Note: I’m sure my thoughts on this topic have been heavily influenced by Dean Shareski. If you don’t read his blog, go check it out. For the last four days, I have been back at home with my family. We have had deep conversations….
I don’t believe that schools are broken. I know that sounds so non-innovative or whatever, but I don’t care. I see amazing things that happen at my school on a regular basis. I watch what my kids have learned and I’m blown away. I see…
It’s no secret that I like to make stuff. My wife and I co-wrote Wendell the World’s Worst Wizard and I have been blown away when classrooms choose it as a read aloud. I worked with two other people on creating Write About, a digital publishing…
So, I’m at the Nova Now Conference at Kent Innovation High School and I’m watching the students working on an aquaponics project. At one table, students are debating the aesthetic design. In another area, students are using Sketch Up to work on a framework for…
Our principal walked into a really tough situation this year. The school culture was in serious trouble and we had a mass exodus of teachers who left. We had unfilled positions along with new initiatives that could have been really unpopular. And yet, the school…
Originally posted 3 years ago, but I think it’s still relevant now. I’m at a conference, listening to a technophile gush about the latest available tools that schools need to quit blocking. “What’s relevant to kids these days?” “Facebook,” the audience cries out in unison….
When I was a kid, I hated book reports. I hated filling out a form describing what I read. I wasn’t a fan of artsy crafty alternatives, like cereal box projects or dioramas. What I did love, though, was geeking out on what I read….
When I first began teaching, I viewed research as something separate from the rest of learning. We did research projects or we kept the research as a phase within a project. Since then, I’ve had some shifts in how we do research: 1. Start with…
To Whom It May Concern: My son is a curious kid. He’s high-energy and artistic and he loves thinking deeply. He’s a sensitive soul and sometimes the smallest amount of criticism can feel crushing. I could tell you the ideal way to teach him. I’d…
I’m not a huge fan of most school-based professional development. It’s not that the delivery is bad, but that it is precisely that: a delivery. It’s something teachers receive rather than create. So, even when the quality is good, there is the risk that it…