While there is certainly a place in your learning environment for whole-group instruction, a large part of a student’s day needs to involve engaging in tackling instructional activities. For the greatest results, start with thinking through how we learn and selecting activities to support that. Consider the learning progression (from the brain’s-eye view): Ah, to […]
revised 11/26/23 We all learn best when we are motivated to learn, and the intrinsic motivation of interest, pride, and “felt need” works much better than the extrinsic motivation of rewards, peer pressure, and fear! How do you build an intrinsic motivation to learn? Anchor the learning to some bigger problem or challenge that motivates […]
This post is second in a series of six to get ready for the new year. . . . The year 2020 reminds me of perfect vision! 2019 was a year of many initiatives, goals, and needs; it’s time to put everything in focus. If you missed the first post, click here! Yes, you have […]
My relationship with technology began in the seventies, when I left teaching to pursue a career in computer science. Armed with a lot of tech skills, I returned to the world of education and was struck by how computers were being introduced in schools. Rather than being woven into the fabric of classroom instruction, they […]
There is a big paradigm shift looming in education: the need to shift focus from teaching to learning, from teacher as information deliverer to teacher as facilitator of learning. That means on any given day, the teacher’s primary focus should be not on a lesson plan or textbook page, but on a student, and another, […]