Posts From: November 2015

Helpful Ways Teachers Can Work With a Class Clown

They derail lessons, steal the spotlight and, to make matters worse, sometimes they’re actually funny. It’s not easy enforcing class rules when you’re laughing. What if we looked at class clowns differently? What if, instead of seeing them as a nuisance, we saw them as gifted? A little misguided, sure, but still gifted. Read more: […]




Students Share How and Why They’d Change Education

From the wonderful MindShift blog from KQED: Students have a lot of opinions about how their #education could better serve them. We just have to ask. “I started my school year by asking my challenging my juniors with another essential question: how might we own and control our education? I’ve asked them to think about […]




Four questions that encourage growth mindset among students

When working with young people, choosing which behaviours to praise can have a profound impact. In one study, children aged one- to three-years-old who were praised for their effort were far more likely to develop a growth mindset five years later (pdf). This is because praising effort provides a template for young children to follow, […]




How to build a better teacher: Groups push a 9-point plan called TeachStrong

The groups, organized by the left-leaning Center for American Progress under the banner TeachStrong, want to make the status of teachers an issue in the 2016 presidential race and in policy discussions on the state and local levels. “We feel like this is the perfect time to bring people together who are hungry to turn […]




9 Amazing Augmented Reality Apps for Teaching

The future of teaching is here and it’s free! Augmented reality works well in schools because it brings close to real life experiences to the classrooms. It’s fascinating to see the faces of students when they have the opportunity to explore space, the human body, cells or chemistry elements. You appreciate how eager and engaged […]




Minecraft: The New Oregon Trail?

Popular game being used to teach children chemistry The aim is to engage young scientists in a fun and interactive way. Minecraft players use building blocks to create structure and landscapes. … “So why not molecules? We showed it to a class of children the other day and there were lots of wows and gasps. […]




Florida Teacher Starts Each Day Complimenting Students One by One

If you enjoy this teacher and his ideas, you can go and like “Special Books by Special Kids” and support the project. In a video posted to Facebook that’s been shared more than 8,000 times since it was posted on Sunday, Ulmer takes the time to pay several compliments to each and every one of […]




Food Trucks Make Healthy School Lunches a Little More Appealing

“Food trucks are a great addition to school food service—both from a way to engage the older kids and a way to engage the community,” says Ann Cooper, the director of food services at Colorado’s Boulder Valley School District. “It’s part of a great overall marketing strategy.” Last year, Boulder Valley became one of the […]




Where Are The Cool Rap Songs About Math? Within Students

“He makes everything fun like a game,” says one student. “That really helps us understand how everything works.” Math teachers assign all kinds of activities to apply academic skills to the real world. At Willard Middle School in Berkeley, California, Robert MacCarthy (Mr. Mac) has made creating rap songs part of the algebra curriculum to […]