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Schools Out… For Spring?
This is definitely not one of my more polished posts, but things are not feeling very polished right now. Along with every household in the nation (and world), we woke up feeling unsettled. Breaking a routine feels uncomfortable, even in the best circumstances. The loss of control sends our brains into survival mode. My oldest daughter, in particular, was feeling anxious. In an effort to settle her nerves, I wanted to give her back some control. So, we sat down together to create a family schedule for the next few weeks. Below is a quick video of the thought process behind our daily schedule. I am including a copy of…
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#OneWord2020
My @oneword2019 was a failure, which is hard for me to admit. This made selecting my 2020 word more difficult. I wanted a word that served as a reflection of the past and offered an actionable path for the future.
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#HackingPBL Birthday Giveaway!
Each year, we have the extreme honor of working with educators from all over the globe as they implement project based practices. To say thank you and celebrate the third birthday of Hacking Project Based Learning: 10 Easy Steps to PBL and Inquiry in the Classroom, we are hosting a giveaway contest!
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Do The Next Right Thing, A Lesson For Educators
This holiday season Disney has graced us with another Frozen movie. So, our houses and classrooms are once again filled with carefully crafted, annoyingly catchy tunes. Perhaps most importantly, though is one particular theme woven into the storyline. In this video, I am unpacking a life lesson learned from a recent Disney movie and sharing three practical steps to make that magic happen.
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#OneWord2019
I am excited to see what 2019 will bring, and I will use my #OneWord2019 to frame my mindset. Here are my thoughts on CONVERGE: Video Transcript: Hello and Happy New Year! I am very excited about the new year and about oneword 2019. I started committing to this one word idea for the new year after reading Jon Gordon’s book a few years back. Last year was probably my most successful year. I chose the word curious as my one word 2018 and I set up a curiosity journal. The journal had lots of really interesting side effects. I found that it made transparent my values, the things that…
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Constructing a Mini-Lesson: A 4 Part Framework
When my oldest daughter was four, she went through a dinosaur phase. All dinosaurs, all the time; it was impossible to discuss anything else. Throughout the year, we traveled as a family and she learned to read. Slowly, her interests began to broaden and develop, and now at the age of nine, while she is still fascinated by dinosaurs, she has an open mind about new information. New experiences and ideas allowed her to explore and, ultimately, find an appreciation for varying topics. Mini Lesson Framework: The same is true in our classrooms because students cannot think critically about nothing. Even in a learner-centered classroom, the teacher fills the critical…
