More and more and more I see educators using video as part of their instruction. Whether they find a great video that covers the content well or create their own with a quick screencast or webcam video, many educators struggle with assigning video content because they fear that students won’t really watch it (or they just won’t pay attention). Just as great educators often infuse their face-to-face lessons with formative assessments to engage and hold students accountable (such as high-level questioning, turn and talk, and signals to indicate understanding), we must do the same when assigning video! Here are three great strategies for doing JUST that! Continue reading
Digital Breakout Made EASY!
There are lots of resources out there for creating digital breakouts or escape rooms, but I have to admit, I thought I just wasn’t creative enough (and didn’t have enough time) to create one myself. I challenge my staff all the time to take risks and try new things, so I decided I better practice what I preach! A couple of weeks back, we had a staff meeting scheduled on a week that turned out to be very bust – with lots of other events, schedule changes, and meetings that popped up after the initial staff meeting was planned, so I knew I wanted to do a flipped meeting or virtual meeting instead of having everyone come in at the same time before school. This was the perfect opportunity to try out a Digital Breakout/Escape room with my staff! Continue reading
Uncover Hidden Time – Repurpose Your Unconscious Habits
When I was an Assistant Principal, I had an unconscious habit of always putting confiscated items in my desk drawer alongside typical desk drawer office supplies such as pens, pencils, rubber bands, and paper clips. It was not uncommon to open my desk drawer and see cute colored sticky notes right next to a pocket knife or skull-shaped toy waiting for a parent to pick up. Continue reading
Easy Strategies to build Future Ready Skills
In his article in Forbes, “The 10 Vital Skills You Will Need for the Future of Work,” Bernard Marr shares that the skills we believe are important in today’s market are quickly changing due to automation and artificial intelligence. What skills will the workers of tomorrow need? His research indicates creativity, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, active learning with a growth mindset, judgment and decision making, interpersonal communication skills, leadership skills, diversity and cultural intelligence, technology skills, and the ability to embrace change. Do these sound familiar? The majority of these skills sound like the future-ready skills we are trying to instill in our students as educators! Creativity, critical thinking, active learning, communication skills – these are the kinds of skills we are being challenged to grow in our students for their future success. Continue reading
Google Slides Drag to Solve
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about more ways to take full advantage of the touch screen devices we have on our campuses. One way is to have students drag and drop words and objects to show their understanding. I wanted to see if I could do this using Google Slides. Since I planned with my 3rd grade team last week, I created a template with the content they were working on (multiplication) and a silly theme I thought would appeal to their kids (rainbow unicorns, of course!). Continue reading
Sketch to Remember
I recently came across the tweet below from edutopia that shares some very interesting research about students who draw as part of their note-taking. In the study, students who drew information remembered nearly twice as much as students who wrote it! Watch the full two-minute video below: Continue reading
Magnify Learning with this Mystery Reveal Template
When educators post pictures of their classrooms on twitter, Facebook, and Instagram I see touch screen boards (whether SmartBoards, Promethean Boards, or another type), most often used to display instructions, station rotation, or playlists – none of which harness the power of the touchscreen for learning. Continue reading
4 Ideas for Promoting Creative Thinking with YOUR Content
Today is International Dot Day! This is a day to be creative and not be afraid to share what you create! The day is a celebration of creativity based on the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. Click here to learn more at the International Dot Day website.
Vulnerable moment: Every single time I write a blog post, at some point I think to myself, “This is dumb.” or “This isn’t good enough to share.” But, just like the teacher in The Dot encourages her student to “make her mark”, I attempt to make my mark with each blog post. I think it is important to model risk-taking for our students AND to give them opportunities to take risks and be creative. These are the life-long skills they will need in the workplace. Continue reading
Blended Learning Kindness Lesson Checklist
Jumping into a blended learning checklist for the first time can seem super scary! Letting the students complete tasks at their own pace?! How will you keep students accountable? Allowing students to move around the room and chose the right place for themselves? Will they complete their work or just goof off? Allowing them to go in any order they choose? Will the class turn to loud chaos?
These are the most common fears! Continue reading
Widen your Lens to see your students’ Bigger Picture
I came across the video below a few days ago and it totally blew my mind!
Watch the 34-second video in its entirety – you’ll miss EVERYTHING if you don’t watch ALL the way to the end! Continue reading