Usually my posts are not about anything that most people would consider controversial. I try not to sound “preachy” because I’ve been in the trenches, and I know that the majority of the educators are doing the best we can – but we all make mistakes, and we can certainly disagree on what is “best.” … Read more
I wrote a descriptive post about Gimkit last year around this time after learning about it at TCEA 2019. This online quiz game resembles Kahoot, but has some distinct differences which you can read about in my first post. Since last February, I’ve used Gimkit quite frequently with my students in grades 8-12. It hasn’t … Read more
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, we have made some changes to our makerspace this year, one of them being to rebrand it as Zorro Astuto Studio. Another major improvement we are implementing is a badging system for all students who create in Zorro Astuto. Throughout grades 4-12 (all of the levels that attend our … Read more
My colleague, Kat Sauter, and I teach in what used to be the Cosmetology classroom at Fox Tech High School. In the newly formed Advanced Learning Academy (this is its 4th year), our room has become known as “The Makerspace.” Kat and I felt like this generic term, which has come to mean many things … Read more
There are many tools out there for students who struggle with reading. There were several I gathered at TCEA 2019 this year, and I have been meaning to share a curated list. Here is a quick rundown (a big thanks to Leslie Fisher, who demonstrated these in her multiple sessions): Immersive Reader – Microsoft offers … Read more
This is Yeti, the 3-year-old bulldog we adopted last September. As you can see, Yeti likes the laundry basket. I kind of like it, too, because when Yeti falls asleep with his head propped up he doesn’t snore as loudly. Win/win. Unfortunately, Yeti has some kind of leg injury still to be determined. Despite his … Read more