Like Krazy

While I like to give the students an opportunity to do a game-like review (Jeopardy and "Blingo"* are two popular formats) before a test, the time and resources are not always available for me to create an appropriate amount (and type) of questions. But now I have the students generate the questions and then it just takes a cut and paste to build the review into Socrative.com. The review session is done in pairs with students sharing an iPad (or netbook). In a couple classes there was an odd number of students so there was one group of three, but the third person seemed a bit left out and could not read the screen very well with the others. In most cases, as they worked through the review, one student read the question out loud and they both discussed the answer before selecting. The review game in this case is Space Race, which is part of Socrative.com. At first appearance it may seem a little "young" for high school students but my freshmen and senior classes ...

"When will I ever need this?" To a teacher, it's like a slap in the face. But not the refreshing wake up call kind. The kind that can be interpreted as "What you have committed your life to and have a passion for seems totally meaningless." The word "seems" is my interpretation, on purpose, because they really mean "is totally meaningless" but I refuse to take it that way. I have used many responses in the past but since this is a family blog I will not repeat them here. I teach at an all male high school so what I have used recently has developed from their possible interest in sports. It begins with a question (don't most interesting things?): Do you play a sport? "Yes. I play ______." (If they say no, I ask if they play an instrument and change the questioning accordingly) Excellent! Are you preparing for a game soon? "Yes. We are getting ready to play _______." Oh my, they are pretty good. Have anything spec...

The more I heard about the "flipped" classroom model, the better it sounded - introduce students to a topic at home and then work through and learn the process/content in class with the teacher. And then I did the (warning, I'm about to go very cryptic with the next reference) "Hey ... HEY!" double-take from classic 1940's films like "It's a Wonderful Life" because I think my classroom has always been flipped (if I understand it correctly). My English students do a lot of reading during the course of the year and almost all of it is done at home. They do the assigned reading and we discuss it the following day (usually after a quick "did you do the reading?" quiz at the beginning of class). The discussions usually include reading of passages from the text out loud, which is an important part of the process to understanding and appreciating literature. Maybe it is because I have always done things in this manner and therefore, I am a...

As part of ISTE11, on June 27 some #EngChat participants met upstairs at a pub and participated in the weekly discussion together. Awkward. I am not gonna lie. It felt awkward sitting upstairs in a pub with about 15 others, laptops out and open, participating almost silently in a virtual chat. The quiet was purposeful. We were reflecting on reflecting and writing about it. But we weren't just online with each other (which would have added strange and unusual to the awkwardness). We were chatting and writing and sharing with others from all over the world. We would have been quiet at home doing the same thing but we were in a social gathering place meant to foster face to face discussion. Did this make a difference? As a matter of fact, all of us had done the same type of chatting weekly on #engchat and various other Twitter chats throughout the week. But this time some of us were physically together for the process and it just felt strange.  Temporarily. The...

Unfortunately, I have been hearing a lot of negative conversation about Khan Academy recently. It does not seem right to put down someone who has done so much to help others in an extremely proficient way. There are so many great uses for what he (and others) have created. If not at the center of a flipped classroom model, the videos can be used as reference by students who may not have completely understood a topic initially. In this example, Khan becomes the classic textbook example on steroids. My daughter occasionally watched a Khan video this past year to help her with a calculus topic. It must have been useful because she recommended the site to friends. One of the tasks of students (and teachers) in the near future will be to keep track of the virtual teachers who may provide them the best outside help. It would be great to have a site similar to Netflix for learning, with suggestions and recommendations based on your "favorite" virtual teachers. Along with teachers,...

For the past few days Mother Nature, via a blizzard and then the snow version of a left hook a few days later, has provided everyone in Maryland an opportunity to pause and many, many opportunities to shovel. While I have had no choice but do the latter, I have gone beyond the pause to learn from many educators through Twitter and online conferences. In jumping from one blog to another, I came across the above video and my thoughts turned to, of all things, my summer vacation plans and the school grant I hope to get to study more on the video's topic. I love this mash-up video by Punya Mishra for several reasons, but what is most interesting to me is that it confirms one side of an argument that I am having with myself (it's usually the only chance I ever have of winning one) while at the same time confirming the other side of the same argument! On one side is the incorporation of one aspect of technology (in this case a video of a lecture but it could be a Powerpoint presentat...

This video from Langara College, "Rethink Scholarship," is a very creative look at continuing motivation of ideas. While conferences such as educon and discussions like edchat inspire me, it may take a short video like this to turn that spark into a fire. This is the main reason I decided to act and begin writing much more frequently to this blog. It is a chance for me to put down my ideas and let them sit for a while. If others happen to read them (and I won't leave it totally to chance as I will push these posts to those I have connected with on Twitter) I hope they may leave their own comments and impressions. None of us can truly learn without others and the feedback is always welcome. Heck, I'll just take the non-feedback to mean that the ideas must be so far ahead of their time that others need a chance to catch up. :) Or that they are really, really lame. In any case, I'll take it. Something's better than nothing to get the ideas in motion. I find that ...

During a recent class discussion about a Sherlock Holmes story ("Adventure of the Speckled Band") my students and I had read, it occurred to me that maybe Holmes would be out of work in the 21st century. After all, anything that he could possibly think of (in this case it was a "swamp adder" from India) could be googled. So I asked my class what they thought. The immediate response was that Holmes was obsolete. Google could take his place. All of his knowledge was available right there for quick and easy access. Why memorize when you can google it? Then there was a pause. They caught themselves and actually began to think about it. I could have stopped right then and called the entire class session a success. Heck, that might even be considered a successful week. But we did continue. It was time to press my luck and see where this thought was going. First one voice (you gotta love that one - the one you sometimes wait to call on until many others have had a turn), ...

Harold Shaw (hshawjr) had an interesting and insightful blog post concerning the November 24, 2009 #edchat discussion. Edchat takes place every Tuesday at 7pm and is a great way to discuss ideas with teachers from around the world. He feels that the discussion may have moved to involve a little too much "squeaking." While I agree with his perception about the direction of the #edchat discussions, I do think all teachers need that opportunity to "squeak," especially to those who understand where they are coming from. Having said that, it has come to the point where we need to act and try some of our ideas with our students and then share our success and failure with our PLN. One of the participants (@nashworld) voiced that opinion when he said, "I would love an edchat where everyone agreed to IMPLEMENT an innovation, and then return here to debrief." It's a great idea. Maybe the edchat sessions can add that dimension each week. Vote each week on the ...