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4 steps to making rigorous discussion a routine

For many of us who are intimidated by the idea of “rigor” and exactly what it means to make our lessons more rigorous, thinking about it as a routine can make it more real and doable for us, reports Edutopia. Because to really raise rigor and push our students, it’s not about anything more that we can teach them, it’s about setting up the right environment for them to think critically and engage in analysis and problem solving. Discussion is one fail-safe way to do this, no matter the content area. Our math teacher leaders have really been pushing discussion as a key to rigor. Here are some ways to set up a strong discussion routine in your class…

Get ready for Digital Learning Day with these resources

The third annual Digital Learning Day is on February 5, 2014, Edutopia reports. We’ve compiled some useful resources to help you celebrate the day with your class and support digital learners all year long…

Teaching the essential skills of the mobile classroom

Think back 20 years, Edutopia reports. Pay phones still worked, and only doctors carried pagers. Laptops weighed as much as bowling balls, and few of us had Internet access. In fact, much of what we now consider commonplace — Google, email, WiFi, texting — was not even possible. If that was 20 years ago, where are we going in the next 20? We are all going mobile! Tablets, smartphones, Chromebooks — and yet, these devices only serve as the most recent iteration of mobile technology in the classroom. Remember Netbooks? How about those old-school Macbooks that looked like toilet seat covers? What if we go back further? What about chalk and slate?

The best measure of success and how to teach it

Can you predict academic success or whether a child will graduate? You can, but not how you might think, reports Edutopia. When psychologist Angela Duckworth studied people in various challenging situations, including National Spelling Bee participants, rookie teachers in tough neighborhoods, and West Point cadets, she found: “One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. And it wasn’t social intelligence. It wasn’t good looks, physical health, and it wasn’t IQ. It was grit.”

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Why BYOD makes sense: Thinking beyond a standardized 1:1

I was recently asked, “Why are you giving the teachers choice of a laptop? Why not just go all in with one device?” My answer, simply stated, is that homogenization of any tool is never a good idea in a context that is intended to foster creativity, Edutopia reports. The same argument is underway with the Common Core. Many fear that we are homogenizing educational standards and limiting opportunity for creativity, hacking and boundless exploration. That explains the viral popularity of Ethan Young, a Tennessee student who, at a school board meeting, provided an eloquent breakdown of what the Common Core really is and how it is affecting teachers. His points are valid, but the same points have been raised for years in education only to fall upon the deaf ears of bureaucrats…

Should coding be the “new foreign language” requirement?

Over the decades, students have been required to take a foreign language in high school for reasons that relate to expanding communication abilities, furthering global awareness, and enhancing perspective-taking, Edutopia reports. Recently, our home state of Texas passed legislation that enables computer science to fulfill the high school foreign language requirement. Coding (defined by BusinessDictionary.com as “the process of developing and implementing various sets of instructions to enable a computer to do a certain task”) is, after all, both a language and a foreign subject to many students — and much more…

Let tech organize your teaching

By now, many new and veteran teachers are settling into the routine of the new school year, Edutopia reports. Hopefully, the back-to-school anxiety levels have subsided and classrooms are alive with learning. Notice that I said “hopefully.” Speaking as someone who spent nine years in the classroom, this was usually the point in the year where I started to feel unorganized and scattered. I had a plan, scope and sequence, but still felt like my organizational methods were beginning to spiral. This feeling occurred in classrooms where I had technology at my disposal and classrooms where I did not. The combination of feeling like you never have a minute to spare, stacks of papers to grade, parents to attend to, and the ever-constant email slowly taking over your precious free time…all of this can frustrate even the most efficient teacher.

Using QR codes to differentiate instruction

An expectation of the Common Core Learning Standards is that teachers differentiate their instruction to meet the needs of all children, Edutopia reports. This includes special education and general education students, as well as English-Language Learners. One of my favorite technology tools, the QR code, can be used to meet the needs of a variety of students in one classroom. Teachers can create QR codes for differentiated instruction activities…