Learning to be a teacher, one day at a time…
In this age of instant communication, the old paper newsletter that often ended up scrunched up at the bottom of the bag is a relic of the past. Each week I send out a 'warm fuzzy' email where parents learn more about what's going on in class as well as important dates coming up. As... Continue Reading →
As an edtech geek I often have others showing up in my classroom laptop in hand wanting me to fix a problem or two. I don't consider myself particularly computer literate - just a very good googler. In fact I've often pointed out as I'm fixing something the steps I'm doing along the way -... Continue Reading →
33 minutes. That's how long my children spent asking questions and listening to an expert on free play. The children spent of time watching and re-watching a video about free play. The spent time sorting through questions quickly throwing out the ungoogleable and off topic ones to make sure time was spent used effectively. They... Continue Reading →
"I'm going to sit at this table because I can't talk to strangers on Skype.' As a follow up to our free play provocation, I had arranged a Skype call with a principal in New Zealand to talk about how 'no rules' lunchtime works. "The person we are talking to is principal, right?" "Yes." "Ms... Continue Reading →
Often in debates over educational technology there's a false dichotomy presented - kids can play on devices or they can do the old-school creating with their hands. Yet left to their own devices, my students made a fort with alarms and sound effects to protect it from unwanted intruders using scratch and Makey Makeys. Lesson... Continue Reading →
During my Cambodian sojourn I took part in a food tour through the markets in Siem Reap and out to a rural village. Talking with the guide we got on to the topic of social media. I casually mentioned that I found the business through a contact on Instagram. While I enjoyed following this business's... Continue Reading →
One of the most thought-provoking professional learning experiences I've had recently was the International School Ho Chi Minh's city 'deconstructed day' at the 3E conference I attended last week. The children were challenged to put together 5 PCs with only 3 questions from the adults in the room (which I videoed during visit) The process had... Continue Reading →
One of the changes I've noticed in my life since working in an international school is how fluid our concept of geography is when it comes to maintaining relationships. For my flight to Heathrow I sat with a team mate and his family along with several other families from my school - both staff and children. One of my... Continue Reading →
Ahh Facebook bringing families together since yout parents figured out how to use it...
I hate these sort of lists. Ones where you claim to have solved a problem with just a few apps. But nevertheless, here I am writing one. After 5 weeks meandering around Europe mostly surviving on free wifi rather than 3G, I found these apps the most useful. Tripit @heymilly introduced me to trip it... Continue Reading →
Teaching the Teacher 