Are you currently a blogger? I know that there are many teacher bloggers out there, and I’m proud to say that I subscribe to several for inspiration and ideas. While I haven’t always been a blogger, I’ve been dabbling in it off and for the past 2-3 years. I’m definitely more consistent now, and have […]
Curriculum
Reflect, revise, and refresh after your first grading period
While some teachers are just embarking on their school year, my district just wrapped up its first grading period! For the past 16 years, I’ve taken the time to reflect on several areas of my teaching that are essential to my students’ success. Where am I at in my pacing in relation to where I’d […]
Checking for understanding by having students create products
It’s that time of the year….TESTING! At my site, the English and Math teachers test students while the other classes teach on a block schedule. This may not be a big deal for you if you already teach that way, but the transition can be tough for some. One of the best ways to make this […]
Googlizing a unit: Part 2
Last week I featured Googlizing a unit: Part 1, where I outlined the first part of a multidisciplinary unit that involves evaluating presentation apps. Throughout the unit, students used various Google Apps to work collaboratively. This week’s post features the second part of that unit, including the summative assessment at the end. Here are the remaining […]
Googlizing a unit: Part 1
Last month, I mentioned in a post that I had attended the San Diego GAFE Summit. During this conference, two sessions really stood out to me: one on the SAMR model and Google Apps and one on how to survive the zombie apocalypse with Google Apps. While the facilitators were wowing me with their content, I started thinking […]
Engaging your class with EdPuzzle
This past weekend my fellow Blended Learning Specialist Erin Southam and I participated in the San Diego Google Apps for Education Summit in beautiful Coronado, CA. During this summit, I learned about Edpuzzle during a session with Roni Habib. This tool is one of the ultimate cross-curricular tools, and is relatively easy to setup and manage. Why […]
7 methods for embedding multimedia into your blog or website
This past weekend my students diligently worked on their blog posts for the 2015 Student Blogging Challenge. I created an exemplar for them so that they could see exactly how their blog post should look like (which included embedding multimedia), and gave them the weekend to work on it. One of the most exciting components […]
How to overthrow in-service days and up your professional development
Ah, the joy of back-to-school in-service days. The long meetings with agendas set by administration. At least an hour poring over the staff handbook (again). Being the passive receiver of content rather than engaging in or creating it. The double-standard of constantly being told to not teach this way, while enduring it year after year. This […]