I was working in a school where a teacher, who is technically savvy and making great use of digital tools in her classroom, openly challenged the idea that blogging is something to be encouraged for teachers and students. She voiced a concern that there is just so much stuff out there already, and all these blogs are just too much.

I am writing this at the end of the annual conference of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), in New Orleans, where 10,000 attendees chose from over 400 sessions. But the big news, as far as I am concerned, is that social and emotional learning (SEL) is alive and well, represented by presentations from all over the United States and internationally.

This is the second part of a two-part entry. Read part one.

If we evaluated how much time a student is actually engaged in learning activities in each of our classrooms, what percentage would that be? Is it 100 percent? Is it 50 percent? Or is it only 25 percent? If we want students to really learn, we, as educators, have to plan for, facilitate, and vigilantly protect the increasingly precious and extremely important engaged student learning time.

I met an interesting guidance counselor in a rural K-8 school the other day. I was at the school to advocate for the effective use of technology to support teaching and learning across the curriculum, and I was sharing with her my feeling that guidance folks need to be connected to the technology-driven realities of the kids in their schools.