George Lakoff: Neural Binding Can Nurture Big Ideas

George Lakoff: Neural Binding Can Nurture Big Ideas

“Every idea that you have is physical — because you think with your brain,” said keynote speaker, George Lakoff, during the closing session of Big Ideas Fest. In outlining what that meant to the educational community, the well-known cognitive linguist and UC Berkeley...
Welcome to #bif2012

Welcome to #bif2012

Education is not a simple concept anymore. Like a massive volcano about to erupt and transform the teaching terrain as well as the global learning atmosphere, the fires in education are igniting key issues we need to address as a society: education for whom, when, and...
Finding a Professional Family

Finding a Professional Family

From the moment I met Emmy Negrin during dinner at Big Ideas Fest 2011, I knew that I liked her. We hit it off quickly, sharing interests in LGBTQ issues, backgrounds in international education, and enthusiasm for our Action Collab groups.  I learned she had...
Seeding Special Education

Seeding Special Education

A special ed teacher who practices inclusion is like an aerial trapeze artist, swinging from bars to balance beam with a grace that defies the conventions of gravity. For 30 years, my youngest sister, Evelyn Margolin, has been bouncing from class to class, working...

Call and Response – The Sound of Collaboration

 In music, call and response is a technique where one musician offers a phrase and a second player answers with a direct commentary or response to the offered phrase. The musicians build on each other’s offering and work together to move the song along and create...