I hope your vacation has begun and you are having a happy summer. If not–it will be here soon! As always, I’m relaxing and spending time with family and friends this summer, but I’m also taking time for a little professional learning. Every week between now and the end of summer break, I’m going to
These days QR Codes are old news, and in 1:1 classrooms, they may seem redundant. Why not just share the link digitally with students? But there are so many ways to use QR Codes in the classroom besides linking to websites that can really spice up your lessons and make learning more interactive. You can
Technology can be an amazing tool in the classroom. But I think we need to be mindful when implementing it. Standards and content should always come first. If technology offers us a way to better teach the content, then we should use it. If it doesn’t, then we should leave it. We should be careful
I’ve been counting down to summer break with simple spring engagement tips. It’s hard to believe that there are only two weeks left in the 2017-2018 school year, but our goal is to finish strong (even though most of us [ahem…me] aren’t feeling strong). In the words of one of my former admins, “We need
Spring is in the air (despite the need for sweaters in mid April), and the students are feeling it. They may be feeling it a bit more this year because of our lack of an actual spring. Something magically happens to their already abbreviated attention spans after spring break come rain, sleet, snow, or sunshine.
I am the type of teacher who is always willing to try new technology in the classroom. Latest tech tip? I’ll give it a go. Shiniest new app? I like shiny things. Pixels on the screen configured to grab my students’ attention? Well, okay–that’s a hard won thing. The trouble is, I find myself
I realized an important truth recently–I have been hopelessly spoiled for the past sixteen years. I did not have a copy limit in my school system. It took moving to a school system with a strict copy limit for me to realize the unabashed luxury of my former situation. I call this an important truth
Some of you know that I have spent the past few months in a new school system. I’ve gone through the process of going 1:1 once, and now it’s happening again. Of course, I’m thrilled that I now have a Promethean Board, and my school will be adding one Chromebook per student very soon.
As a huge proponent of the blended classroom, I like to mix things up. Last week, I wrote about super-quick low-tech reviews. This week, the exam review in my classroom is all about that tech. Just like the next person, I have my favorites that I tend to overuse, and I’ve written about them on
What is Gamifying? Gamifying is fun. It’s incentivising. It’s a classroom management strategy. Gamifying is the way many apps, programs, and even businesses are starting to work. Gamifying is not simply playing games in your classroom. In short, gamifying is incentivizing desired behavior with points, levels, and rewards. Let’s say you teach
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An occasional email from me to you about what’s new in secondary education…
