“I saw student choice. The kids were writing their own songs. It was definitely DOK-4.” We were debriefing an instructional rounds experience after observing a fourth grade music class. The teacher-observer was pretty insistent that this was engaged, student-directed learning … Continue reading The Starting Point
While hiking in the park the other day, we encountered some Sharon conglomerate. In our area, almost all of the rock is sedimentary shale and sandstone. Conglomerate is pretty rare. It’s composed of bits of quartz bound together by sandstone. … Continue reading Pretty Rocks
It’s been a year, now. It was going to be a couple weeks, but we all knew it wasn’t going to be a couple weeks. We told ourselves what we needed to hear to get through it. We did get … Continue reading It’s Been a Year
We want our students to be problem solvers. We want them to use their critical thinking and innovation skills to combine knowledge across disparate domains to find creative solutions to complex problems. We want them to be collaborative and articulate … Continue reading Common Language
I can’t believe how far we’ve come. To say that 2020 has been challenging is certainly an understatement. We’ve seen our world upended to an extent that was unfathomable a year ago. I remember that we couldn’t wait to get … Continue reading Impossible
I want to free my students from textbooks. They shouldn’t have to carry half their weight around in their backpacks all the time. When they get to middle school, it starts to get out of hand. Each student has 4-6 … Continue reading A Textbook Description
It would be easy for a self-proclaimed educational technologist to claim that technology is an indispensable component of modern education. It’s not. What do you really need to teach a child how to read? You need a child. You need … Continue reading The Role of Technology in Education
Taste of Tech 