Critical Thinking Skills Our school uses Project Lead the Way as part of our curriculum. The focus is on real world problem solving. Students cannot game this system by memorizing or looking it up somewhere else. Real problems require real thinking. Failure to develop these skills is a recipe for failure later in life. Coding requires … More Three Reasons Why Kids Should Code
Growing oak trees require taking the long term view. Tiny acorns take about a decade to become large enough to shade a house, but if you are patient, that shade can last for your entire lifetime. Radishes, on the other hand, are ready in a few short weeks. I love a good butter and radish … More We Are Growing Oak Trees, Not Radishes
If any teacher ever doubted the power of habit, the first weeks of school would change that immediately. We do not fully realize the many ways that habits make our lives easier and better until faced with a group of children who have no classroom habits. Habits are like computer programs, in that they let … More The Power of Habit
This week school begins for students in my school district. Once again, I will meet dozens of new students and reconnect with hundreds of friends from previous years. For someone who has been teaching as long as I have ( I got my first teaching certificate in the seventies) it is also a time to … More The Beauty of New Beginnings
Perfectionism is the enemy of learning. Part of the challenge of a new school year is creating a climate where failure is a gift. People who never fail probably never risk enough to learn. If you stay in your safe little rut, you may be “successful” within the narrow parameters of that space, but you will … More The Power of Failure
This week, I was a kindergarten teacher, which is not my usual role. As media specialist, I usually see kindergarten students in short half hour to forty-five minute blocks of time to teach them either something about literature and literacy or how to operate a computer. The opportunity to plan and teach the half day … More The Importance of Play
Part of my focus on digital citizenship this year is a strong desire to create a positive classroom community that supports risky learning. I want my students to be able to try, fail and give it another iteration. This requires a classroom community that understands when people fail, we brainstorm with them and give them positive … More Creating Classroom Community
My head is still spinning (in a good way) from all the new learning at MIGooglefest. Even if you were not able to attend, there are links to hundreds of resources on the schedule page. One thing that was obvious to me is that every human is uniquely created to innovate. There were dozens of … More Fifty Shades of Innovation
In thinking about how to teach digital citizenship from a positive perspective, I have been studying the work of Angela Maiers. Getting students to recognize their genius seems to be key in establishing a culture of positive contributions. If students understand that they are expected to contribute what they know and can do, then digital … More Helping Students Find Their Genius
I am in Kansas City this week, partly for business and partly for pleasure. This morning was set aside for the pleasure aspect of the trip, to do some exploring of sites near my hotel that seemed interesting when I looked them up on line. Early this morning I decided to walk over to the … More What Really Matters?
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