This post first appeared on Edutopia. Agile development refers to an iterative and highly collaborative approach to creating a product. In comparison, an agile classroom is an environment in which your students are motivated to do their best work and feel invested in the class as a whole. Before I started teaching at Punahou School in […]
Innovation: Significant Positive Change – From Beth Holland
This post first appeared on Edutopia. As 2014 comes to a close and we set goals for the New Year, how will we define innovation? According to Oxford Dictionaries, innovate means “to make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.” This definition fits nicely with what is being asked of […]
Building Your EdTech Ecosystem – From Beth Holland
This post first appeared on Edutopia. Too often we look for a single solution when it comes to technology, yet our needs constantly evolve. Additionally, the apps and programs continually change. We each have personal preferences and methods, and on top of that, our students have different learning needs. Recently, I’ve found myself offering choices […]
The 4Ss of Note Taking With Technology – From Beth Holland
This post first appeared on Edutopia. Recently, a number of articles have surfaced reporting the ineffectiveness of note taking with laptops in keeping with the findings of Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer detailed in The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard. These authors assert that when students used laptops in lecture courses, they transcribed notes […]
Using Gaming Principles to Engage Students – From Douglas Kiang
This post first appeared on Edutopia. Game designers understand how to make games memorable and “sticky” in the sense that, even when you aren’t playing the game, you’re still thinking about solving its problems and puzzles. As teachers, how might we make our projects and content as sticky as games? How can we engage kids […]
The First 5s with iPads – from Beth Holland
This post first appeared on Edutopia. It can seem daunting to envision a year’s worth of activities with iPads, but when taken in small chunks, it doesn’t need to be intimidating. Taking a note from Alan November‘s talks about the #1st5days, consider what is possible in the first five hours, days, and weeks of school. As Richard […]
Cardboard Box Tools – from Beth Holland
This post first appeared on Edutopia. … We can learn a lot from children’s infatuations with cardboard boxes. It shows us how much they want to shape and construct new things, how they long for the freedom to create. In fact, as illustrated by the phenomenon of Caine’s Arcade, when students gain the freedom to explore, […]
Reading in Summer Gives You Somewhere to Go – from Lisa Dabbs
This post from Lisa Dabbs (@teachingwithsoul) – our Director of Business Development for the West Coast – first appeared on Edutopia. I grew up loving to read and waited excitedly every month for the children’s literary book club order that my Dad made sure I received. As I reflect on this, I consider myself to […]
3 Digital Reading Challenges for Summer – from Beth Holland
This post first appeared on Edutopia. This summer, more than ever, how we read may be just as important aswhat we read. In April, researchers at West Chester University published a report arguing that eReaders could lead to decreased comprehension and fluency. In this New York Times article, the professors suggest that the interactivity, easy access to a dictionary, and constant use […]
The Future of Learning – from Beth Holland
This post first appeared on Edutopia. We have always struggled to envision the future, often superimposing new technology over our current views. Remember the Jetsons? Though they lived in a futuristic society marked by flying cars and advanced technology, the students still learned in a lecture-based system with the teacher (albeit a robot one) directing the […]