A teacher approached me last week and asked, “Can you please show me how to use quizizz in my classroom?” I commended the teacher for her desire to implement a new technology tool for the benefit of her learners. The teacher laughed and said, “Oh, it’s not me! The kids keep asking for it!” The […]
A recent conversation regarding social emotional learning (SEL) caused me to rethink my focus as an educational leader. I have been working in a couple of schools with high populations of students who have faced trauma and/or have been diagnosed with mental illnesses. As such, I have been doing a great deal of exploration on […]
A common concern amongst educators is off-task behavior and students who are easily distracted. Educators spend a great deal of time preparing lessons for students. It is normal to become frustrated when students do not remained focused on the activities that we have planned for them. The Modern Student Today’s students live in an on-demand […]
Why Should Your Learners Care About Learning? Whether we work with educators or students, it is vital that we take the time to consider that the content of the learning experience we design is relevant. When I was a classroom teacher, I was taught to include a section for “importance” in each lesson. In my […]
The Reality I have heard many educators speak of their struggle to make content accessible to students who are said to be performing “below grade level expectations”. With positive intentions, educators often provide these students with watered down texts, place students in remedial intervention classes to build foundational skills during core content instruction, and/or pull […]
As a high school student, I recall sitting in classrooms, silently struggling to hide the internal pain that plagued me. Activities that once interested me held no appeal, academic texts that were once comprehensible were clouded in cognitive confusion, and simple daily tasks filled me with anxiety that manifested itself as physical symptoms unseen by […]
Note-Taking Comes in Many Forms I have heard heated debates regarding note-taking. Many educators insist that students take notes of their learnings using paper and a pencil. Some speak to the need for specific graphic organizers or detailed structures for organizing information. Still others allow students to create sketchnotes, take pictures of content using a […]
When I began my journey as an educator, I was taught to “teach down the middle”, with the justification that it is most efficient to teach to the “average” student. Philosophically, this concept concerned me. I worried that many students would be left in the dark. When I inquired as to the best way to […]
I took a risk this week. While I am comfortable empowering learners with choice and autonomy on a regular basis, this time felt different. I admit that I was nervous about losing control, that learners would get off task, that I would be negatively judged by district administration sitting in the room. Perceived Challenges The […]
As I speak with educators regarding innovation in classrooms for the benefit of students, I often hear the phrase, “Yeah, but…” Educators work within systems which contain policies and constraints. It is vital that we remain grounded, aware of the realities surrounding our work. At the same time, our students live in the world of […]
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