Slow Reveal Graphs

If you are a fan of helping students learn how to be critical thinkers, then you will appreciate the Slow Reveal Graphs site.   Rather than presenting a full graph to students and asking them to interpret it, teachers use Slow Reveal Graphs to allow the students to discuss, think, wonder, and predict as each stage … Read more

BreakoutEdu for the Win

My usual bag of tricks has not been extremely successful at my new school, especially in my engineering classes.  I didn’t bank on the fact that middle/high schoolers don’t want to appear interested even if they are – and most things that I have to share with them are apparently not even worth sitting around … Read more

What is Your Manifesto?

I decided to help my students design their own manifestos again this year.  (Here is the link to last year’s post about this.)  To get them started thinking about their core beliefs, I first showed them this video from Gretchen Rubin, which I found out about from Larry Ferlazzo. Then I started giving them words, … Read more

Digital Breakout Tools

“Digital Breakouts” are similar to the physical game, where students use clues to try to open locks.  However, in a Digital Breakout, the students input the lock codes online, usually into a Google Form, rather than using tangible locks.  One of our NEISD Instructional Technology Specialists, Heather Miller (@SATechieTeacher) recently used this technique for a … Read more

Dinkee

My daughter (15) and I love to play word games.  A couple of years ago, she received a game called, “Linkee” for Christmas.  “Linkee” has cards that give four trivia questions.  After answering the four questions, players try to figure out what the answers all have in common.  When they figure it out, they shout, … Read more

thinkLaw

thinkLaw is a curriculum that aims to teach critical thinking skills through the use of real legal cases.  The program’s founder, Colin Seale, won the “Shark Tank One Day Challenge” in 2016.  thinkLaw is aligned with US standards for grades 5-12, but some of the lessons can be used with younger students.  To purchase the … Read more