Shaped

Visual artists approach their work with the same purposes as writers: to persuade, to explain, and to convey experience real or imagined. The difference is in their tools. While writers employ diction, syntax, and imagery to establish a tone and convey their message; visual artists use color, line, shape, object, and scale.

This spring, HMH surveyed 1,000+ classroom teachers, and school and district administrators nationwide as part of our inaugural Educator Confidence Report. The survey, which will be conducted annually, was designed to measure educator sentiment by taking a snapshot of the opportunities, challenges and changes on teachers’ minds today.

On Sunday, June 7, early learning experts and stakeholders from diverse organizations and disciplines gathered in New Orleans for the second symposium in HMH’s Conversations on Early Learning series.

In March, HMH thought leaders headed to Austin, Texas for SXSWedu .The annual four-day conference brings education stakeholders together to connect, collaborate, create and change how we teach and learn.

In honor of last week’s Teacher Appreciation Week, we took some time here at HMH to reflect on educators who truly made a difference in our lives.

At its inception, the internet was created primarily to allow scholars and scientists to exchange data, theories and resources, and to provide a forum for intellectual curiosity. Today, this access to limitless information is available to anyone with an internet connection.

The early learning field has reached a galvanizing moment. A confluence of research, practice, policy, content development, informal learning and advocacy work has cultivated fertile ground for the community’s shared commitment and growth by providing the tools we need to ensure that all young learners have access to essential education experiences.

AS CHIEF CONTENT Officer of a learning company, people frequently ask me: “Won’t all of your content eventually be free? After all, when technology enters the market, free is right behind it.”

Few would argue that improving student learning is one of the most important challenges facing us today. The educational landscape is changing as technology promises to revolutionize the way we learn in the same way it has transformed the way we communicate and do business.

We know that relationships are essential to healthy child development. We can observe organic collaborative behaviors even in very young children, who often explore their worlds and gather information while they play independently, but then eventually come together to learn and share experiences with others.

HMH leaders were on the ground at SXSWedu 2015 in Austin this past week, generating social media buzz and connecting with attendees from all corners of the education space.

You’d be hard-pressed to hop on board the education conference junket without coming across a panel or keynote about the need for transformation within our classrooms. And it’s not just the concept of change that we are obsessed with – it’s the solution as well.

In today’s digital age of texting, autocorrect, spell-checking and tweeting, grammar seems to take a backseat. And while digital linguistic conveniences (think LOL, BRB and BFF) are just that – convenient! – grammar is important because it helps us understand how language works.

At the beginning of this year, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center published Ten for 15: Education Reform for a Shared Future, a list of ten takeaways and resolutions designed to give educators inspiration as they plan for a successful 2015.

We tend to think of technology as the inspiration behind the innovations of today, but what if instead, the idea is born before anyone has invented the technology to realize it?

In 1879, President Rutherford B. Hayes signed into law Washington’s Birthday, a day to remember George Washington’s legacy. The holiday at first applied only to federal offices in the District of Columbia, but was expanded to the whole country in 1885.

The annual practice of exchanging Valentine’s Day greetings and gifts with loved ones can be traced back to the 15th century. In fact, the oldest known written valentine still in existence is a poem penned by Charles, Duke of Orleans, who wrote to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1415.

In my role at HMH, I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to see how people approach education around the world.