Clik here to view.
Grow Smart or Go Home
Growth Mindset + Technology = Unstoppable Students Reading Mindset: The New Psychology of Success is changing the way I think about school, teaching, cooking, writing, reading, parenting, biking… well,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Lonely Chicken Dance
Don’t try the Chicken Dance all by yourself. It is depressing. The infamous Chicken Dance must be done together, in a group, surrounded by many other ridiculous looking people. And in that moment of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Your Students will Run the World!
Are They Going to be Ready? Students are used to easy problems with easy solutions. “I am very concerned about this because I am going to retire in a world that my student will run” Dan Meyer says at...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Course 1 Final Project on Reading Nonfiction: Voices of the Past and Present
Voices of the Past and Present: Reading Nonfiction I made a website to grab their attention! It is full of historical photographs and interesting links. There are links to videos I made about why and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
We Have Nine Months
Some moments are unforgettable. Empowering Kids Online: An Important Strategy to Keep Them Safe brought one such memory back… Searching for a missing student… finding her weeping because of another...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Look At What My Students Did
Yes, all of my students posted their work on the internet. And yes, I was nervous about this happening. What if they wrote something offensive? What if they didn’t get any comments? What if someone got...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Building Empathy in a Digital World
How can we build empathy in our students in this digital world? My principle came and talked to my students last year about how cyberbullying is much like the terrible deeds of the KKK. It is done by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
School Architecture Encourages Empathy
Architect Takaharu Tezuka created a Kindergarten that “doesn’t fight against kids’ natural impulses. It counts on them.” By making the building a circle, the students can run and play without feeling...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Letter to My Students
(In my classes I have a blog and so do my students. I shared this with them there.) Dear students, You have so many years ahead of you. Years of joy, and hard work, and ups and downs… What an exciting...
View ArticleCourse 2 Final Project RUP New and Improved!
Reflection Not sure how to create a group or who to ask, I started by looking at other COETAIL blogs. Alexis Snider and Cory Milone have been on my radar as two bloggers that I respect and follow....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Paint 4 Peace
A picture can change everything. Take, for example, the photo in the news of the little Syrian boy on the beach. I have been living in the Middle East for three years. One of the reasons we moved there...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Peace One Day: September 21
peaceoneday.org Peace One Day will be celebrated all over the world this September 21st. I wanted to celebrated here at my school in the Middle East. But how could I get my students, teachers, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wicked Smart
I am going to take this presentation from wicked bad to wicked smart! Last year was the first time I was involved in creating a student community of bloggers. There were two schools, three teachers,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Welcome to the Movies!
My students LOVE movies. So this week I made them a movie. I started making movies last year but I was unaware of all the copyright laws and therefore my old videos now need a tuneup. Reading all about...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Blogging Bravely: Students exploring, publishing, and collaborating within a...
This post has been four years in the making. I began blogging with my students four years ago and tested the waters by letting them share their blogs with me. They were mildly interested in sharing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Glogster is Hipster
My 7th grade students were struggling with understanding how to write about books. This COETAIL section on infographics and visual note taking was just what I needed to jump start my thinking outside...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Using Technology: From Memorization to Creation
” Teaching requires the transformation of content in ways that make it intellectually accessible to students.” – Punya Mishra and Matthew Koehler Why do you use technology in the classroom? How has it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Power of Story: PBL and Writer’s Workshop
Photo by Kate Hall My father was the only white man that stepped foot on this tiny Riau island in 80 years. The last white man had been a Dutch sailor from the time when Indonesia was occupied by the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Are You Game?
Being a teacher is constantly experimenting. How have you tried using games in your classroom? Back in the dark ages before Minecraft and Kahoot (only 8 years ago) I used to print game boards, create...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Welcome to The School of Community Service
Don’t we have incredibly detailed memories of the times we’ve done community service? I vividly remember the beautiful little faces of the Syrian girls I painted flowers and hearts on near the Zaatari...
View Article
