A random pair of comments by colleagues led me to today’s post. First, the school social worker asked me if it was O.K. to have some of her students make bookmarks to be distributed in the media center. Just a few minutes later, a math teacher expressed surprise and admiration that I had invited students to … More Who Owns This Library?
via Daily Prompt: Brilliant This black box may not look brilliant to the casual observer, but believe me, it shines like the North Star for me. You see, this is a book locker, the first book locker in Michigan. It is the result of more than twenty years of desire, effort, and planning. I am … More Collaboration is Brilliant
This morning as I listened to the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast with two of my favorite teacher encouragers, Vicki Davis and Steve Dembo, it finally sunk into my thick head that sometimes the best tool to jumpstart a lesson isn’t a new tool at all. I must admit that my tried and true tools for looking at old … More Smart Tech Tools for the New Year Don’t Have to Be New
I am extremely excited to be part of the Reading People Book Launch Team. It is such a privilege to get a peek behind the curtain into the book publishing world. I did not even know that services such as Netgalley.com, which allows authors to invite people to read the galleys of their books, even existed. … More Reading People Book
I am still processing my NerdCampMI, I am also looking forward to Dearborn Moodle Moot and this confluence between the paper and the digital versions of communication brings many questions to my mind. First of all, I saw an amazing presentation on graphic novels by Heather and Beth, which turned me on to Fish Girl by Donna … More What Is a Story, Anyway?
One of the things I love best about Hour of Code is the opportunity it gives for students to shine. This is especially true of students who are not seen as academically strong by their peers. Many students come to school already behind their peers in reading and other academic subjects due to their situation outside … More Code: The Great Equalizer
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
Thank you, Vicki Davis and the Mad About Mattering team. You reframed my thinking about teaching digital citizenship. For too long, we have been teaching students what not to do, coming from a place of fear and negativity. I want students to recognize all the positive things they can do in the world, and that … More Helping Students Do What Matters
I have spent my morning working on the first module in my Cyber Certainty Game for my third grade kick off unit in the fall. the big picture is that I feel I need to step up my game in the area of teaching digital citizenship. I have not entwined it throughout the curriculum as … More Teaching Password Security to Elementary Students
I have the privilege of speaking with Vicki Davis for her podcast Every Classroom Matters next week on the topic of gamification, so I have been spending time contemplating what I feel are the most important parts of this topic. One extremely important part about any classroom strategy is what factors are needed for it to succeed. … More What Makes Gamification Work
