So, I’m about four weeks into the new year after being out of the classroom for six years. I can tell the honeymoon is over. As an Instructional Designer, I had noticed for years the Teacher aversion to including productive struggle into their lessons. It wasn’t until now, that I understand why. Sir Ken Robinson … Continue reading Productive Student Struggle
In education, we are constantly being bombarded with the idea of Innovation; of shifting the paradigm from traditional classrooms to the new. We've seen George Couros constantly write in his blog about shifting from a Fixed-mindset through a Growth-mindset to an Innovator Mindset. One of his contemporaries, Katie Martin, writes about developing that mindset by … Continue reading Shifting to Situated Learning
Something that I have latched onto in my time in education (20+ years), is that students struggle with asking questions. Everyone thinks they can ask a question, until they are put on the spot and required to produce a deeply thinking, open-ended, complex question. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the questions asked by students are … Continue reading Student Created Questions
So, it's the beginning of the school year. How do we build trust with our students? With peers, you talk chit-chat to get to know them. When instructional coaches are working with teachers you take the 20-2 approach (2-minute conversations about non-work related items, 20 days in a row). But what about students? This year, … Continue reading Building Trust with Students
The power that comes from building strong respectful relationships between students and teachers cannot be overstated. I am spending the first week of my school year, getting to know my students and let them get to know me. There is power there. Many people think that students will do what is asked of them without … Continue reading Respectful Student and Teacher Relationships
So after six years as an instructional coach, I've jumped back into the classroom full time. I'm not going to mince words. It kicked my butt. After six years of sitting side-by-side with teachers and coaching them, I just realized that the verb in that was "sitting." Wow, how I had forgotten my style of … Continue reading 1st Day Back to Class
So, if you’ve read any of my blogs or tweets, by now you should know that I’m a teacher. Like most high school educators in the US, I enjoy my summers unwinding from the hectic fray of the school year and prepping for the next. Once upon a time (in my youth) I helped work … Continue reading Neurocinematics in Education
