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Part of a Wagon Train
Ever since I wrote my last post about the endless horizon for educators and the constant need for us to be moving forward with our own learning and thinking, I have had this image from my childhood of...
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Play and Primary Sources
As I have been thinking about changes that I want to make in the new school year, I decided that I want to make a section of the room that is devoted to play, simply fun and engaging investigations and...
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Brain Flashes
Somewhere in the middle of August, I always begin to worry. The beginning of the school year is coming and all I see are the dozens of balls that I have carefully let drop to the floor over the summer....
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First Sunday Morning
What an amazing week it has been, getting back into the school routine! No matter how much I try to prepare for the start of the school year, it always catches me by surprise just how much is required...
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Primary Sources – Week 1
After reading a suggestion on the Library of Congress’ blog for teachers, I decided to use primary sources connected with myself to start my 8th grade US history course. The blog had suggested...
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Grapefruits and Maps
My 7th grade is studying map projections, learning about how and why it is hard to make an accurate map and the influences on cartographers that affect the maps that they make. I read online at...
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Just Not the Same!
Last year, I did an activity with my class to help them think about building categories to help them understand empires. I wrote about it here. I created cards that had aspects of each category, so for...
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It’s Time to Write!
Yesterday was National Day of Writing. I don’t know who created it or where it came from, but I heard about it on Twitter and decided that it gave me a great opportunity to stop and have my students...
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Times Square to the Waterfall
Beginning to become a connected educator often feels like stepping out the door of your safe and warm house and being transported to Times Square, finding oneself like the Naked Cowboy, strumming your...
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Preparing for the Monday After
No matter how much we would like to turn back the clock to last Thursday and erase the events of Friday, we can not. We must go into school tomorrow with a different reality. As I have been thinking...
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I’ve Missed This!
It has been a crazy year so far with lots of new things in my life: new work at school, new family member, new exercise routines. There have been all sorts of new balls to keep flying successfully in...
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Building a PBL Magazine
My students have spent the last couple of weeks working on a PBL project. The Driving Question was “How can we create a digital magazine for the 4th grade to help them understand the accomplishments of...
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Design Thinking at IKEA
With two other teachers, I took a group of students to IKEA today to learn about their process for developing new products and for organizing and displaying them in the store. The field trip was part...
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Firing Up Brains! #ASCD
I went to a pre-conference seminar led by Jane Pollock called, “Teaching Thinking; Teaching Innovation.” It was a wonderful session, filled with times of learning, of sharing and of hearing via from...
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Taking edcamp Rogue! #ASCD13
In the midst of the 10,000 educators who have come to Chicago for the annual ASCD conference, a group of passionate and slightly crazy educators decided to work outside the standard sessions and...
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Staying Connected
This has been a really busy year for me, and one of the areas where I spent less time was in staying connected with my digital community, whether through Twitter or reading and commenting on blogs. I...
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Because a Laptop is Distracting!
Most teachers who work with a 1:1 program know that the benefits come with challenges. Our students are very social creatures, and the internet has given them an amazing tool to connect and be part of...
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SmartBlog on Education Article
Here is a link to the article that I wrote for SmartBlogs on incorporating movement into the classroom.
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I Love Giving Students Time to Work!
My 7th grade is currently working on a project where they study primary sources from the mid-to-late 14th century. They read Giovanni Boccaccio’s account of when the plague reached Florence. Then they...
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SmartBlog Article on Ungraded Class
Here is a link to the article that I wrote on my ungraded 7th grade class.
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