Like Krazy

Can I know a student's effort? Hmmm.  HOW can I know a student's effort? Carol  Dweck's "Mindset" is rubbing off on me already. I wrote it out the first way, added the "How" in front because it felt so negative otherwise.  Because it was. If I left it the original way, I may have even convinced myself that it would be impossible and it probably would have ended there. Instead, I'll be looking for more ways to gauge my students' efforts which is so key in helping them figure out their way.  The growth mindset leads us to try to figure out a way as opposed to a way NOT.  It's the difference between "I can't figure this out" and "I can't figure this out - yet." That little word changes that sentence in a big way.  It's the difference between giving up and and trying another way.  I'd much rather have a room full of students who add the "how" before or the "yet"...

Victor Oladipo was the 2nd pick in the NBA draft last week. Until the week before, he probably was never told he could be taken that high in the draft and most likely, that's why it happened. Oladipo went to DeMatha Catholic High School where I teach but I never had him in class. Everything I have heard and experienced about Victor though, shows he has a growth mindset. A year ago there was no mention of Oladipo being one of the top picks in the draft. This was not a new scenario for him. He was not highly recruited out of DeMatha and choose to go to Indiana, a school with an incredible basketball reputation but coming off records of 6-25 and 10-21 the two prior seasons. He also did not make DeMatha's varsity team as a freshman but would sweep the floor after freshman practices to prepare the gym for the varsity team he did not make. As a junior on a varsity team full of future NCAA talent, he volunteered to come off the bench to give the seniors their opportunity to start...

Photo by Tom Krawczewicz. In summers past, I have helped organize weekly tech sessions at school for teachers who are interested in learning during the summer months. I thought weekly sessions would help keep the learning going throughout the summer but vacations and other interruptions caused sporadic attendance at best.  This summer, with inspiration from the edcamp and "normal"conference models, I am trying a one-day hybrid model and using the working term of a CAMPference. Thus was born the DeMatha Technology in Education Conference (#DMTE13). I had grand plans for at least three simultaneous tracks (one exclusively for newbies) but the realities of time and first-time efforts set in and there will be just one track. Each session of approximately 45 minutes (this can be flexible thanks to just one track) will fall under a topic and tools and methods (both practiced and possible) will be discussed. There will not be a presenter for any one topic (which has me quite n...