Blog

Afraid of Feedback

Do we not ask for feedback because we are afraid of what we might hear? When I taught in the classroom, I did end of term surveys almost every year. In my new role in the Learning Commons, I regularly seek formal and informal feedback from students and teachers. That feedback is what I use […]

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Out of the Classroom but Still Relevant

In a previous post, I outlined what I thought was a real problem with individuals who are out of the classroom and therefore out of touch with the realities of the classroom. My concern was individuals who are not teaching and yet dictating best practice models or strategies for classroom teachers. Even with the best […]

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Learning Sweet Spot

Last week I was able to get a Carbide3D Nomad 883 Pro Desktop CNC Mill for the great folks at Carbide 3D. I wanted to put the full title to make it sound extra fancy. Simply put, it is a machine I can send a file to and it will carve it out of wood, metal […]

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Mandated Making

Makerspaces are showing up in schools, classrooms, and libraries around the world. Personally, I think it is great to see this movement taking hold. In some cases, I see it as a push back to the standardization of schools and over-reliance on a canned curriculum. I love when a student stops by our school’s makerspace […]

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Graduation Speech

This was originally posted nearly 8 years ago when my son was “graduating” preschool and moving to the big, bad elementary school. As I reread it, I felt compelled to reshare it as I fear much of it still rings true with me as a parent and as an educator. Good afternoon friends, families, and […]

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Moments

As teachers, we are tasked with teaching content and helping kids grow into productive and successful citizens. We are given a set of content standards we must cover and a battery of assessments to determine if we have succeeded in doing so. Our evaluations are based on how we plan and deliver our lessons as […]

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