DESIGN AND MAKING IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES: AN MAET AND CEP811 REFLECTION
The Social Sciences, and history in general, are notorious for boredom. Two cliches are often represented in the history classroom: the boring old teacher whom no doubt was related to the teacher from Ferris Buller’s Day Off or some athletics coach. Indeed, History is right behind Math in courses student’s seem to love or despise, […]
Read MoreTHE EDTECH JOURNEY SO FAR: MAET and CEP810
This year has been a blur. It has been a banner year of transformation and challenge, and the year isn’t even over. In March of 2018, I started a trajectory of new thinking inspired by several PD experiences. I attended my first EdTech conference, a small gathering called Cue in Palm Springs. I also served […]
Read MoreCOOKING WITH TPACK
Few technological tools were designed specifically for education. Indeed, most tools were created for entertainment or the business world. The task of the teacher is to use the tools available to them to help improve student learning. The teacher in today’s classroom needs to be creative in repurposing existing technologies to instruct better and enhance […]
Read More6 REASONS WHY SOCIAL SCIENCE CLASSES NEED TO “MAKE”
Making is deep in our DNA. Indeed, is not the process of making, playing, and improving something how we naturally learn? My first encounter with a hammer and nails, a rope and make-shift pulley system came to us while creating a fort high in an olive tree grove next to our house. Through trial and […]
Read MoreVetting “Fake News” with Flipboard and Flipgrid
21st-century technology demands a 21st-century approach to teaching and learning. The ways things worked in the past will no longer work. It is not so much that students have changed (as the disgruntled teacher down the hall complains. Our society has transformed thanks to the internet and compact computing devices, like smartphones. How we consume […]
Read MoreUSING PHOTOSHOP TO CREATE A FUN SYLLABUS: PART 3
Over the last several weeks, I’ve set out to learn some basics of Photoshop (Check out Part 1 and Part 2 Here). I’m no graphic artist, nor do I desire to make a career shift from education. Instead, I see this—and Adobe’s suite of tools in general—as incredibly useful technologies that can be effectively utilized […]
Read More(Re)Creating A Flexible Learning Classroom Environment
Starting out as a High School teacher, I went right to where I was comfortable. I had spent years delivering speeches and lectures. I knew how to lecture well. I created elaborate supportive keynotes rich in media, and lectured every day, in every class, for years. My classroom reflected it. It was designed like a […]
Read MoreTRADE ROUTES and TECHNOLOGY: AN EDTECH AND MAKER LESSON PLAN
Students need to engage with the profound topics of the past in new and fresh ways. Gone are the days of dusty old tomes and boring old lectures. Thus, it is no mystery that many students hate History and think it is so dull. I want to be part of a movement that makes history […]
Read MorePHOTOSHOP PROJECT: PART 2 — REMOVING SOLID COLOR BACKGROUND IMAGES
(For Part 1, click here) Photoshop is overwhelming. When I first opened the application and uploaded my first picture, my eyes glazed over at the vast number of buttons and options. Like all new platforms, systems have their own logic and order. I had always been accustomed to specific technology platforms—MacOS, Windows, etc. This was […]
Read MoreCREATING A BETTER PROFESSIONAL WORKFLOW: PART 1 — FANTASTICAL
My inbox, and by extension my mind, is a torrent of tasks, requests, and reminders. The fog of busy is blinding. Occasionally a moment of clarity emerges, and I am able to write categories of tasks and to-do lists on what seems to be an endless stream of sticky notes. Some of those tasks get […]
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