In the beginning of the year, I used to create goals with my students and called it “Hopes and Dreams” based on the Responsive Classroom program. Then, back in 2013, Harry Banks (@kinderbanks) introduced the book, The Dot by Peter Reynolds to me. Immediately after talking about this book with Tabitha (@tabletj), told us about International… Continue reading The Dot: Goal Setting
Sidenote: The Plant
Behind the scenes in building the Class Constitution… I don’t like rules. I don’t like having to write, “Don’t do this, and don’t do that.” I like creating something that has a positive spin of “do this, and do that” as well as general enough that can be applied to most classroom situations. This brings… Continue reading Sidenote: The Plant
The Plant: Citizen
If we’re going to talk about being a Digital Citizen, I had to think about what word was going to be a challenge for the students in my class: citizen. To preempt the confusion that will come when we start talking about being a Digital Citizen, I decided to plant the word, citizen, into our… Continue reading The Plant: Citizen
Sidenote: The Plan
In thinking about this final project, I also had to include additional thoughts that’s not necessarily part of the “action.” Most of the background and the thinking behind what I’m doing will be included in the Sidenotes of this series. The main posts will be about the “action” that’s happening in the classroom. Standards First, as… Continue reading Sidenote: The Plan
The Plan: Sweet Spot
I struggle with the idea of Digital Citizenship. In a rapidly changing world, the idea of Digital Citizenship seems to be getting more complicated by the minute. That makes me think about how I can prepare elementary students to think about this concept. So, I decided to break down the elements of Digital Citizenship as… Continue reading The Plan: Sweet Spot
Looking Back to Move Forward (Course 4 Final Project)
So my COETAIL experience is getting close to the end, and my final project for the fourth course is to think of a unit or something that would fit into the redefinition category in the SAMR model. I had no idea where to start, so I decided to look back at the most salient ideas… Continue reading Looking Back to Move Forward (Course 4 Final Project)
Digital Work Time vs Digital Play Time
iPads are the enemy. That’s what some parents believe. Bringing a 1-to-1 iPad program into the elementary school is out of the question. Looking at their family structure where some adult members are glued to their iPads or smart phones, playing games have led them to think that they’ve had enough. iPads or smart phones… Continue reading Digital Work Time vs Digital Play Time
Where Does Elementary Fit In?
Imagine a traditional classroom where students are sitting in rows. Did you imagine something like this? This is the first image hit for searching “rows of students” on Google. Now Education has moved on beyond this. Students sit in groups now. Imagine that image. Here’s what Google came up with after searching “group work.” Now,… Continue reading Where Does Elementary Fit In?
I Hate Stickers: Gaming and Education
I hate stickers. I don’t like using them to reward a student for high achievement. I don’t’ like using them to reward good behavior. When I was in elementary school, I remember getting stickers for all of those things and I don’t remember what I had accomplished to get them. Going to school and doing… Continue reading I Hate Stickers: Gaming and Education
Deciphering PPCBL
We throw around acronyms in education. As educators, we must either really like them or really like to name things with long words (sometimes). We use acronyms like UbD, PBA, SAT, SAMR, TPACK, IEP just to name a few. Deciphering all these different acronyms and keeping up with them can be a mind boggling task… Continue reading Deciphering PPCBL
