Apr 03, 2020
How many times as educators have we uttered a version of these phrases? “We don’t have time for that” or “I would love to do that but I don’t have time.”
Suddenly, guess what we have? Time. Unexpectedly we have received the gift of time. The gift of time to do those things we never have time to do. We have the gift of time as educators. We have the gift of time as learners. We have the gift of time as parents.
Mar 27, 2020
Super skills, twenty-first century skills, best practices—whatever you want to call the 4C’s (creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, communication), they are an integral part of the student experience in our classroom. Even so, sometimes a pathway to incorporate the 4C’s may seem evasive or like it takes too much time. Adding the following tools and ideas to an instructional toolbox can support a seamless incorporation of the 4C’s into our teaching and learning for all students.
Mar 20, 2020
“What do you remember most about elementary school?”
While preparing for an international conference presentation in Finland on quality education, I reached out to my former 5th grade students (who are now in their mid-20s) with this question via social media. I anticipated typical responses like friendships, sports, and field trips.
Instead, their responses left me speechless
Mar 13, 2020
Mar 06, 2020
People often ask how I became interested in writing grant applications for my school. The answer is simple—there are many interests I want to foster in my students that often require additional funding to achieve. Here’s how I went about making that happen.
Feb 28, 2020
“Yay! We love coding!” The students shout. One student starts jumping up and down. This is the excitement I love seeing in the computer lab. My students get excited about different projects and activities, but there is something powerful about learning to code. I tell my students it is like having digital superpowers.
Feb 21, 2020
Feb 14, 2020
Each month we publish blogs and several newsletters full of digital learning, funding, professional growth, social media, and STEM resources. Below are items from our blogs and newsletters that educators turned to the most in January.
Feb 07, 2020
Are you curious how you might integrate computer science in your upper elementary classroom, or are you looking for a unique way to have your students share their favorite books? With technology playing an increasingly important role in every profession, a foundational understanding of computer science is becoming an essential component of student learning. To authentically integrate computer science and literacy, I’m going to teach you how to support your students in using block-based coding to program book trailers.
Jan 31, 2020
As an educator of many years, change has always been an influential companion on this exciting journey of teaching students. Lately, change seems to be the driving force of everything. This became very evident when I asked my students what careers they would like to have in the future. Their answers were very different from the usual pro ball players and nurses—they said they wanted to be YouTubers! This shows just how prevalent technology is in their everyday lives, both in and out of school.
Jan 24, 2020
We’ve talked about the elements of story and creating conflict. Now we’re going to get into structuring the rising action of your classroom’s story. As your students work towards resolving the conflict you’ve introduced, they will traverse different paths that ultimately lead them to a climax and a resolution. These are seven strategies that can be used to guide your students’ stories:
Jan 17, 2020
Each month we publish blogs and several newsletters full of digital learning, funding, professional growth, social media, and STEM resources. Below are items from our blogs and newsletters that educators turned to the most in December.
Jan 10, 2020
Jan 03, 2020
My previous blog discussed how to structure classroom projects into stories. There are five elements of a story you must consider when creating an epic project: theme, plot, setting, characters, and conflict. I’d like to dive deeper into one of those elements: conflict.
Dec 13, 2019
By Taylor Kremer
Each month we publish blogs and several newsletters full of digital learning, funding, professional growth, social media, and STEM resources. Below are items from our blogs and newsletters that educators turned to the most in November.
Digital Learning • Learning Support
Funding & Recognition
Mobile Learning
Professional Growth
Social Media
STEM • STEAM • STREAM