For the past year I have been thinking a lot about how to get my students to think more deeply about what they read and to have the types of deep, meaningful and engaging conversations that made me fall in love with learning while in undergraduate and graduate school. From amerist.org That is why I have been
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ4o1N4ksyQ?rel=0&w=853&h=480]
I just read an article, An A+ Student Regrets his Grades, that reminded me of my own schooling and reminded me what I aspire to be as an educator. The passages that resonated with me most were: “Education is not confined to the walls of a classroom; it stretches well beyond that. Valuing success above all
How often do we allow students to pursue their passions? How often do we let students’ curiosity drive their learning? I know I have often been guilty of deciding what my students study and how they study the topics in our curriculum. That has started to change after I read Dan Pink’s Drive. In his
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y&w=560&h=315] I hope to apply his ideas through more innovative projects this semester. Specifically, I want students to pose more questions and think of more authentic ways of demonstrating their learning.
A constant concern I have as an educator is the fact that I can usually predict what grade a student will earn at the end of the year after just a couple weeks. Namely, I can generally identify which students have the habits necessary to succeed as the school defines it. However, this also
I just saw this video about the Khan Academy. I have been reading about it for the last couple years and have mixed feelings. I don’t want to replace lecture in the classroom with a lecture on the computer. But his ideas on how Khan Academy and similar endeavors can help do more project based,
For the past few years I have been reading other teachers’ blogs and have found it invaluable to my growth as a teacher. Too often, I find myself applying ideas and taking risks that some teachers at my own school do not immediately encourage. There are a number of excellent teachers, but I haven’t had sufficient