Change That Rethinks: Different or Better?

A few days ago I was asked to respond to this prompt, … interested in change that rethinks or reinvents and ultimately replaces old practice, that’s built on the more fundamental understandings that we have about how kids learn in ways that stay with them way past the assessment (assuming there is one.) So here’s the […]

The S.O.A.R. Model for Student Porfolios

I work with a group of teachers and around 90 students in what can be described as a project-based program (though it really is much more than that). Now, as we finish our second year together it seems like the right time to suggest and propose a digital portfolio template for our students – one […]

A 3-Step Filter For Edu Email

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about how we communicate in schools. You know, how we send ideas information, questions, etc. This post is about email. And, how and why do we email in schools? Can our inboxes be more pleasant places to visit? I think so. There are many ways to communicate with each […]

5 Questions You Should Ask Students and Teachers When Observing

Next time you’re in a classroom and want to initiate a quality conversation with either a student or a teacher, ask them the following five questions: #1: What is going on? #2: Why? #3: Why? #4: How? #5: What’s next? Try hard to say nothing but these words and that you really, really listen to their responses – pushing […]

The “White Water World”

John Seely Brown, co-author of “A New Culture of Learning” – a must-read for anyone curious about modern education and the future of learning – recently delivered a 15-minute commencement address at Arizona State University. What follows are some of his thoughts and quotes that resonated with me, chief among them an analogy that compared the […]

Stanford 2025!

Thank you Will Richardson (@willrich45) for sharing this. It blew my mind! It’s always great to learn of other schools and programs that are modernizing, but this movement may be a game changer for me. Not only because of the name and that it is a university, but because of their use of shareable multimedia […]

Futurcation and Prensky

I spent some time with Marc Prensky and some fellow teachers today. We were there to discuss anything education. The format was a bit hinky as we were arranged in a large circle and were asked to simply, well, ask Marc questions. We had an hour. Now, to know me is to know that I can talk […]

Caffeinated Collaboration

ACT testing was today and I, for once, did not have to proctor the exam. I essentially had the morning off from teaching and student contact. Upon learning this a friend and colleague of mine (@robhazle) invited me to “geek out” with him at a local coffee shop. “Let’s drink some java and build some Arduino boards.” […]

Special Spatial Thinking & Analysis

As I’ve taught some Earth/Space/Environmental Science this semester, I’ve made an effort to incorporate some Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology to add both depth and relevance. We began by using some investigations designed by Al Bodzin of Lehigh University designed to investigate tectonic activity as related to plate boundaries, earthquake and volcanic activity, and plate motion. Bodzin […]