On this blog, I tend to post about a lot of ideas that I find, and some readers don’t always get a chance to know if I ever tried them – or if they were complete flops. This week, I want to feature a few past ideas that I did try and that were successful … Read more
In past posts, I’ve mentioned using “Socratic Dialogue” with my students. Sometimes this is referred to as “Socratic Method”, “Socratic Seminar”, or “Socratic Circles.” You can learn more about this teaching technique here and in my post on “Socratic Questions.” I recently ran across an excellent post on the Langwitches blog called, “Socratic Seminar and … Read more
I love getting informal feedback from my students during lessons, and usually use the Socrative app for this in my classroom. Socrative is wonderful, and works on practically any device, but it certainly works better if you have more than one device in your classroom. Obviously, not everyone has this luxury. So, I was very … Read more
One of the sessions I attended at TCEA 2014 in Austin last week was called, “Global Collaboration in Elementary.” It was presented by Matt Gomez (@mattBgomez), and largely featured Twitter interactions his kindergarten students had experienced with other classes around the world. That’s right – Kindergarten. I work with gifted students in K-5, and I … Read more
A few years ago, I was introduced to the concept of the “Back Channel” during a technology conference. For those of you who have not used this before, it’s basically an online account where audiences can post questions and comments during a presentation instead of interrupting the speaker. Every once in awhile, the speaker can … Read more
While discussing Genius Hour with some colleagues last week, we all agreed on the value of reflection at the end of each Genius Hour period. It is vital to guide the students through an evaluation of their work during that time, and to discuss any obstacles or room for improvement. It is also important to … Read more