Viewing: collaboration
Digital Revision Stations
have been using revision stations for a few years now in one way or another. Revision stations are a way to structure learning that allows a student to rotate to different locations and/or activities that each serve a different purpose.
The Invisible Strategies of Teaching: #whatpeopledontsee
hen you walk onto a middle school campus and even into the rooms themselves, it can look like chaos. After all, middle schoolers are wired to be active and wired to be loud. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t learning
Lessons Students Can Learn From Mick Fanning vs. The Great White Shark
hat’s with shark videos? First it was the uniqueness of Left Shark in the Katy Perry halftime show. From him we learned to dance to your own groove, even in front of millions of people And now we have the
Organizing Google Drive For Your New School Year
I have drunk the Google Drive Kool-Aid. I used it daily last year, and I am now a convert. However, as a result of my recent condition that I’m calling Googlenthusiasm, my inbox and Drive are now ready for a
Having Any Nightmares About the Start of School Yet?
I posted the following on Facebook earlier today and got such a fun response, I just had to put it out there in a bigger way: Had my first start-of-year-stress-dream last night. My collaborative tables had been replaced with
Speech and Debate Secret Sauce: Building Community in Any Classroom
As I’ve recently written, I am the coach of a very successful and very large middle school speech & debate team. It’s a huge job to coach all of these kids, but it’s amazingly rewarding. It’s rewarding to know that
New Shakespeare Collaborative Project: Anyone Interested?
Rarely do I hit up my readers for help, but I’m looking for classrooms to participate in, what I believe to be, a cool interdisciplinary Project Based Learning opportunity that combines Shakespeare and the digital era. I was talking to
What’s In a Name? – The Questionable Branding of the “Common” Core
Every staff meeting, in every school, is the same. OK, so maybe that’s hyperbolic, but I’m sure we’ve all been there at one time or another: an administrator comes in and declares the new instructional practice du jour. There are
How “Lost” is like Education
So here I am watching “Lost: The Final Journey,” and I heard the following exchange between the producers and cast that (as does much these days) got me thinking about education: Carlton Cruse (Producer): The first really profound moment on
“Podcasting with 70 Middle Schoolers”: CUE 2010
Thank you to everyone who attended my session today at CUE on “Podcasting with 70 Middle Schoolers.” As promised, here is the keynote itself to peruse at your leisure. As with everything on my site, this work is licensed under
When the Aliens Attack, Will Education Unite?
I just took a look at the recently released Metlife Survey of the American Teacher, and its section on “Effective Teaching and Leadership.” This section of the survey reported much about the opinions of teachers and administrators, focusing much of
Why I’m Jealous of Teach For America or Collaboration on the Can
I don’t mean to whine, but I’m feeling neglected. For all my questions about the eventual impact on education with TFA, I find myself a little pouty that they get all this professional development and I don’t.
What Every 5th Grader REALLY Needs to Know
So I’ve become a Guy Kawasaki fan. It all started when I was searching for commencement day speeches for my Speech and Debate team to compete with. I found his “Hindsight”.
Student-Designed Schools
This year, my 8th graders all produced a multi-genre project during 4th Quarter that focused on possible careers of their choice. But I went a step further with my 8th grade Honors class. They not only had to research a
Marzano con’t & Corporate Sponsorship in Education
There’s a really interesting discussion thread going on at the Interactive Whiteboard Revolution ning. It all began with my post recapping Robert Marzano’s position on the influence of IWB technology when he presented at the CUE conference this year. You can
Teaching Secrets: Finding a Job That You Love
Know a teacher who got a pink slip? Maybe my newest post at Teacher Magazine can help. Click here for the article. It’s Step 1 of my Top Secret New Teacher Handbook. Hope it creates some shortcuts, a machete even,
A teacher’s duty?
So by now I assume we’ve all heard of the sanctioned “cage fighting” in a Dallas, TX school. As AP reports, school officials apparently condoned the use of a steel cage in which students could bare-knuckle fight their way towards
Top 10: How to Take Control of Your Teaching
How can you take control of your teaching, both literally and internally? Read my Top 10 list that advises a teacher on how to get what you need in this demanding job of ours, how to survive it, and how to love it.
The Death of Teacher Conferences or I Can’t Believe I Miss My Canvas Bag
So, CATE (the California Association of Teachers of English) just came to an end. The hotel was lovely. All ran smoothly. We were greeted with smiles aplenty, and everything ran on time. Sheridan Blau, Kelly Gallagher, Carol Booth Olson, Taylor
Starting from scratch in teacher training
I recently heard Judy Willis (of “syn-naps” fame) speak at a conference. In her pre-teaching life, she was a neurologist and she brings her knowledge to the classroom and to her lectures. (See my recently published article in Teacher Magazine, “My
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