December is exhausting for teachers. The days are shorter. The weather grows colder and (at least here in Oregon) wetter. Students are anxious — whether it’s a buzzing excitement for vacation or a sense of dread that some kids feel in homes that are unsafe…
There are so many different ways we can empower students to own the learning; from owning the assessment process to doing choice menus and choice boards to having students engage in project-based learning. In this article, we explore how Geek Out Blogs allow students to…
In this podcast episode, I interview Clement Townsend about the importance of journalism and multimedia composition in the classroom. Clement Townsend has valuable real-world experience in journalism as well as teaching and mentoring experience at the K-12 level. In this episode, he shares practical insights…
Before getting started, I just want to point out that teachers have been amazing over the last few weeks. I’ve watched entire districts mobilize to provide online and long-distance instruction while also providing a safe way for kids to get breakfast and lunch. Someone tweeted…
Over 100 visual and video writing prompts for grades 6-8. Here’s a one-minute preview video: One of the best aspects of being a teacher is watching students go from saying, “I hate writing,” to being so passionate about writing that they refuse to stop when…
A few years ago, my son opened a Google Document and started typing. I asked him about it and his eyes lit up as he described the shared story he was writing with classmates. This was the first day of summer break but he was…
When my oldest son was five, he asked me whether the leaves were falling because the air was getting colder or because the sun was setting earlier. We gathered leaves. We conducted experiments. We looked at maps of leaves and sunlight and temperature. He wasn’t…
I never learned how to write copy in school. In fact, even after taking a ton (yes, we weigh them in tonnage) of literature and humanities classes, I somehow graduated from college without knowing the term “copy writing.” To be fair, I went to Arizona…
When I was a kid, I hated research papers. I hated the paint-by-numbers rules we had to follow. I hated the fact that I couldn’t choose the topic or ask the questions or find the sources. I hated the notecards and the binders and everything…
When I first began teaching, I viewed research as something separate from the rest of learning. We did research projects or we kept the research as a phase within a project. Since then, I’ve had some shifts in how we do research: 1. Start with…
I’m a professor and a maker. Sometimes I make things. Sometimes I make a difference. On a good day, I get to do both.
