and Brendan.
Jim Moulton, education consultant
Jim Moulton, an independent K-12 educational consultant focused on technology integration and project-based learning, is in the inspiration business and the knowledge-transfer business. A former classroom teacher, Moulton supports schools in leveraging the technical network through effective integration of twenty-first-century tools and skills and the human network through purposeful project-based learning. He figures it is only when the two networks are focused that the best can be delivered for all members of any school community.
Mark Nichol, Web production editor, Edutopia.org,
and assistant managing editor, Edutopia
After a year and a half as a substitute teacher, Mark Nichol taught elementary school classes in a public school, as well as children's summer science workshops, from 1989 to 1991. Though he left teaching long ago, Mark has followed education closely since then, especially during his three years at Edutopia, and he is glad to have this forum to share his experiences in and ideas about teaching and learning.
Chris O'Neal, technology-leadership consultant
Chris O'Neal, a former elementary school and middle school teacher, instructional supervisor, and district technology coordinator, is a seeker and gatherer of educational entrepreneurs. O'Neal served as the state director of technology in Louisiana before moving to the University of Virginia. He has met many brilliant people along the way and has maintained a close-knit network while working to strengthen the bonds that keep educators moving forward. During his spare time, he teaches classes on technology integration and project-based learning and works with numerous entities around the country and the world in educational leadership.
