The Daily Riff - BE SMARTER. ABOUT EDUCATION.

Commencement Speeches 2011: Amy Poehler at Harvard and Tom Hanks at Yale

Very different speeches, laden with humor, but both circle round to our shared humanity, lest we forget. Read more

Thiel "Shows Them the Money" - pays 20 entrepreneurs $100,000 to drop out of college

Winners include "Flipped Classroom" Initiatives Read more

Lady Gaga bullied in high school: "it sticks with you for life"

Lady Gaga visits Barbara Walters and the gang on ABC's "The View." Video. Read more

Robotics in High School: the "Football Culture" Alternative?

CNN Documentary follows 3 Students through a National Robotics Competition Read more

HBO's "Journey into Dyslexia"

"Are these people more visionary, can they see things differently?" Read more

How about a Family Awards Ceremony?

The key here is that by encouraging our children to strive for these awards, and defeat the other, they will achieve more and be pushed toward a more successful career in the real world. Read more

The Unintended Parent-Child Disconnect

"The real value of college isn't in teaching what is known; it is in preparing students for the unknown." Read more

And we promote parent involvement while pulling stunts like this?

NCLB: Obama's "SuperSecret" Special Education Diversion Program Read more

25 Techy Tips for Non-Techies

Great Finds for Teaching, Learning & Creating Read more

What Would Yoda Do? Teachers Tweet About Their World

Want a glimpse behind-the-scenes of what teachers think about their own development? Read more

Can your Middle Schoolers create their own video games?

Watch: 3-minute video - 5th-8th Graders across the country "create," not "consume" . . . Read more

Teachers "Doing The Flip" To Help Students Become Learners

"The way we were taught is not necessarily the way we should be teaching students." - Stacey Roshan, High School Algebra Teacher, Bullis School, Montgomery County, Md. Read more

Shocking Study: One in 38 Kids Found w/ Autism Spectrum Disorder

"Two-thirds of the children with autism that we ended up identifying were in mainstream schools, unrecognized, untreated . . ." Need socialization and peer engagement skill building. Read more

What if . . . College Had No Clothes?

How would high school be different? Read more

7 Lessons From My Father

Chris Wejr is school principal at Kent Elementary School in British Columbia.  He has spent his career working with students as a high school physical education, math, and science teacher, an intermediate teacher, an elementary vice-principal, as well as a... Read more

Commie Core Standards?

State Governors have convened again to bring in a system of Common Core Standards across the country so that all children will be taught exactly the same thing in English and Math from kindergarten through high school... Dr. D. Rigour Is Baack! (Humor) Read more