Ideas related to the big picture of teaching and learning as well as reflections from the learning process.
One statement that I have been seeing a lot lately, and one that I agree with, is that there is really no such thing as “digital natives”. Many people, including many teachers, look at todays kids/students and just write off their abilities with technology and the internet as being naturally born with the ability to…
Google Apps have been a huge resource in my classroom and in the classrooms of teachers that I get to work with. Google Apps make it very easy to embed the 4C’s of digital learning in today’s classroom and are constantly improving to make the learning more effective each day. I have used the apps…
I was out on a run this morning when I realized how much I wish our schools were more like my experience training for a 5K versus what some of them are like now. As I am a firm believer in trying to maintain a growth mindset, I believe that activities that force us to…
I am officially 4 weeks away from getting on a plane and heading down to Atlanta for ISTE 2014. Lets just say that I am a little excited. One, I love to learn and connect with others and conferences allow this to happen so easily. Two, I have never been to a national conference before…
We are nearly done with the current school year and for the first time I do not have a countdown to summer. Being a tech integrationist this year is definitely different than being a classroom teacher for the most part, yet there are still many things that were the same. I am still trying to…
While many people easily embrace technology use in the classroom, there are many who wonder why anyone would. They are not sure why they should learn how to do something new or change what they have already been doing. For me it was simple, technology was an easy way to transform the learning that was…
One of the advantages to having books available on electronic devices is the ability to quickly share out key ideas and statements in order to start or continue a discussion. I have seen many groups try to start an online discussion about something they were reading and by using the digital form of that book…
One of the biggest fears for many teachers heading into a 1:1 environment is the effect on classroom management. The problem is that the classroom management that happened before the 1:1 is going to be very similar after the 1:1. If you have good classroom management before, you will most likely have good classroom management after. If…
Yesterday I got up around 4:10am and left the house at 5:00am to drive 3 hours north to join in on Edcamp Twin Cities. I have been to three Edcamps before, all in Iowa, and this was my first one in another state with educators I have never met in person. Many would be curious…
The biggest shift in the early part of my teaching career came when I came across a blog post (author since long forgotten) about how another teacher became not only happier, but also more successful with their students’ learning when they focused more on what the students were doing and less on what they were…
Donovanscience 