Have you ever had “life” just happen and you could not be at work?  Like a, drop everything, family emergency, nothing about work matters, kind of moment? I have. Most people have. And if it hasn’t happened to you yet. It will. For educators, this can be an especially difficult dilemma because not showing up […]

One of the common mantras from educational speakers like Sir Ken Robinson is that schools don’t change. That schools are stuck in some dystopian nightmare of a Dickenesque factory which is not keeping up with the demands of the 21st century.  It is true that many things may have remained the same in education but […]

Knowledge organisers.  The BIG new thing in education.  Suddenly they are cropping up everywhere and everyone is raving about them.  But I think there is a missed opportunity with these things. Firstly, I am all for knowledge organisers.  When I first heard of them through the Twittersphere, I merely used them as a revision tool.  […]

Do you plan for student misconduct as you plan your lessons for instruction? After 26 years of teaching, with half of those years spent facilitating classroom management workshops, I have learned the value of anticipating and planning for the worst while hoping for student cooperation in the classroom during instruction. ‘Classroom management some days can […]

Start here: Crazy Fun Pics/Vid’s For those of us who attend conferences one, two, or many times throughout the year, the real Takeaway is often the relationships created and the opportunity to breathe just a little bit away from the daily grind. I am not a conference junkie by any stretch. For my own professional […]

Politics in the Classroom Many teachers completely avoid the subject of politics in the classroom while others feel it is their responsibility to share their political agendas with their students. I imagine most teachers fall somewhere in between. I believe that discussing politics and current events in the classroom is a vital component of a […]

I’ve decided to throw my hat into the ring of this fairly divisive subject.  Now, lets set the scene.  I’m 36.  I grew up at a time when Windows 3.1 was being used in schools, with RM Nimbus machines.   Therefore, you could say I have had a lifetime of tech use in and out of […]