I didn’t know much about the Armenian genocide until I watched The Promise(2016) several years ago. This weekend, I rewatched it again. It has a 91% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. From the years 1914-1923, between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were systemically murdered. This event is often not […]
Category: Instructional Design
Building Engaging Learning Environments: Integrating Modern Technology Into the Classroom
First and foremost, I feel like we are corrupting a beautiful resource(computers) in our modern educational environments. How is that? We are far too often using computers primarily to gather immense amounts of student testing data. Instead, we need to be teaching students how use technology as a powerful resource […]
Movie Review: Gifted Hands and The Story of Dr Ben Carson
This is kind of a short post today. I am an avid movie watcher. You also know me as a conservative Christian. So, when I see a great movie about a conservative American, I jump at the chance to watch it. Ben Carson is most recently known for his work […]
Shoah: The Need for Holocaust Education
Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, Israel. It bears solemn witness to the consequences of human hatred. It also bears witness to the Jewish people who survived and to those who helped them survive. But mostly is serves as an immovable reminder that the Jewish people faced an […]
Part I Book of Genesis: The Importance of Noah to the Faith of Our Young People
I stumbled upon Randall Carlson and Graham Hancock when browsing Joe Rogan episodes. They are (secular?) scientists who believe that a catastrophic event wiped out much of civilization, and humanity had to rebuild after the world was remade by flood waters. They have been ridiculed for saying this. Well, I […]
Part III of School Community Gardens: Some Favorite, Dependable Vegetable and Fruit Varieties
I grow a combination of hybrid and heirloom vegetables. Hybrids are a cross between two varieties which can help plants be stronger, more productive, and disease resistant. Hybrids rely on cross pollination and are not genetically modified. Heirlooms are fun to grow, but they can suffer greatly from disease. They […]
Part II of School Community Gardens: Creating Student Buy-In and Finding Reputable Seed Resources
There is not better time in human history to find great seed collections for your garden. I recommend starting with simply varieties. KISS (keep it simple stupid) is how we need to garden. If it gets complicated, folks will lose interest, and then you will end up with a big […]
Part I of School Community Gardens: The Massive Benefits of Gardening for Students
Community gardens provide infinite possibilities to teach the curriculum, and I mean infinite. As I think back on my best learning experiences, almost all were through a non-traditional approach. This means that I was doing something or studying something that didn’t fit normal instructional delivery methods or the topic was […]
Valuing Uniqueness: What Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, and Steve Jobs Can Teach Us About Creative Learning Environments
We had a superintendent several years ago who wanted cookie cutter students, cookie cutter teachers, and cookie cutter buildings. Everything from instructional delivery to minimalist classrooms to pacing…the same. Our school system was treated as a business. Our people were treated as human capital. The classrooms which once fostered creativity […]
Christmas Parties and the New Superman Trailer
As a kid, Christmas parties were what we waited for. As a teacher, it is a lot of work!!! For the most part, it was the halfway point in the school year. It was all downhill from there. Now, I must say that benchmark testing has thrown a big fat, […]
