Tag: classroom

  • 15 Things I Love About My Classroom (and teaching situation!)

    I’ve been teaching and working in education since 1995. The past 3 years, as I’ve served as a media literacy teacher, instructional coach for our teachers, and (last year) an introductory Spanish teacher have been some of my best ever. Yesterday afternoon and evening, I recorded and edited a 17 minute video I titled, “15…

  • Comparing Sharing Spaces: Google Classroom and SeeSaw

    Every classroom needs sharing spaces. In addition to physical, face-to-face sharing spaces (walls, a data projector or TV, hallways) our classrooms need DIGITAL sharing spaces. These spaces should support sharing both INSIDE and OUTSIDE the classroom. Understanding the benefits and limitations of different SHARING SPACES is important for teachers and educational leaders. A couple months…

  • David Jakes on Learning Spaces (April 2016)

    David Jakes (@djakes) is not only one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet, he’s also an amazingly knowledgeable and articulate educator with fantastic insights into the design and redesign of learning spaces. He recently spent two years working with The Third Teacher (@thethirdteacher) helping organizations worldwide design and redesign learning spaces, and he’s continuing work in…

  • Podcast 439: Best Day of Classroom Blogging Ever with Shelly Fryer

    This podcast features an interview with 3rd and 4th grade teacher Shelly Fryer on January 29, 2016, in Oklahoma City. Shelly teaches in a 1:1 iPad classroom at Positive Tomorrows, a special school for homeless children which also serves their families in multiple ways. Shelly has been using blogging websites with her students for three years,…

  • Custom Domain Mapping for a Classroom Google Site

    Today I worked with our wonderful lower school (elementary) art teacher, and started helping her create a classroom website using Google Sites. A classroom website, built on a wiki-based platform like Google Sites which permits browser-based page editing and page creation, can become a “digital home base” for students, parents, and other teachers to access…

  • Advice for Teachers Starting with Classroom Blogging

    Today was the first day of EdCampVoxer, and I’ve loved the conversations in several of the rooms including “Making as Learning,” “Let’s explore blogging- writing and reading for professional growth!,” and “Green Screen Videos.” This morning and afternoon, I collected many of the shared links from the Green Screen discussion and organized them in a Google…

  • Handy Features of Google Classroom

    This week I taught my first workshop on Google Classroom to faculty at my new school, and we learned some exciting things together during the session. Having good answers to the question “how do my students turn in their digital work to me as a teacher” is SO important in schools today, and Google Classroom provides…

  • Classroom Blogging Options (August 2015)

    Every classroom needs a moderated, online space where students can share their ideas with others and receive feedback. While blogging has “been around” and used in classrooms all over the world for more than ten years now, classroom blogs are still rare in many schools and communities. Like other kinds of technology, blogging platforms have…

  • Furniture Quest for a Collaborative Classroom

    I’m in the Dallas, Texas, area this weekend (in Allen, specifically) serving as a chauffeur for my in-laws, who are visiting family. I’m also, however, on a furniture quest for my wife, as she seeks to create more spaces in her elementary classroom for collaboration and engaged learning. Yesterday I spent a couple hours at…

  • 2015 Classroom Challenge: STEM Curiosity Links

    As 2014 draws to a close and we look forward to what 2015 will bring, I’d like to share a simple and fun classroom challenge with you: STEM Curiosity Links. For the past two semesters, I’ve made a point of sharing several STEM “curiosity links” with my students at least once per week. On days I share…