I know. We’re already many years into the 21st Century. And I know there’s a chance that the term “21st Century” might rub you the wrong way. But we’re here, and teaching and learning look very different. At least they have the potential to. When I started teaching in 2004, there was one computer in the…
According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Education Technology, librarians are at the forefront of helping schools become future ready. However, too often librarians are left out of the planning process for infrastructure and devices, professional learning for teachers, and digital content strategies—areas where they often have expertise. Source: Are librarians the key…
In 2015 Elijah C. Stroud published The Story of My Minecraft Life on Amazon. Available for Kindle and in paperback, it recounts Stroud and his friend’s journey playing and building in the blocky game environment. Stroud followed it up with The Last Day of Minecraft, which came out in early 2016. According to the description…
When I see a great light display, I rarely consider the effort and meticulous planning that goes into it. While I was going through my decorating process on Friday, I couldn’t help but think of the parallel to our classrooms. When great instruction is happening in our classrooms, we often don’t think of the effort…
According to research from Office Team, 63% of senior managers said their company is “very supportive of their staff’s efforts to achieve work-life balance.” However, only 34% of employees agreed with this statement. This is a significant change from a similar work-life survey conducted 10 years ago in which 45% of senior managers characterized their…
For example, robot journalists in the Associated Press wrote thousands of stories last year, mostly about listed companies’ earnings and sports news. The automated technology has proved to be highly accurate in reporting on standardized topics, and was extremely fast. A report on a listed firm’s results could be churned out in a second. AP’s…
Good discussion starters for those moving from an information environment of carefully vetted resources (libraries and print publication with journalistic integrity) to, well, the Internet. It seems our lessons did not take. To our detriment and possibly to the deteriment of our nation. While the ability to spot “fake” news on the Internet has always…
To be effective tinkerers, students need to achieve a state of mind in which they are primed to play and make joyful discoveries. Young kids who are playing don’t worry about making mistakes. They’re just playing, and the idea that they could make a mistake—that there’s a wrong way to play—doesn’t enter into their consciousness. It’s this freedom that…
Does your classroom mirror the rectilinear seating arrangement popular in Sumerian classrooms, circa 2000 BCE? Or is your classroom seating flexible and tricked out with the IDEO designed Node Chair by Steelcase? What classroom design changes can you do on a budget that supports learning? Source: Tips for Creating Wow-Worthy Learning Spaces | Edutopia A…
In a PBL classroom, students do things. But what about the teacher? What do we need to be doing while the students are doing things? What does it look like when the teacher is a coach? Are we still doing things, and if so, what are they? In Making Space for Thinking, we made the…