9-30-2016

Thanks to the 6th grade team for bringing in a guest speaker from Scarce today.  This is always an informative presentation for the students.

Just a reminder that we have the Staff Learning Meeting on Wednesday.  An agenda will be forthcoming for Friday's Institute.

Thanks to Angela for going to teams and demonstrating the new Swivel recording device.  It will be great for student presentations, teacher self reflection or flipped classrooms.

Please consider giving your time or donation to the Fall Foundation's Festival on October 23.  See Megan's email for details.

Please join the Benjamin PTA for only $5.  I would like to get 100% participation for all the help they give our school.  Please see Ellen if you need a form.

Thanks to everyone for writing and re-writing your student growth goals.  Your attention to detail is appreciated.

This week I'm letting best selling author Daniel Pink do the heavy lifting for me.  Below he recommends many different blogs or newsletters for your reading/learning pleasure.  I have read many of them and they are worth your time.  (Brain Pickings has been where I have been getting many of my Blog articles lately.)  The easy thing to do would be to look at the list and then close the blog, Don't!  Promise that you will browse at least 4 or 5 of the blogs and read one article!

11 NEWSLETTERS WORTH YOUR TIME For my money, email newsletters remain the digital world’s single most efficient source of ideas, information, and insight. I subscribe to more than 40 of them — and once or twice a year I tweak the list, adding new entrants and removing those that no longer do the trick. Here, in alphabetical order, are 11 newsletters — a few of which I’ve recommended before — that these days I always read and always find valuable: Austin Kleon — Each week, writer and artist Kleon, who lives in the Texas city that bears his first name, sends 10 links about what he’s reading, watching, and thinking about. Barking Up the Wrong Tree — Eric Barker’s newsletter promises "science-based answers and expert insight on how to be awesome at life.” He delivers — every Sunday Brain Pickings — Maria Popova is the uber-curator of all things literary and scientific on the Internet. Her weekly e-zine helps me try to keep up with her. Farnam Street Brain Food — Another idea-driven newsletter that will make you think. Longform — A weekly roundup of the best in longform journalism. Matt Thomas New York Times Digest — Didn’t get a chance to read the Sunday New York Times? Fear not. Matt Thomas has done the work for you and highlighted the good stuff. Next Draft — I know I’ve recommended this before. I’m doing it again. Just subscribe, OK? Quartz Daily — Daily newsletters from established media outlets aren’t my favorite. But this one is different. Every day, it uncovers something that I hadn’t seen and want to know about. Ryan Holiday Reading Recommendation Newsletter — Ryan seems to read more books than any human being alive. Fortunately for us slow readers, he recaps the books is an amazingly rich newsletter. Seth Godin — Seth had been blogging every single day for many years. This daily dispatch delivers his posts, always smart and thoughtful, directly to your inbox. Washington Post’s Inspired Life — A weekly (but not treacly) roundup of stories of real people doing things that are kind, courageous, and often inspiring.