Summer: It’s Not Just for Reading
This past school year, I participated in a new summer reading initiative at the high school where I teach. Our past approach assigned specific books to students by grade then tested students when they returned to school in September. This did nothing to promote close reading, reading for pleasure, or student achievement. This year, we’re going to try the “One School, One Community” reading initiative; information about our decision and how we’re going to proceed can be found in this student produced video. After spending a significant amount of time discussing the benefits of this approach with students and faculty, I got to thinking about how schools focus on summer reading but rarely do much to prevent that “summer slide” in math. A good...
Young Entrepreneur Series: Wear Your Beer
The second post in our Young Entrepreneur Series looks at a common online business concept: t-shirts. In today’s guest post, Roy Laniado shares how he took an idea through the struggles of a startup to a successful company named Wear Your Beer. The Story of Wear Your Beer Ever since I was a young kid working at my father’s beach supply store, I knew I wanted to one day run my own business. I began working at the store when I was 14, and by the time I was 18, I had worked there for five straight summers and learned a lot about what goes on behind-the-scenes of a small business operation. After graduating high school I entered college as an entrepreneurship major, determined to equip myself with the knowledge and skills necessary to run my own business. As...
Teach & Travel in Latin America – I did!
Many of my readers may know that I spent a good part of my vacation time over the past decade traveling to various countries to teach English and in one instance, basic computer skills. I chose to do this not to earn additional income; in fact, I paid my own way and volunteered in the schools where I taught, wrote curriculum, and mentored new teachers. However, after people hear stories of my experiences, they often ask if it’s possible to get paid to teach in developing countries so they can travel and see a bit of the world. The answer is yes, you can! The two countries I visited the most were Haiti and Ecuador. While it’s very difficult to obtain a paid teaching position in Haiti simply because the country is so poor – the only options are...
Young Entreprenuer Series: Metroseeker
Ysmay Gray’s post about Pinterest last month received so much positive feedback (even on Pinterest) that I’ve invited her back to VoxpopNJ. This month, she discusses the process she went through before founding Metroseeker, and online resource for people moving to a new city. I teach eCommerce this time of year, and her post arrived just as my students are exploring ideas for their own ventures. I shared Ysmay’s words with them this morning; now my readers can learn not just what Ysmay went through but how they too can find a unmet need and turn it into an opportunity! A New Website Service is Born Throughout my life I have had the pleasure to live in a number of places from New York to New Mexico; California to Texas. Like many people in...
Textbooks are So 21st Century! (Infographic)
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, over 49.8 million students will attend public elementary and secondary schools and a record 21.6 million students are expected to attend American colleges and universities this fall. As the mother of two kids in college, one a product design major and the other starting out in music tech, I’ve learned that it’s no longer the cost of textbooks that put fear in the eyes and checkbooks of parents and students around the country. My daughter’s university issued all of the product design students an iPad this year and that means app purchases. While my generation used to take the train into New York to buy and sell our textbooks at the only Barnes and Nobel location at the time, 21st...
Interview: Jennifer Lambein
Many people see very little value in LinkedIn beyond the ability to post your resume and recommendations. When looking for a job or freelance work, it can be one of many resources people use, but I’ve met few people who find value in the networking aspect of LinkedIn. I belong to a number of groups on LinkedIn and receive daily summaries of activity on and posts to those groups. Probably once or twice a week I click on a link in the Animation Educators group or the Women in Digital Media group. However, I always read through the daily digest from the Blog Zone group and find at least one useful link. I don’t always comment, and sometimes once I arrive at the link, it’s not as useful as I expected, but more often than not, I learn...
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