Category: Education

  • Teaching and Learning

    Recently, I finished the book A New Culture of Learning by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown that was published in 2011. The book was a fascinating, albeit slightly out of date, reflection on how teaching and learning have changed over the last twenty years, especially examining the impact of new technology during the time…

  • Rubrics – Killing Creativity?

    If you are at all like me, you have sat through a student presentation that left much to be desired. When sitting down to apply a grade to the student’s work, they score surprising well on the rubric. The student managed to stumble through a presentation, barely grasping the concepts, and then scored surprising well…

  • Focus & Engagement with Students

    It is has been a while since I posted. Wanted to get back into it during the busiest time of the year!  In the last few weeks, I have been reflecting on a couple of books and a training that I went through almost five years ago. I was fortunate to attend a Schlechty Center…

  • When a Grade is more than Academics

                    At the 2018 MACUL Conference, I joined a conversation around the topic of grading in the classroom, and one thing that popped up in the conversation was the idea of compliance-based grading. This was a topic that I have heard and dealt with before, but this renewed…

  • MACUL 18 Recap

    As the month of March winds down, I am wrestling with a lot of big thoughts in my heads about grading, grades, school culture, design thinking, and school climate. I am really wrestling with it. I can’t quite get it down coherently at this time. So, instead, you get some resources from an event that…

  • Hacking Google Slides – METS VirtuRally Presentation

    I am on the steering committee of an amazing, grassroots organization in the state of Michigan. The Michigan Educational Technology Specialist (METS) Group is comprised of over 600 Technology Integration Specialists and technology using teachers. The group hosts three major events for members throughout the year. In the fall, the METS Group hosts a Fall…

  • Happy Valentine’s Day! Don’t Forget to Show Love to Your Students!

    It’s Valentine’s Day! A day of love. A day of chocolate. A day of flowers. A day of little candy hearts with cute sayings! A day of expressing your feelings! While love is essential for all outside of school, we can’t turn that off when we come to school. While all the above are important…

  • Goal for 2018 – Don’t Be the Sea, Change

    While I am not one to set resolutions that the start of the year, I was able to travel to Eleuthera in the Bahamas over our winter break. We visited a beautiful place towards the north end of the island called Queen’s Bath, a formation that has been carved out thousands of years that has…

  • Response to Ideas That Will Break Education

    About every quarter, a group of tech coaches and integrators meet and discuss current projects, struggles, and what is happening in our schools at the Regional Education Service Agency. One of the county consultants shared Terry Heick’s 12 Ideas That Will Break Education. The goal was to have conversations around some of the items. I…

  • STREAM? Why not STREAMMSSFLPE?

    Full disclosure. I am a former social studies teacher. I have also taught math and engineering. I dabble in computer science with my students as well. I recently was invited to a webinar that was focused on STREAM education. Many are familiar with STEM and STEAM. But STREAM was new to me. The second part…