Award Winning Teacher – International Speaker – Author
As I sit in the lobby of my sons’ gymnastic classes, I felt it appropriate to reflect on the holiday looming tomorrow. Most of us like to take this time to reflect on what we are thankful for in our personal lives. I wish to very briefly mention the things that I am thankful for […]
Continue ReadingMany people have seen the video from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o&feature=related about the “new” vision of students. This video was set in a college setting but I think the points mentioned were valid and apply more universally. I took that video and formed my own set of questions and asked some colleagues in my building with is a 6-8 […]
Continue ReadingThis year I was only down in Springfield for the final day of IETC and saw some great presentations. I wanted to share some of the information that I saw and pass along the knowledge. First of all, those that stopped by and saw my presentation of Movie Magic click this link to get the […]
Continue ReadingAs I am preparing for another IETC conference http://www.il-edtech.org/index.php?smenu=notes&page=ci I am reflective about why I decide to present at these conferences. I was talking to a colleague of mine and mentioning that I was going to be out of the building to do a presentation at IETC as well as attend some sessions. His first question […]
Continue ReadingIn my school we toss the word innovation around quite a bit as a way to help change and evolution happen. Some people think that simply using technology is innovative and forward thinking. If you would have asked me if I was innovative three years ago, I would have said, “yes” with no hesitation. I […]
Continue ReadingAs a teacher we are most prone to having our decision making driven by our personal feelings, prior experiences, administrative feedback, and basic time constraints. We like to teach lessons we are comfortable with and have had success with in the past. Pulling from our own experiences in life we craft learning activities that we think […]
Continue ReadingAt my school, like many, we have a character education program aimed at building positive character traits in our students. Ours is called P.R.I.D.E. and each letter stands for a different quality we look for in our students. Throughout the school year we do various activities to help students recognize the qualities in themselves and […]
Continue ReadingYes, you read that correctly, Twitter http://www.twitter.com/ has changed my professional life. Jeff Goldstein wrote a wonderful article about Twitter being the new water cooler. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-goldstein/the-remarkable-power-of-t_b_570607.html I could not agree with him more. It was not too long ago that I sat at the annual ICE conference in St. Charles, IL in a Twitter conference and […]
Continue ReadingMost language arts teachers struggle to get unmotivated readers to attach and connect with their novels and specifically their characters. There are many ideas out there about how to help these kids and what works and what doesn’t. For each kid there is typically a different variable that gets them “plugged” in. I have found […]
Continue ReadingThis is one of many little “commercials” I do with my Social Science class. I find it easier to have students retain knowledge when they “do” something with it. I typically do them at the end of a chapter to review what they know. This particular one was an advertisement format for a product or […]
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