Digital immigrants or digital natives? A discussion of digital competence… A spectrum, not a dichotomy!

Amy Capelle has started a very interesting discussion in Ning’s Classroom2.0 She asks, “Are they really digital natives?” The discussion there is great! Here is my response: – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – […]

Start with Innovative Schools…

“How can the next president better help small business and entrepreneurs thrive?” That was the question that US Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama asked on LinkedIn. A day later I posted response #1421. Here it is: The definition for ‘Entrepreneur’ came from Google using ‘define: entrepreneur’, but I did not link to it since […]

bRinging tools to class

Today during a Math lesson on Surface Area and Volume: Mr. Truss, I forgot my calculator, can I borrow one? Do you have your cell phone? Yes? Then you have a calculator. Really? I can use my cell phone? Really! Cell phones and mp3 players in the classroom: Not Obstacles but Opportunities “Kids are going […]

How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci

… continue teaching school like it is 1890. “Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!” -LEONARDO DA VINCI Here it is from Kris, a 15 year-old former student, “How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci“. I think this post should be mandatory for every student teacher to read before they graduate. […]

Statement of Educational Philosophy

[Originally posted May 23rd,’07] I wrote this three years ago, but recently had to make a change… As little as one year ago the second paragraph did not exist for me, and now it is placed in a position of importance. I post my Statement of Educational Philosophy now, after reading and posting a comment […]

Blogging with students requires biting your [digital] tongue

In my last post about my Science Alive wiki, I mentioned that our Renaissance Fair Project was starting, (here is the assignment). I also mentioned that with our lousy computer lab, I wouldn’t be blogging again as I did last year. Well, I decided to go ahead anyway! I can’t use our useless communal teacher […]

Wikis in the classroom: a reflection.

Well here it is, my completed Science Alive Wiki. After an incident delayed getting feedback from my students until last Monday, things got extremely busy with preparation for the Renaissance Fair and my Grade 5 Transition Retreats [the subject of a future post]. All this included 3 afternoons out of my classroom at other functions… […]

More than one face to Cyberbullying in the classroom

I apologize in advance for the clinical nature of my description below… these are students currently in my class, and this blog is open for anyone to read. Background: Student 1 is male; Students 2 & 3 are female. Student 1 and 2 ‘dated’ earlier in the year. Student 1 and 3 are good friends… […]

“Some Assembly Required”

I thought I was going to spend the long weekend reading my book for our book club, but I had a Whole New challenge instead: Putting together a million piece puzzle for my kids to play on in our back yard…. swings, monkey bars, slide, fort, climbing wall, and picnic bench all neatly packed in […]

WOW: Bringing Science Alive! (wiki)

What happens when you: Allow students to determine what they need to learn, and then enable students to manage their own learning activities? I recently started a wiki space for my Grade 8 Science classes called Science Alive! The concept is to let students choose their own topic to explore, and then demonstrate learning on […]