For a moment, let’s pretend. That everything you know about America’s public education system — the bitter politics and arcane funding policies, the rules and countless reasons our schools work (or don’t) the way they do — is suddenly negotiable. Pretend the obstacles to change have melted like butter on hot blacktop. Now ask yourself:…
The one application that is probably used the most by teachers is email. Here are 13 hacks for Gmail, although a lot of them would work with any email system. These are the tricks I use every day to manage my email and make myself more productive in reaching inbox zero. Inbox zero is a…
As educators, we’ve spent years attending classes, participating in workshops, going to conferences, and continuing our education. The more we learn, the more we create and collect. Because of the time and effort that we spend developing such rich resources, it becomes challenging to let some of them go. I’ve struggled with this for years….
13 things to do before the first day of school #b2s The entire list is updated today! 16 Ideas for Student Projects using Google Docs, Slides, and Forms Pretty cool ideas! And can be used for other pieces of software. Highlight rows in Google Sheets with conditional formatting This is one of the most popular…
This is part 13 of 13 things to do before the first day of school. Everyone likes a last hurrah of summer, before getting back into the swing of school. My wife, she likes to watch The Dead Poets Society, whereas I prefer Rodney Dangerfield’s masterpiece, Back to School. Other activities could include clothes shopping, napping, and…
This is part 12 of 13 things to do before the first day of school. Awwwee, the first week of school. The students are optimistic and bright eyed, while the long days take a toll on the teachers. What better way to survive the first week than to plan ahead? This is straight forward for many…
Getting out of the classroom can benefit everyone — both teachers and students. Fresh air and fresh perspectives combine to allow for new types of creativity, for play, and for a chance to connect learning to life. The best of these apps help harness what kids are learning outside so they can bring it back…
Building a catapult that can hit a target at one, three and five meters is a core project of Ben Smith’s engineering class. When the project is assigned, groups get to work inventing a mechanism that will meet the objectives, often coming up with ingenious ideas. But when Smith noticed his students were increasingly asking…
This is part 11 of 13 things to do before the first day of school. Holidays have a tendency to sneak up on us. I’ve lost track of the number of times that I’ve missed out on doing something in my classroom because I didn’t know it was a holiday. What I’ve started to do…
In a world where so much knowledge is a two-second search away, many schools are losing interest in models that promote static learning to know. They’re looking to embrace dynamic models that promote learning to do and learning to be. Project-Based Learning (PBL) allows learners to develop skills by solving meaningful, real-world challenges , i.e. organizing…