Rejuvenating Education One Day At A Time
150 years of content in five weeks? Yeah, no problem. The students were in charge. In a lightning speed brainstorm with the founder of L-EAF, Jeff Burstein, the way unit planning was typically done flipped on its side. Instead of spending weeks meticulously planning every movement and learning path in the classroom I developed one... Continue Reading →
Bringing Agile to education means developing and driving your course with intention. Lessons are not copied from internet sources, or thought up the morning of. There is a level of flow that must be achieved within the learning objectives that builds knowledge and skill acquisition throughout a unit and the year. Being intentional and mindful... Continue Reading →
In January I was plugging along. My students were using EduScrum quite seamlessly. Our Constitution unit had just launched and I was staring straight towards the bright light at the end of the year. Everything was flowing. I had reduced friction in my teaching. All of my students were interactive and collaborating. Everything was good. ... Continue Reading →
With so much curriculum to cover, all of US History and Government, the question is often posed as to why we spend so much time sketchnoting and working through the Constitution line by line. Other teachers find that using summaries, moving through the document with game-like lessons, or graphic organizers work well for their students.... Continue Reading →
As we round the circle at the end of our Constitution unit the room is buzzing with energy. Students are out of their seats, holding their laptops like busy waiters during dinner service while chatting away to their peers on zoom, and pulling through the junk drawer of creative supplies. The time to put all... Continue Reading →
In our U.S. Constitution unit the students are tasked with sketch noting each article as a way of diving deep into the meaning of each section and clause. The ideas have to bounce around their heads as they figure out how to make words written in 1787 into visuals. The sketch noting forces students to... Continue Reading →
Sitting in a meeting about authenticating assessment, my mind wanders to the overall state of education. Here we are almost 1 year into a pandemic. Our systems have been thrown against a wall and decimated. Pivoting in a weekend our normal flow of life came to a dead stop. Everything started spinning and it isn’t... Continue Reading →
The 8th grade students have decided that this year we are re-writing our Constitution to intertwine it with game design. The students expressed that they wanted to learn design thinking and create games that show their mastery of the U.S. Constitution. Excitedly, I jumped into planning. Content goals first, skill goals second. Every year students... Continue Reading →
Reading the U.S. Constitution is not a priority of my 8th grade students. At this point in the year their genuine interest has built about the Constitution, but the actual want to read a document written in 1787 is not on this "Must Do" list. This year we have the extra challenge of students transitioning... Continue Reading →
When Middle School students are told they are going to engage with a primary source the feeling of the room shifts. The smiling faces disappear. The air becomes stagnant. All joy in the world has been stifled. Not even the worlds most famous break up letter brightens their faces. The Declaration of Independence is not... Continue Reading →
