What if we taught students to create and to hone their own voices? What if we taught students to send their story out into the world? What if students got real feedback for telling their own stories? What if school actually helped students discover who they are? What if schools were sets, publishing houses, art …
What if schools were sets, publishing houses and art studios? Read More »
A school, finally: During the nine years I have been teaching at my public school, the school has received grades of D, C, B and finally this year we achieved an A. Next year, due to the state of Florida changing the grading standards (which they have done every year since they decided to grade …
This page shows the common sequence I use when introducing students to new technology. The first step is the ‘play’ step, and I believe that play is an essential step for students learning new technologies. This step gives the students free reign to explore the new tools without having “serious work” to accomplish. This stage …
“Reverse mentoring is a concept borne of the information age… Reverse mentoring asks the younger, technologically savvier youngsters to tutor or support the older generation in learning how to leverage social media, blogs, email, cloud-based services, and other tools that we now have at our disposal.” — Meredith Ely What if the most meaningful professional …
What if students led teacher professional development? Read More »
“As educators, we are always looking for the best ways to help our students learn and retain the knowledge and skills they need in life,” said Adina Popa, technology resource teacher in Loudoun County Public Schools, Virginia. “We know student engagement is a key factor in that, and with a tool like Kinect, we are …
As I have been ticking through my to do list today, I’ve had my playlist on random. Every once and awhile, I’ll hear the voices of my students as they perform on “Element News” or other projects that we’ve done. Every once and awhile, I hear that song that we listened to what seemed like …
Mathews writes that he was at first impressed with “the brain power and good intentions” of the new standards and thought they would “elevate instruction” and help low-achieving states do better. But after talking to Brookings Institution scholar Tom Loveless, he has concluded that the new standards represent “another big disappointment we should have figured …
Maybe students should be writing the Common Core Standards Read More »
If we can’t answer this for our students and for ourselves as teachers, then we are shooting aimlessly everyday in our classrooms hoping that we will hit on something that students will need later. Kinda a big risk, don’t you think? What if you could know that what you are doing in the classroom will …
Although I am a huge advocate for digital literacy, what I do not advocate is how that looks in your classroom. I can tell you how it worked in one of my classrooms with one group of students and one school context, but that’s not your classroom and not your context. I can provide examples …
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Gamers understand to make a successful game, they need to do the following: Design the game with the user in mind. Provide continuous feedback. Make it challenging enough that the user is interested, but not impossible that they will quit in frustration. (Flow theory) Work with an end …
