In The New York Daily News Rob Saldin and I rise to the defense of the filibuster. Punchline: It's not the problem, our broken political culture is....

I'm going to hazard a guess that most of the coverage of this new teacher survey from Scholastic and Gates is being written from secondhand accounts or press releases. The actual survey is robust (it's enormous) and a lot more complicated than the first day stories are letting on. Lots of interesting implications for today's debates [...]...

Cheryl L. Sattler turns in a smart and important piece on IASA and NCLB history and the federal role in K-12....

Award winning author, Don Tapscott, and award winning global collaborators Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis (co founders of theFlat ClassroomTM Project) are excited to announce the 2010 NetGenEd Project, another global collaboration to envision the future of education and social action by inspiring today's students to study leading technology trends and create their vision for the future. Following the success of the recent Flat Classroom Workshop and Mini-Conference held last week in Mumbai as part of theASB Unplugged Conference, Flat Classroom™ are excited to announce the launch of the Net Generation Education Project.This includes more than 300 students from 6 countries and 15 classrooms. In this project, students will study and "mash up" the results of the 2010 Horizon Report from the New Media Consortium andEducause and Tapscott's book Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World. Students will study the current research and create wiki-reports with their student partners around the world analyzing current trends and projecting future happenings based upon this collaborative analysis. This project is managed by the students who assume roles such as project manager, assistant project manager, and editors of the various wikis. After compiling their wiki reports based upon current research, and encouraged by "expert advisors" (subject matter experts in the industry), students will then create a video in one of two strands. Video strand I competition will be the NetGenEd Challenge where students are asked to envision the future of education based upon current global technological trends. Video Strand II Competition is the Macrowikinomics Challenge where students envision the future of global social action based upon their research in current global technological trends. "We are particularly excited about this year's project because we're not only asking students to envision the future of learning ...

I just returned from ASB Unplugged, a 1:1 school laptop conference hosted by the American School of Bombay in Mumbai, India. If you can imagine nearly 300 educators from international schools all across the world - all talking about technology integration and implementation, effective instruction, and empowering leadership within the......

Five Twitter job search tips from the authors of The Twitter Job Search Guide. Learn where to find 50,000 job postings you might not find on those SimplyHotMonsterBuilder sites. Direct Download...

If you want to change an organization, you start by changing the patterns in which people talk together, the things they talk about, the frequency of their contact and the makeup of those who overhear them." --Art Kleiner, Who Really Matters I would add: Start doing those things before you need acceptance for a new initiative. Change Chips Are Earned Up Front Most change models start at the point where someone shares a new vision or plan, then asks for enthusiastic support. But we're all poker players (whether we know it or not). We spend time unconsciously earning or collecting chips based on the frequency and quality of our interactions. When it comes time to ask for something, that stack of chips can mean a make-it-or-break-it hand. It looks like this: So What Does This Mean? If we're in a position to initiate something new or different, the time we've invested building solid relationships can determine our ability to gain support and moment. The leader who spends time playing corporate video poker may revel in his individual genius--but lacks the relational chips needed to convert that genius into action. What are you doing today to build the stack necessary for a successful change? Are you "starting change before it starts?"...

In order to provide readers with content they want, and to keep our finger on the pulse of everything work-related, Jobacle.com proudly presents our monthly survey series. Results are 100% anonymous and your personal information will NEVER be revealed. One participant each month (if you choose to share your e-mail address) will be selected to win a neat prize. View Survey View Survey...

We say we want a mentor, a coach, a trusted advisor. We want to grow and become more effective. We ask for help. For "feedback." This is what you need to make it a success: The patience to listen, the humility to hear, and the courage to act. Do you have all three?...

Changes and Changing Talents It's a win for everyone when you find the kind of organization in which your talents can flourish. But we live in a working-world filled with changes: 1. A CEO may decide it's more profitable to become a manufacturing-focused company than a sales & marketing-driven organization. 2. Mergers and acquisitions create new cultures. New cultures lead to new values and priorities. 3. Customers change their technology, causing your company to change its tech service response. 4. Downsizing. Fewer people, more responsibilities for those remaining. Where Did The Talent Go? I've watched each of the above grow into a crisis of confidence for employees and employers: Mysteriously, you don't feel as talented and capable as before. At the same time, the organization is wondering where it's talented people went. Fact: no one suddenly got stupid! Second fact: Something else will now need to change. You or Them? When you were hired it was a good fit because of how business was conducted. Now it doesn't seem that way. Here are some considerations when companies and employees find themselves in a talent mismatch as a result of changes: 1. Companies: Take time to assess the breadth of talent that exists in your employee base. You may not have been using the range of talents that individuals possess because you (naturally) hired on a given set of criteria. Real-life example: In the past few years I've had the opportunity to assess three executives who were on the "We've changed, their role isn't needed, I guess they have to go even though they've been really effective" list. In two of the three cases a broader assessment showed that they were gifted in areas that hadn't been tapped before. Those two remain with their organizations in new roles and are contributing meaningfully and productively. 2. Individuals. Maybe it isn't such a good fit.The faster you figure out the rea...

My pal Chris Guillebeau has a great interview up over at his blog, The Art of Non-Conformity. He recently profiled artist Tsilli Pines (who also happens to be a loyal GRS reader and a customer of my family's box factory). The interview discusses Tsilli's development as an artist, her initial steps toward starting her own business, and her decision to make the leap to full-time entrepreneur. Here's an excerpt from the conversation: Chris What is your advice to someone who wants to “escape” from traditional work and start something like this? Tsilli Find what you love to do, and then do it, even if it doesn’t bring in money at first. Experiment on the side, experiment on the cheap. It’s the single most important concept to grasp if you are looking to build something from scratch. Chris What worries you? Tsilli Everything! I’m a chronic worrier. But there’s a bad way to worry, and a good way. The bad way of worrying paralyzes [...]...

One of my core beliefs is this: It's more important to be happy than it is to be rich. My personal experience bears this out (though I'm fortunate to be both), as do the anecdotes I receive from GRS readers. In fact, of all my fourteen philosophies, this one is most important. It's so important that I chose to open Your Money: The Missing Manual with a chapter on happiness. No surprise then that for the past couple of years, one of my favorite blogs has been Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project. Rubin is a former lawyer who abandoned her promising high-paying career to follow her bliss: She decided to become a writer. She started her blog as a part of a year-long experiment to find new ways to be happy. She's now turned that experience into a best-selling book. The Happiness Project (the book) was released in late December. I'd hoped to review it when it [...]...

This guest post from Maria is part of the new "reader stories" feature here at Get Rich Slowly. Some reader stories contain general "how I did X" advice, and others will be examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success ? or failure. This story very much reminds me of the book for unmarried couples I reviewed earlier this week. This is a story about a relationship between two people and some money. Part 1 Boy meets girl. Boy moves in with girl. Household expenses are split and all seems well. Years pass. Boy wants to change cities for professional reasons. Girl wants to finish grad school. They make a deal: They'll move when the degree is finished. Warning signs: She is paying a greater share as the years go by and her career advances. He doesn't take any concrete steps toward advancing his own career. He has sold his car 'to save money' and relies on her [...]...

Traveling involves a lot of trade-offs. Money is always a big issue after the decision is made to fly somewhere exotic or historical; can you afford to see all the sights and live comfortably? It's never easy to balance what you want to do and what your disposable income allows for. In order to stretch your money the furthest, you need to look for deals from the get-go. All it takes is a little research and creativity, and with the savings, you will be better equipped to experience your destination to the fullest....

This is a guest post from Gina Lincicum, a long-time GRS reader who writes about frugality and family finance at MoneywiseMoms.com. Moving to the D.C. area after my twins were born, we transformed from a family of three living comfortably, to a family of five struggling to make ends meet on one income. I had to get creative with our family budget, and one of the biggest line items to tackle was clothing. Four years later, I finally have a handle on it. Shopping for clothes for my three kids has been fine tuned into a system that keeps us humming along season by season. How? I get the best quality I can within my budget. I take good care of what we have (and teach my children to do the same). I resell my kids' clothing in good condition to recoup my costs. Buy Quality Clothes ? For Less You can save on sturdy kids' clothing ? I get great [...]...

Pepsi Refresh: Success or failure? Soap Box Included contributor Nicholas Fahrenkop investigates....

I give people and organizations three strikes. It seems fair. You mess up once, ok. We make mistakes. You mess up twice, I'm willing to forgive. But three times? No. Sorry. Life is too short. That's why I'm no longer going to contribute to Mashable.com. I'm willing to forgive the thirty posts a day. Let's face it, [...]...

Something else you don't see in Facebook Page playbooks: What do you do with self-promoters? If it's a straight-up advertisement, you delete it. Right? But then you run into this thing about not deleting anything because people might perceive it as censorship. Of course, there's a misconception that Facebook is a public place where you can say and [...]...

It's a new day here at Wounded Warriors Family Support, and as always, I have a pretty ambitious goal. You all know I'm not a fan of Facebook. Beyond work with the WWFS Facebook Page I haven't done a hell of a lot with the platform. That's not really news if the demographic information about Facebook's [...]...

No Child Left Behind and Special Education Most everyone has heard of the No Child Left Behind Act. Students with disabilities were given a new spotlight and it started new discussions about special... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...