He REALLY Said That! - Episode 7 - Debriefing 5 Best Practices for PBL
In this episode, the Algebra 1 PLC debriefs the end of their project-based learning unit, "The Lemonade Hustle" using a recent Edutopia article, "5 PBL Best Practices for Refining the Teacher's Role"...
View ArticleDo Your Students DESERVE Technology?
"Well, its they fault for having iPads..." This was a students' response a couple weeks ago when I told everyone we were putting their project on hiatus because someone in their class walked out with...
View ArticleNCAA Tourney Simulation 2015
Following a process similar to last year's, I used the fan picks on Yahoo Fantasy Pick 'Em as a "true proportion," assigned integers according to those percentages for each team, and then used the...
View Article5 Ways to Respond to a Students' Phone Being Out Besides Smashing It
You've seen a video like this, right? I don't want to get on a high horse and pretend there hasn't been a time or two through the years that it hasn't been a dreamy proposition, but is this ever...
View ArticleThe Infinite Chocolate Trick, Tangrams, and Area on the Coordinate Plane
With 2 months to go in this semester, it'll be time this week to begin the work on the last big project in my Applied Math class where the kids use tangrams to study area, the distance formula, and...
View Article"Hangout" with an Expert
My district is holding a STEM Expo next week, and I thought this was an excellent opportunity for my AP Stats students to present the statistical significance projects they design and conduct at the...
View ArticlePBIS Success: Think Like a Coder?
I've got PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Supports) on the brain a lot right now - I'm in the first week of actually implementing a lottery ticket system I dreamed up last year, and am taking a...
View ArticleDoes Major League Baseball Need a Stats Lesson?
I saw this data in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last week claiming that the Cardinals are the 6th most expensive team to see at their home park. (the "FCI" averages all of the columns from this chart...
View ArticleTip Tuesday - Copy Your Padlets for Other Sections
I love using Padlet as a landing strip for students to share ideas, work, or problems they're creating. Here's some ways I've used Padlet on my class set of iPads: backchannel students' summary...
View ArticleAP Stats at the STEM Expo
I moved up the timing of my statistical inference/experiment design test this spring (usually its the "capstone" project kids do as their final) so that we could participate in our district's STEM...
View ArticleIs YOUR School #FutureReady? Here's What Some Students Said -
I had to pleasure of "crashing" the St. Louis Regional Future Ready School Summit last week as a part of the volunteer team, so I've been reflecting a lot on my own practices, some of the decisions we...
View ArticleHe REALLY Said That! - Episode 8 - Can You Be Replaced By a Youtube Channel?
Sparked by reflections on conversations I've had with students the last couple years about flipped classroom models and their perceptions of teachers who use them, I signed up for a session at last...
View ArticleCan Your Students Hide?
The schools that we need demand different. They need to support the open and transparent world that is exploding around education. This begins with pushing students into the center of the ring. In the...
View ArticleThe Worst Way A Student Makes You Feel Uncompassionate
A student makes several mistakes of effort, attitude, or has just struggled with the content and is certain for a failing grade, yet comes to you right before the end of the term asking if they "still...
View ArticleMy PBIS Lottery System
I initially came up with idea of using a lottery system in your class as a universal, Tier 1 support for PBIS one year ago this week, but never felt the "need" to implement it until this semester. I...
View ArticleIs it Tech-Ready? 3D Solids Town Project
A large part of my job as self-appointed edtech evangelist in my building is seeking out opportunities for my colleagues to take something they are already doing that works well and take it to an even...
View ArticleEnrich Class Discussions by Podcasting Them
This post describes the rationale and some nuts and bolts of the Government class podcast I'm working on this summer. You can read more about that class and listen to the episodes at...
View ArticleUsing Visual Notes for Memory and Understanding
Are you an doodler? Associating notes and terms with images is helpful for recalling information later, so doodling (or finding images that relate and then pasting in) is a good strategy for taking...
View ArticleGive Your Students "College Ready" Texts They'll WANT To Read
Its no secret that the ACT (and success in college as a whole) is dependent upon a high-level of reading comprehension. The science section on the ACT has much, much more to do with reading and...
View ArticleCreating Memes as Modern-Day Political Cartoons
Finding or drawing political cartoons to express the absurdity or irony of a historical perspective has long been a staple of history class. I remember creating a political cartoon in my study of...
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