In my family, I doubt there is a person who has had more influence on our family’s running practices and athletic philosophy than Joe Vigil. Joe passed away a few weeks ago, but not after helping to rebuild American distance running. Vigil is known for building a XC dynasy at […]
Category: Instructional Design
Every Student Needs a Clean Slate w/ Each New Year
One year as a young teacher, I had a family who had been somewhat difficult to deal with the previous year. I mentioned to my principal that I was worried about it. This principal happened to be the best person I have ever worked for in any job. She was […]
The Feuerstein Method and the Power of Teaching Thinking
If there is a common theme in this blog, it is innovation. Part of the goal of this blog is to go past what we are currently doing in education, and explore what comes next. How are we going to teach? How are we going to enable students to learn […]
How To Choose Topics for Writing in Literacy
I did not like writing when I was growing up. Diagramming sentences was a foreign language to me, and I had to do a lot of it. If you know me and you read this blog, you know editing is not my strength. But hey, with the typos at least […]
The Masterpieces of the MoMA Part II: A Starry Night and a 5-Story Tapestry
Masterpiece. When one hears that word, it speaks of greatness. An original. Something so remarkable that it is set apart for generations to see. When I as a kid, I didn’t have great appreciation for modern art. It was only when I took a class at the university level (about […]
The MoMA: Museum of Modern Art Part I
Back on task! As I noted in the first NYC article, we need to have our students in mind when we have great experiences. Take photos and videos on your trips to amazing places. Use that information when school reconvenes. Some kids never get to travel outside of their own […]
NYC’s Central Park
We recently took a trip to New York City. Those of you who know us, know that the Mountain West is where we usually like to go. However, we needed to switch up. So, we looked for some great airport deals. BNA, TYS, and AVL have some incredibly affordable flights […]
Music About Wyoming and Incorporating Lyrics Into Classroom Literature
I love to go out West. You can still see the stars at night in most places. The weather is harsh during winter, and it keeps away the suburban squatters. If you take time to meet people, they will help you out and also pay you the courtesy of staying […]
It is springtime, and that means it is time to plant our gardens!
I have written three articles as part of this blog about incorporating gardening into school culture. This is kind of a fourth article in that series. This blog entry is more about my own personal backyard garden this season. You have heard me talk about experiential learning, a term which […]
International Studies Day
This was always one of my favorite days. We didn’t do it enough. Basically, each classroom(or grade level) in the school drew the name of a country from a hat. Classes were required to learn about that country and prepare an immersive, cultural classroom experience for International Studies Day, aka […]