I just finished reading Checking for Understanding by Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher. It is one of the most practical books I have read in a while. In it I found techniques that I could immediately apply in my classroom. Assessment is a huge challenge for me. I see most of my students 45 minutes…
My friend, Tom Whitby, an educator and blogger has put out a call for blog posts centered around positivity in education to counter all of the negativity going on. I recently wrote a post on the Cooperative Catalyst blog called “What (Really) Works,” trying to focus on what works in education rather than what doesn’t. …
photo courtesy of K. Sawyer on Flickr Just last week I had the first serious observation I’ve had in a long time. I was observed during the first time my 3rd graders used the computers all year (no pressure!). I was nervous because this is my first year in the school, but I was also…
This past Friday was a half day at my school for Professional Development. As a nice surprise, our CEO took the entire staff to see Waiting for Superman at a movie theater downtown. It was a very thoughtful (and exciting) outing. As I sat in the theater before the movie started, I realized that I…
My 6th graders just completed their Digital Citizenship websites using iWeb. I am very proud of them as this is the first project we have completed together and it is the first project they have completed using Macs. As I have no server yet, I had the students hand their work into my favorite site,…
I was lucky enough to be asked by Intel to review their convertible laptop, the Classmate PC. Upon opening the demo model I received in the mail, I definitely knew that this was a ‘cool’ product. How, I wondered, though, would it be different than a regular laptop and how would I see it being…
As most of you know, I am at a new school this year with a new twist on my former position. I still teach technology but now I have time to plan my lessons around what students are learning in the classroom. I did write a technology curriculum, but will only need to fall back…
I just watched NBC’s Education Nation Teacher Town Hall and participated in an online Twitter conversation with the hashtag #educationnation. I saw two tweets from friends that really caught my attention: and It is probably true that NBC will get all the attention for having brought together so many educators in one place while those…
Those who know me well know that I am a very deliberate and conscious about my impact on the environment. I eat mostly organic, I avoid processed foods, I never eat fast food, I buy as local as I can, I’ve been recycling since I was nine, which also the time around which I started…
Tonight my feathers have been rustling over the soon to be released documentary, Waiting for Superman. Before I go on, take a look at the trailer. Okay, here we go. So when I first watched the trailer I immediately felt doom and gloom come swarming down from above. I knew exactly where the movie was…