Great App for Your Class and Home
Shout out to Dr. Geoff Price for showing his students and me this really neat app for Apple products called Green Screen by Do Ink for just $2.99. Used on the iPad, this program allows you to insert your own…
Where the Arts are Alive and Well
I admit, I am a harsh critic when it comes to teaching. I am quick to find holes in pedagogy and engagement; skeptical when I hear about the best teacher in the school from the administrator. To be fair, I…
Where Common Core Is Working
I was in a second grade classroom this week observing one of my elementary education majors in her room. The cooperating teacher was leading the morning work review of two digit addition. In what seemed as natural to us as…
Electronators
I have come across countless positive, hard-working, dedicated educators as I have traveled across the country. In fact, I am confident that most of the educators I have met are there to do the best job they can, and are…
Yes, I Still Teach Like This in College (Part 1 & 2)
PART I One of the more frequent questions I have been asked since transitioning from the K-12 world to the college world is “How have you changed my teaching?” The answer is simple: I haven’t. I still pride myself on…
15 for ’15
Here are 15 things you can try out in your classroom in 2015: 1) Start a classroom Twitter or Instagram feed: Many of your students (especially in the older grades) and/or students’ parents have their own accounts, so why not…
4 Ways to Make Tutoring More Fun
Why do kids need tutoring? Some are behind on content and they need to be caught up. Others already understand the material and need to be pushed more. And then there are always students who need specific work on individual…
What Great Schools Look Like
It’s funny, this week I have had three separate conversations with administrators all revolving around the same topic: what does a great school look like? It’s a good question, especially when you consider that there are many types of schools,…
Homework! We’re talkin’ ’bout homework!
An ode to one of my favorite sports rants of all time, Allen Iverson, as he proclaimed, “Practice! We’re talkin’ ’bout practice!” I wanted to talk about an often dreaded, always opinionated topic in the world of education: homework. Over…
First Day Activity Idea
It’s been a while since I have had a chance to write a blog post, primarily due to the consumption of my life with the release of my book. [insert shameless plug for Inside the Trenches, out now on Amazon.com]…
