"I was speaking (tweeting) with Mark Barnes tonight, and he mentioned the idea of challenging existing forms and practices. And then someone tweeted the above image–a quote attributed to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, according to the image source globalnerdy.com–and I was happy and favorited and saved and blogged.
The most dangerous phrase in the language is “we’ve always done it this way.” Which applies to education, too."
How many times have you heard the phrase "We've always done it that way" but you are aware that the way it was done is not working? What if this year you choose to try new ways, such as project-based learning, or allowing students to help write rubrics. Take a few minutes as we enter this new year and decide what you might like to do differently. Make sure to collect the data, but be creative and push the envelope. Miracles may happen!