This post might be a bit longer than ones I’ve been writing recently but I’ve been challenged by @cheffernan75 to write a description for a photo that I used in my recent blog post on a flexible learning space. The image in question has all the tables stacked and moved out of the way and […]
Read more "The Grid"After almost a month of frustration and self loathing about my reflection writing, I was re-inspired last night to get back up on that bucking bronco and write about #MSchat! The conversation was a weighty one and for good reason. Any time you gather a bunch of connected educators and administrators together to talk about […]
Read more "“How has social media changed the way you teach in the middle grades?”"If you can, you do. If you can’t, you teach. I’ve heard this before. I’ve heard it at dinner parties when friends of mine insinuate that my ‘vacations’ are nothing more than leisure time spent relaxing and that my job is nothing more than a glorified babysitter. I’ve sat through their hallow praise of how […]
Read more "The reflective teacher"With all the advice I’ve seen recently about giving students a voice, letting students lead their own learning, and be a facilitator not a teacher, I began to wonder to myself: “What does that look like in the classroom?” Do teachers just sit back and let go of control? How do teachers guide instruction while […]
Read more "Devil’s Advocate your class…always."I’ll be honest with you. I love to read esoteric stuff online. One of my favorite ways to waste time online is actually getting lost down what I call the “Wikipedia Wormhole”. I’m sure you know what I mean. You might have heard it called other things over the years such as, “The Wikipedia Time Suck”, […]
Read more "Let’s go down “The Wikipedia Wormhole”"The Undead Writing Edition. I went to a Zombies vs. Humans nerf battle back in October. I’m not proud of it…well, actually it was pretty darn amazing. It was my first one in truth and probably not my last. While alone in the woods contemplating my next move as one of the last surviving humans, […]
Read more "How to avoid writing like a zombie!"One of the first classrooms I taught in was handed down to me by a retiring teacher almost a decade ago. She said something on her way out that has stuck with me over the years. “It’s just a room, what you do inside is what matters”. I’ve always tried my best to keep this simple yet […]
Read more "My flexible learning space."On the first day of school I tell the students a story to shift their perspective about school and their preconceived notions about my class. In Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything, the introduction discusses how truly remarkable it is that any of us are here at all. I was inspired by the introductory passage and […]
Read more "If only we changed our students’ perspectives on Day 1"I’ve been spending the past few days thinking about Thursday’s #mschat on educator engagement. I was truly stunned by the participation. It feels like #mschat is starting to enter a ‘next level’ of chats on Twitter. More participants, more lurkers, more more more. The insights and contributions from around the country (and world) has been […]
Read more "How can educator engagement be measured?"@nalang1 “The teacher should be the coach, model, supporter, encourager, expectation setter, and cheerleader.” When you start thinking about the way in which teachers are operating in the classroom these days, a number of interesting words seem to come up in the conversation. Teachers who are connected educators now see themselves more as facilitators, coaches, […]
Read more "What is the main role of a teacher in a PBL classroom?"
peter spiegel 