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Context is King
I have vivid memories of my high school chemistry class. I can almost feel the splintered wood chair beneath my legs and smell the sourish, sweet scent that filled the room (the origin of which, I never dared to ask). I was a fairly successful student, but chemistry left me flummoxed. After memorizing the elements on the periodic table and units of measurement (some of which may have been completely fabricated by our quirky teacher, as “Googling it” was at least 5 years in the future), it felt we spent the remainder of the year balancing equations and performing experiments completely disconnected from the work we completed at our seats.…
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Grit Does Not Apply To Worksheets
One of the things that really gets my nerd juices going is Angela Duckworth’s research on grit. I am personally a big fan of hard work, so this idea of grittiness really appeals to me. (I won’t be recounting the depth of her research here, but if you are interested, definitely check out her book or even better, have her read it to you). Duckworth’s work intrigues me because she has found that grit is one of the single most consistent predictors of success. Individuals who have the ability to show grit are far more likely to reach success and achieve goals. Duckworth defines grit as “the tendency to sustain…
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Is Curiosity The Exception Or The Norm? My #ONEWORD2018
“I wish I loved to read the way you love to read. It is so hard for me to get through a book.” I had just finished sharing some information from a book I was reading, when a colleague of mine made this statement. The comment itself was mostly off-handed and the conversation moved on from there, but the words really hung on me. While it is true, I do like to read, what I really love to read is fiction. Especially realistic fiction, and if I am being completely honest, Young Adult Realistic Fiction is my absolute favorite genre. Needless to say, I wasn’t quoting a YA fiction book…
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Happy Birthday #HackingPBL – FREE Course For You
Ross: What do you think about writing a book on PBL? Me: I think you’re crazy. Ross: Just think about it. If I’m being honest, I tried not to think about it. Unfortunately, the idea got stuck in my head. At first I fixated mostly on my failures: terrible rubrics, lengthy directions, displays of content rather than displays of learning, and the list could go on. Eventually, my stream of consciousness turned to the solutions I created (often times through a conversation with Ross), and then my wheels really started spinning. The true tipping point, however, came later in the week, when I bumped into a former student. She approached…
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#PersonalizedLiteracy – Tackling the Whole Class Novel
One of the things I find myself talking about a lot is our work to transition to Personalized Literacy classrooms. In classrooms where literacy is personalized, students spend time reading and writing in class. They also have the opportunity to talk about their reading and writing with teachers, classmates, and a global audience. The following is episode one in my #PersonalizedLiteracy series, where I will discuss ways to overcome some of the barriers to a learner centered literacy approach. Listen to the podcast:
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Need More Time? Three Things To STOP Doing In Your Classroom.
How many times a day do you say (or think), “I just need more time.” It is a regular topic of conversation in my circles. So, I have recently tried to tune into creative ways teachers save instructional time. This episode focuses on three ideas I have found to be most effective!
