Note: As of 1 Oct 2026, this is a FULL STATIC COPY of all 6,390 posts shared on this blog since 2003. Updated content and ideas from Wes Fryer are still available!

Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wes Fryer

Category: design

  • SmartPhones to Consider Besides the iPhone

    I’d like to share several smartphones BESIDES the iPhone to consider purchasing and using. I have not decided for sure if I’m going to upgrade my iPhone 6S to the iPhone 7 or to a model by a different manufacturer. In this post, I’ll review several REASONS to consider iPhone-alternative smartphones as well as specific…

  • How Microsoft is Poised to Destroy MinecraftEDU

    As an elementary STEM teacher turned technology director, I’m extremely enthusiastic about the positive potential for students and teachers to use MinecraftEDU software to create powerful learning experiences. I’m extremely disappointed and sad, however, to learn about the changes and price structure which Microsoft is making to the “MinecraftEDU School Edition” set for official release on…

  • Podcast446: Reflections on a PBS Scratch Jr Coding Camp for Kids

    Coding is an important literacy skill we need to introduce to everyone in the 21st century! This podcast features reflections by Shelly Fryer (@sfryer) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) following a PBS Scratch Jr. Coding Camp for Kids in Edmond, Oklahoma, on September 17, 2016. It also includes some recorded audio from Shelly’s lessons during the…

  • MinecraftEDU House Spanish Labeling Challenge

    Today I co-taught a lesson with one of our middle school Spanish teachers called the “MinecraftEDU House Spanish Labeling Challenge.” Students worked with a partner to build a house in MinecraftEDU, and then labeled items in Spanish using Minecraft signs. To keep the focus on building and labeling items in Spanish, students worked in a pre-configured MinecraftEDU world which…

  • Experimenting with WordPress on the Google Cloud with Bitnami

    Hold on to your hats, because this post is going to extend my personal “geek quotient” a bit and may for you as well. As you read, keep in mind I’m a teacher and school technology director, not a full time coder or web developer. I’m sharing this post to document my own learning curve…

  • Balancing Choice and Freedom for Happiness and Satisfaction

    I’ve read some articles and watched some videos this week which have helped me think more deeply about choice, freedom, happiness and satisfaction.  These thoughts have implications in diverse spaces, from my smart phone and the notifications I choose to put into my mind’s information radar screen on a daily basis like stumbling blocks or highway detour…

  • Podcast442: Classroom Passion Projects, Maker Studio & Digital Citizenship with Shelly Fryer

    This Speed of Creativity podcast features an extended interview with 3rd and 4th grade teacher Shelly Fryer, who shares about her students’ classroom passion projects, learning in “Maker Studio,” and learning about digital citizenship via the class chat feature of the iPad app News-O-Matic. Shelly has been teaching for over twenty years, and this was…

  • Podcast441: iPads in Maker Studio by Shelly Fryer (May 2016)

    This podcast is a recording of Shelly Fryer’s presentation “iPads in Maker Studio” via a Google Hangout for the 2016 Global Maker Day Conference. The session description was: “Learn how our third and fourth grade students use their iPads in our maker studio to document their learning and share both inside and outside our classroom.…

  • Best Stylus for iPad Drawing and Sketchnoting

    One of our teachers asked for my recommendation of a good iPad stylus to use for drawing and illustration today. Here’s what I shared with her. I’ve used a number of styluses in the past few years and my favorite is definitely the Jot Pro by Adonit. Make sure you get the iPad version. You can…

  • 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…