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 […]
Category: Instructional Design
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, […]
Kate DiCamillo: An Exceptional Resource for Classroom Literature
By far, the best children’s novel content that I can find for a classroom are the books by Kate DiCamillo. Her books are brilliantly written. The plot, characters, setting, and theme are exceptional. They are my “go to” for fourth grade read alouds. Her books are funny, deep, thought provoking, […]
Movie Review: The Monuments Men
To this blog, I plan on adding some book and movie reviews of all kinds which we can use in the classroom or as resources to help support education in our classroom. Today, I want discuss a movie which has an absolutely stellar cast and an excellent plot based on […]
Christmas Music – It’s Time
As a teacher, I really enjoyed playing music for my students as they worked. My architectural drafting teacher offered that (music while we worked) in high school. It made the learning process so much more enjoyable. I thought maybe we could explore some recent, contemporary music (to me anyway!) to […]
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Time: Is It Really What We Think It Is???
Just the title makes my head spin. This was a well intended program which has just gotten weird and inconsistent. Put this in the category of non-academic things that school systems have delved into which waste academic instruction. Schools are not parents. They are not grandparents. They are not aunts […]
Russia: A Study of Its Geography, Culture, and History
I am no fan of communism. Let me get that out of the way right now. Communism is a meat grinder of humanity. I have no love for it. Look no further than the war in Ukraine, a war that I doubt many people in Russia support and a war […]
Creative Block: An Instructional Design Dilemma
Creative block is basically writer’s block. It is being at an impasse when designing good lessons. And no, I am not an instructional design expert(aka academic coach) – gross. However, good teachers do still build authentic design lessons, and sometimes during that process….we get stuck. Listen, I am one of […]
Reach for the Stars – Literally
I grew-up during an age in which we put men on the moon. The sky was literally the limit. At the time, I thought by now that we would have traveled throughout the solar system. We haven’t gone back to the moon since I was a young child. Alas, space […]