Creating great experiences that prepare students to be ready for whatever the future brings I’m an 80s kid. I was born in 1977 and spent the bulk of my childhood in the greatest decade ever. I wore knee high striped socks with my short shorts. I listened to Michael Jackson, Tiffany, and Guns and Roses.
The benefit of 20% Time or Genius Hour for middle schoolers In my first year of teaching, I was actively looking for new ways to renew my students’ excitement for learning. My search led me to Google’s 20% Time initiative, where employees are given 20% of their working time to work on personal projects. This
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How learning to fail can produce the biggest gains in life We absolutely love walking into kindergarten classrooms. There is a richness in colors that cover the walls, activities, and learning stations can be found scattered across the room, and let’s face it, those cubbies are so cute and smell so much better than the
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Promoting divergent thinking with digital storytelling Imagine a photo of the Grand Canyon, jagged peaks under a summer sky. In the foreground, a father holds a round-bellied little girl in a yellow shirt and sandals. Feet dangling, the girl stares at his collar, while he looks past her, eyes fixed on the horizon. When you
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How to make engaging with outside professionals count An exploding mixture! A cloud in a bottle! Every student’s hand in the air to volunteer. Everyone’s laughing. Sounds like an educator’s dream. But when the dust (or simulated volcano) settles, it is often difficult to pinpoint what students learned. Did they leave with a stronger understanding
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Classroom activities that inspire student engagement with social studies content Best practices in social studies education have changed significantly over the last six years. With the release of the Common Core State Standards and its state variations, along with the C3 Framework by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), the emphasis has shifted
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