November 2011 Blog Posts (27)

OK, let me begin yet another blog by admitting that I am not writing about anything that is ground-breaking or new and I am also assuming that many other teachers have probably already used the idea of recording children's reading on i-pads.  But the elation I feel after having the dreaded feeling of losing teaching time to do assessments removedcompels me to write!

None of us get into the teaching field because we LOVE to assess, but we all come to  realize (begrudgingly) that…

On Wednesday there will be many an educational professional wrestling with their conscience. Do I strike to make the only protest I have against the cuts to my pension and the financial well being of my family or do I go in and make sure that my kids at school get the best that I can offer as a teaching professional.

This is the mindset of the vast majority of education professionals and within that term I capture all those dedicated public servants who work in schools.

As the…

http://hiesspanish.blogspot.com/2011/11/blog-post_28.html

To understand why certain decisions are made, we need to understand the decision maker and the pressures under which certain decisions are made. This is sometimes referred to as looking through the lens of the decision maker. It takes into view many of the factors pushing and pulling on an individual responsible for making a decision. Sometimes decisions of some magnitude may require a number of individuals on a number of levels to make separate decisions. Each of those decisions is made…

An article was referred to me via Twitter over the Thanksgiving break by Corey Haley titled "Caring+Intervention+Monitoring+Patience" bit.ly/rG7uOII I loved reading this because it reminded me of why I do my job and the best tool to use while doing my job: Caring and Patience. A good teacher always teaches with interventions already in place and we monitor those students.  However, we always have students that no matter how much we care,…

Although I have over 20 years coaching experience, with stints at the college and high school levels, my first year as a youth football coach has been the most rewarding. I was able to coach my son for the first time and our team won the Super Bowl! But I would like to emphasize that WINNING IS ONLY A BYPRODUCT OF DOING ALL THE "LITTLE THINGS" WELL. It is my intent to share 5 of the "Little Things" that I believe made our year Fun & Exciting.

1.…

The day before Thanksgiving and I have been cooped up all day in the house. This past weekend I attended NYSCATE and am still trying to digest all of the information taken in. Since last night, I have made a twitter account, a LinkedIn account, and have joined The Educator's PLN. This past weekend was really interesting to me. I learned that there are a lot of things in the social media aspect that I had no clue about. I am glad to have taken the plunge into social media with the hopes that…

Websites/Web 2.0 Tools

• http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/Home
• Discovery Educator Network Webinar Archives: http://community.discoveryeducation.com/about/webinar_archives.cfm
• Discovery Educator Network Live Webinar Registration:…

1. Projessional Subject Matter Experts:
   1. http://www.alfiekohn.org/articles.htm - Alfie Kohn
   2. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ - Richard Byrne
   3. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ - Paul Hamilton
2. Professional Resources:…

Day 1: The Setup

Recently, I recorded a TeacherCast Podcast with Brett Clark on the concept of a Flipped Classroom.  Brett is an E-Learning coach from the great state of Indiana and has been an invaluable resource to TeacherCast.  The concept of a Flipped Classroom is a very basic, yet revolutionary concept.  The learning of the subject, and the acquiring of knowledge is done by the student with the guidance of the instructor.  The topic is a hot…

I make it a habit each summer to try new things and to put myself in situations in which I will inevitably grow as an educator. This summer I made a very important decision. I decided to change the way I learn. Up until this point in my career, much of my knowledge derived from the latest educational best seller or from local conferences.…

We all should be feeling a sense of gratefulness as we head into this time of Thanksgiving.I realize that not all the hundreds of educators that I collaborate with world-wide, celebrate this holiday, so I hope you’ll indulge me.

Regardless of where you are in your life or career right now, there is at least one thing…

The other day, I don't remember why, we moved our desks. Instead of 6 groups of four, we ended up in two groups of 12. At some point during the day, my students asked me to leave the tables in two groups of 12. I took their request lightly, and began to dismiss it. But they pleaded, because they really enjoyed the new  layout of the room.  They began to support their request with strong reasons, and I relented. The desks stayed where they were, and have been like that for the last couple of…

I teach middle school math in Washington state. We had mapped our state standards to the Connected Math curriculum but with the adoption of the CCSS coming soon I was wondering if anyone had started mapping the new standards to this curriculum.

I have been changing my grading practices from a simple percentage based gradebook to a standards based gradebook. On every assessment the students receive multiple grades based on the standards being assessed on each quiz/test. We…

I have been trying to write this blog for several weeks now.  It is intended to be a follow up to my last post asking educators if we are speaking the same language as our students.  The more and more I follow other educators on twitter, the more I see we are writing the same posts, having the same discussions on #edchat and #educoach, and starting discussions on our own trying to find a solution to the same problems across the globe.  We are continuously talking about the elephant in the…

Ever since I started writing my blog, I wondered when I would reach the end of my road and run out of things to rant about. It seems that every time I approach that point, something pops up to get me started again. As luck would have it, two such events occurred today. One incident happened early today and the second came later in the day. Of course, for dramatic effect I will begin with the later.

Late in the afternoon I had an appointment with my dentist for a cleaning. It’s one of…

• Connecting with Students
• Passion for Teaching
• Attributes-Based Approach
• Importance of School Culture

These 4 "themes of success" form the cornerstone of a new book that I co-authored for Beginning Teachers.  It features the "voices" of 15 beginning and experienced teachers sharing practical, "real world" ideas from their classrooms.

The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning: Practical Ideas and Resources for…

Hi,

Probably most of you know about curation and curation tools, but for those who don't check out here please:

- http://www.scoop.it

My curations, most about Education: http://www.scoop.it/webwizard

You will, I am sure about it, find some very interesting stuff... Enjoy it...

Have a nice day and best…

So,I miss my innovation! I miss my technology! I miss my creativity! I miss my

time teaching 21st century learning skills! Let me explain, I love innovation.

I became a teacher because I love to learn. Granted, I like kids too but really

I love adding to my knowledge base and I wanted to be able to pass this love

on. I love knowing that I teach innovation and ways of…