One of the most exciting things a student can experience is the proud moment when their hard work is seen by an audience beyond a teacher’s grade book.
Read MoreWhat if school closed tomorrow? We aren’t prepared to go fully online! What can we do?!?!
This message, from a head of school, popped up on my Facebook page this week. He asked for a phone call and while I did my best on the spot to imagine how a school would address the challenge of closing for a day, a week, or even a month, I had no idea how a school could go fully online on the stop of a dime…
Read MoreIf you teach at the elementary level you are more than likely familiar with the classic All About Me themed projects that students take part in at the start of the school year. A fill in the blank worksheet designed to give you, the teacher deeper insights into students lives, interests, and passions…
Read MoreVisual Communication skills. Everyone needs them. This isn’t an option for our K-8 students today. Their tomorrow will expect them to have an eye for design just like our yesterday expected us to know Microsoft Office. While short on time is an understatement, we need to find ways to get these skills inculcated into our students one way or another…
Read MoreI sat there looking at my Syllabus. Google Docs will black text and bullet points on a white background. The outcome seemed standard. Is that what I wanted for my students? I want my student to get excited about learning new things. I want them to be curious, inspired, and energized in my class…
Read MoreAny platform that empowers students to become authors and curators of content gets me excited. When Smore reached out to me to review their platform, I was excited to see two very powerful features.
First, is the "Educator Hive" database of created and shared content, authored by educators for educators. You can check out my vlog review of that here…
Read MoreThey say a picture is worth a thousand words, so how many words is a video? About 1 billion hours worth, or so says the latest Techcrunch survey of Youtube usage. Video is dominating the way in which we consume content and create it too. Today, nearly all social platforms have embraced the creator side of things, encouraging users to create content that rich with video, images, and text. In comes Adobe Spark Video…
Read MoreYears ago I heard about the "Bad Idea Factory" like any buzzword I try to plumb the depths of Google to find the creator of these actives. The best I could do is find a 2012 article by Kevin Brookhouser tilted, 20% Project: Bad Idea Factory. In the article he shares that he learned about this activity from Ewen McIntosh at NoTosh but the link to his article is broken. I reached out to him on Twitter to get more information so hopefully he will respond and I can embed the tweet…
Read Moren graduate school, I was introduced to some amazing innovators of education. Their approaches to education were so radical, so progressive that in some cases like Piaget and Vygotsky, their work would not gain mainstream popularity till decades later. These constructivist movement educators were who I gravitated to, and their work has significantly influenced my educational practice.
- Dewey - Early 1900's
- Piaget - Mid 1900's
- Vygotsky - Early 1900's
- Montessori - Early 1900's
Something bothered me these amazing individuals bothered me.
Read MoreThere is a movement in education that promotes, and even glorifies failure. Graphics proclaiming that we should fail forward, fail ofen, and of course view F.A.I.L as a First Attempt In Learning. I too am I proponent of failure, and believe that is has been a key ingredient not just in my own success, but for so many successful people I look to for inspiration and guidance. Recently Tim Ferris, a famous entreprenuer and author of "The 4 hour work week", reflected on 200 episodes of his podcast.
Read MoreBlogging is an invaluable tool for expressing ideas, archiving journeys, and engaging with others around topics you're passionate about. Here are 4 Ways Blogging Can Reshape Education.
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