After my last post on creativity and being open to new ideas, I wanted to stretch my thinking and dive into the creation of a podcast. I didn’t want this to be any old podcast, but one that focuses on student voice, kindergarten to 5th grade. With this in mind, I began to compile resources…
Category: Engagement
Why are you an artist, Dad?
Why am I an artist? Our daughters posed this question to me earlier this week as I was trying a new way to create. I am always amazed by the way paint works and saw some interesting acrylic pours at our local farmer’s market leading me to try this new method and I asked our…
A Bridge to Creativity
Ask yourself this question and think about your response……. “What are the interests of your students?” If I were to ask myself this question I could possibly name a few interests of a couple students, but not everyone. That’s unfortunate since I am missing so many chances to engage students through their own interests. The…
Add a dash of imagination
Add a dash of imagination to ………. (fill in the blank)? When we begin to investigate what it is we do everyday, what stands out? For me, the times where I can be creative stand out. Add a dash of imagination and I bet you can create an interesting story. The opportunities I create along…
Transforming through the 3 W’s
“I Have the Answers to the Questions They Never Ask”sparked a thought in my brain about how many of our students go through the day with new thoughts or questions, and an untapped potential of expertise hiding below the surface. This quote “I Have the Answers to the Questions They Never Ask” came from the book…
Planning..With…Students
This year has been one of the most difficult years I’ve had as a teacher. Moving towards a more collaborative based structure with my students as planners has been a real struggle. Behavior and the ability to self reflect does not change in one year, yet I’m more than happy to take on that challenge….
Small Cubes, Huge Opportunities
Throughout the last year I have been experimenting with the game based creation tool called Bloxels and I have been blown away by the possibilities. What amazes me the most are the attitudes of the students as they receive feedback from their peers and revise their game creations. These little blocks pack an amazingly powerful…
Thinking Differently
Throughout the day we have opportunities to think differently, to value thought patterns that might not be our own, and ask questions from different viewpoints. The question that I have been wondering about is how often do the adults think differently so that students can think differently? We are in a profession that is helping…
Collaboration, not just with adults
To learn in just one way is to do a disservice to what learning truly is. Think of all the different ways that people learn, visually, online, books, social media, making, and more. If we were to just choose one way to learn, would we be better? Would we be where we are today? Those…
Challenging thoughts and culture
How we react to problems shows so much about the culture of a school, of a community, of a society. Think about what happens when someone constantly has en excuse for not solving a problem, what comes from that? Excuses keep us in the past, thoughtful reflection brings us into the future. When we begin…
Feedback……collaborative or punitive?
When I take a picture I get instant feedback on how I did. I can determine the exposure, color, framing, all within a second of taking that picture. Some might look at this as instant gratification, but I look at it through the lens of learning. You see, I really didn’t like taking pictures until…
I can’t wait….
This will be a series of 4 posts over the next few weeks thinking about how to change our thinking on learning. I can’t wait until teachers start to hand over the control to students. I can’t wait until learning is ingrained into all our lives, not just given lip service. I can’t wait…
Curiosity, Exploration, Wonder 