If You Give a Kid a Real-World Problem If you want to engage students, offer them a real-world problem to solve! (See my blog: “If You Give a Kid a Real-World Problem.”) A compelling problem will drive them into the curriculum; they’ll have a “felt need” to learn! And in our technologically advanced world, they […]
What does engagement sound like? Allowing students to have a say in their work is not enough to build engagement. Adam Fletcher writes a great blog on engagement, including this entry: voice and engagement are not the same. In the Learner-Active, Technology-Infused Classroom (described in my books, Students Taking Charge), engagement refers to the state […]
In the blockbuster The Imitation Game, Alan Turing is stigmatized as arrogant and apathetic. In a classroom, children labeled with these characteristics are less likely to be authentically engaged. Their education and career opportunities become limited as a result. However, when we shift our mindsets and frame those characteristics as self-aware and passionate (for Turing, […]
With COVID cases on the rise, many schools are returning to remote instruction, at least through mid-January, as a “pause,” as one district put it. Last spring was a very trying time, and not a lot went well, but it’s important to realize that you have the opportunity to #DoSomethingDifferent and ROCK remote learning! My […]
The shift to hybrid learning environments brings with it some different responsibilities for teachers. Whereas when all the students are in the room, you can “swoop in” to clarify or redirect, you can “go with the flow” and adjust your plans on the spot, and you don’t have to anticipate as much as react . […]