
-
USAFA 2025 Grad Parade
Today I had the opportunity to attend the graduation parade at the United States Air Force Academy for the Class of 2025. This is an all-wing parade, and features a special “wedge formation” by the firstees or seniors, who wear gold sashes around their waist. When Academy cadets join the wing after basic cadet training…
-
Ep 483: Creativity, Code, and Compassion: AI Lessons from Middle School and Beyond
In this special 20th-anniversary episode of Moving at the Speed of Creativity, Wes Fryer reflects on a dynamic year of teaching and explores how artificial intelligence—especially through the Flint AI platform—has reshaped his middle and high school classrooms. From supporting refugee advocacy with student-created “InfoPics,” to guiding AP Computer Science students through AI-assisted writing practice,…
-
Martian Perchlorates in Minecraft Education
My middle school computer science students are wrapping up the last project in our “Minecraft Mars” or Coding Mars” unit this month. (In April 2025) In this unit, my 6th, 7th and 8th graders use Microsoft MakeCode for Minecraft to make a “robot” (their “agent”) autonomously farm different kinds of plants, build protective glass domes…
-
Coding Mars
This is an audio recording and the presentation slides from “Coding Mars with Minecraft Makecode and Scratch,” my presentation on March 25, 2025 at the NCMLE ‘Middle School Matters’ Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. The session description was: Build a Mars Colony In Minecraft with Robots and Code? YES! In our middle school computer programming class,…
-
Wisdom from Heather Smith
Heather Smith is the 2024 North Carolina Teacher of the Year! She teaches 8th grade math teacher at Waynesville Middle School in Haywood County Schools. These are my notes from her presentation, “Teachers: The Ultimate Influencers“ at the March 24, 2025 NCMLE ‘Middle School Matters’ Conference MY THOUGHT AND REFLECTIONS ARE IN ALL CAPS. In this…
