In navigation, “true north” is the direction to the Earth’s axis. It differs slightly from a compass’ magnetic north, and from a map’s grid north. So it takes some reflection, calculation, and adjustment to find. In life, the metaphor plays out to mean finding one’s authentic life and living it to one’s fullest potential. So […]
When you first learn to design a Learner-Active, Technology-Infused Classroom, you are faced with the paradigm shift of launching each unit of study with an authentic, open-ended, real-world problem to solve. You start by thinking through the problems students could solve at the end of a five-week unit if they learned everything. Designing the problem-based task statement […]
revised 11/26/23 What does engagement sound like? Allowing students to have a say in their work is not enough to build engagement. Adam Fletcher writes a great blog on engagement, including this entry: voice and engagement are not the same. In the Learner-Active, Technology-Infused Classroom (described in my books, Students Taking Charge), engagement refers to […]
Imagine teaching a short lesson to introduce students to the concept of a preposition: Prior to the lesson, on the whiteboard, write the same sentence four times: The book is _____ the desk. Stand by a desk and hold up a book, asking students to identify the desk and the book. “These are two things, or […]
https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/home.htm As you move to a more student-centered learning environment, the role of teacher as facilitator becomes critically important. If you honor the reality that not all students are ready to learn the same content at the same time in the same way, you have to vacate the front of the room and get elbow-deep […]