As if American politics aren’t scary enough, the United States celebrates Halloween next Monday, which is all kind of wrong – because spending a day with students who can’t wait to trick-or-treat plus 4 more days after they fill up on sugary candy should not be required of any teacher if you are at all … Read more
For this week’s Phun Phriday post, I want to call your attention to the Mental Floss Quizzes page. Some people may not label taking a quiz as particularly fun, but I enjoy stressing myself over these quick brain challenges. My latest obsession is “Finish the Country Names,” which I still haven’t managed to complete. Despite the … Read more
I was doing a little research the other day for ideas on how to teach brainstorming, and came across this article by Jim Flowers on, “Five Brainstorming Structures.” I generally vary brainstorming structures in my class from individual to partner to group, but I hadn’t seen the idea of a Brainstorming Relay until now. It would … Read more
In this Education Week article, “10 Non-Standard Ideas About Going Back to School,” by Nancy Flanagan, she gives the following advice: “Don’t make Day One “rules” day. Your classroom procedures are very important, a hinge for functioning productively, establishing the relationships and trust necessary for individual engagement and group discussions. Introduce these strategies and systems on … Read more
With the Pokemon Go craze in full swing, augmented reality for education may be generating more interest than ever before. Leveraging trends like Pokemon Go in the classroom can certainly provoke student engagement even though education wasn’t the original intent of the game. Whether you choose to modify Pokemon Go, or use one of the many … Read more
I am hosting an “Undercover Robots Camp” in my home starting today, and I was scouring the internet for some fun games to play when we are taking breaks from the robots. As a big fan of ThinkFun, I was surprised to come across a part of their site I hadn’t explored. The “Group Games … Read more