Category: Teaching
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C is for Crayons
The third in a series discussing the Class of 2030. I remember one Christmas getting the SUPER large box of Crayola Crayons. One hundred undulating colours of possibility. I was absolutely giddy with excitement. Imagine all the beautiful things I could draw! Astronauts or ballet dancers, camels or dragons, elephants or fairies, anything I could…
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Using Microsoft’s Learning Tools in Writing Class
I like using Microsoft’s Immersive Reader to show students how to improve their writing style through some simple revision techniques that translate into greater reader engagement and understanding. There are a number of functions in the Immersive Reader that are superb supports when ramping up student editing and proofreading capabilities. A great place to start…
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Feedback is Fabulous
Over the past few years, I have implemented a feedback form at the end of my course. The goal is for me to be able to reflect and improve the course and my teaching methods based on this student feedback and I have found it invaluable. In fact, it is something I wish I had…
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Mayhem and Metacognition
Forget March Madness, its end of semester mayhem! The time of year when I question my assessment methods, mostly because I am swamped with final essays, culminating projects, and exams to mark, in addition to writing report card comments and tabulating final marks — all in a very short timeline. Invariably I ask myself, “is…
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#OneWord2019
I have been considering what word would best encapsulate my goals for 2019 for quite some time now, and one evening during Christmas break, as I sat contentedly knitting a shawl from Norwegian yarn brought to me as a gift from a friend, I had an epiphany. My word was right in front of me…
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Best of 2018
It’s December: a time to reflect upon the year that is swiftly coming to a close, and a time to look forward to what the new year will bring. This past year has held a lot of new experiences for me. I presented at a conference for the first time, I hosted a #MSFTEduChat Tweetmeet,…
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Mighty Morph Masters
As teachers, I think we are all Mighty Morph Masters. We make decisions on the fly, adjust a lesson to differentiate and better suit learner needs, tweak to ensure better engagement and impact, all while maintaining a positive, supportive energy in our classrooms. These are all things we do on a constant basis and essentially…
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Big Foot’s Love Slave, Media and Math
Fake News has infiltrated main stream media and in many cases is much more difficult to distinguish from the real thing in comparison to the typical fake news stories of my youth. You know the ones, they all seemingly involved aliens, Big Foot or other hyperbolic fantasies. It was easy to tell they were fake…
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Once Upon a Time…
Once upon a time, in a land far, far, away, there lived a teacher who was torn about how to reach her students and help them remember important information. She journeyed far and wide to speak to sages and scholars and what she found made her happy; for it underscored her own beliefs. So the…
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The Walking Dead…at a School Near You?
People talk about the idea of a zombie apocalypse and if it could ever really happen, funny thing is it already has! Our children are being turned into veritable zombies everyday that they sit and do uninspired work at school or are expected to fit into a one-size fits all cookie cutter style of education.…