After I wrote the post about telling a magical tale, I ran across an Edutopia article called, “Why Teachers Need to Be Great Storytellers.” The last part of Suzie Boss’ article really resonated with me because I had recently talked with a fellow ISTE attendant who had suggested nearly the same thing: “Make Ignite talks … Read more
Just what is a “snarge?” Or, which animal can have a brain so large that it overflows onto its legs? What was longer than a bus and ate crocodiles for breakfast? You can find the answers to these questions and more by visiting Seriously Amazing. Seriously Amazing is a fascinating website produced by Smithsonian. It … Read more
As an advocate for Genius Hour, I am very passionate about the concept. But, I will be the first to admit that my facilitation of Genius Hour often does not go well. One area that has been somewhat unsatisfying has been the final presentation stage. Many of my students get bored listening to the other … Read more
If you are interested in integrating some computer programming into your curriculum, you may want to take a look at Tynker. Earlier this year, I mentioned Tynker in a post about programming for kids, but I hadn’t had the chance to try it. It looked promising, so I decided to offer it as a free … Read more
In some of my posts about Genius Hour, I’ve mentioned Gamestar Mechanic. “Gamestar Mechanic includes a self-paced learning experience that uses game-based “Quests” to help youth learn how to design games while they build critical 21st century skills.” Gamestar Mechanic, by far, was one of the most popular projects my 5th graders pursued during Genius … Read more
Update: *As of 1/2/14, you can now download all of my current Genius Hour resources in a bundle on Teachers Pay Teachers for $5. Or, you can still download them separately (for free) by clicking on the links below. This is a continuation from yesterday’s post regarding Genius Hour Challenge Cards. I shared the ones I … Read more