With everything up in the air at the end of the year, the annual “Winter Concert” might be low on the list of your priorities. Don’t scrap this time-honored tradition, use the new setting, and circumstances to re-invent what it can be! Sure packing hundreds of students and parents into a gymnasium might not work […]
Teaching Tips
How to create a Self-Directed Playlist using SeeSaw
Using the ed-tech platform SeeSaw, I’ve been able to create self-directed independent learning playlists (menus). These are amazing for asynchronous learning, independent learning, self-directed learning, or even learning centers. The menus are easy to navigate but provide students with the choice and voice that is so essential when trying to foster participation and buy-in. This […]
BOY-o-boy: Gathering Beginning of the Year Data
As the school year begins, teachers are setting up their classrooms (or virtual ones), prepping materials, and establishing norms. It’s tempting to do it all in advance, and might not seem like the best time to gather data. However, this is when you can get some of the most important and meaningful information all year. […]
At-Home Learning: Using Google Effectively
With so many homebound students, and so many trying distance learning for the first time it can be a real challenge. However, there are tools and tricks you can use to make the whole things easier. Most people I know use Gmail just fine, but actually all the programs in the Google Suite are powerful […]
Back to School: Setting Goals
Goals, or #squadgoals as my students would say, are important and never more so than at the beginning of the year. There are plenty of posts about SMART Goals in Reading and Math, but we often don’t think of setting goals in an arts classroom. It’s just as vital for your students’ success and here’s […]
Ingenuity’s Arts Education Conference Resources – 4/5/19
I will be speaking at Ingenuity’s Arts Education Conference on April 5th on the topic of “Personalization in the Arts Classroom.” The session will rely heavily on tech and using apps from the Google Suite (like Google Classroom). I wanted to post a brief overview of the presentation as well as the handouts, links, and […]
Art Assessment Materials (2.1.19 PD)
On February 1st, CPS Arts held a city-wide PD day at the Chicago Cultural Center, I was lucky enough to talk about how I use integrated assessment as parts of my lessons. I wanted to share the resources I used during the presentation with anyone who is interested. Assessment shouldn’t be a distraction from how […]
Transforming Public Spaces for Education #freethehallways
Flexible learning environments are becoming more and more popular in schools across the country. Teachers and students alike are agreeing that our physical space impacts the way we learn. However, in a school the classroom only represents a portion of the physical space that students spend their time in. Our hallways, stairwells, and lobbies take up […]
Google Expeditions
Google brought the world into our school as part of the Google Expedition AR program. Each class took an augmented reality field trip to an exotic location like the International Space Station, or Ancient Rome. Students were able to learn and interact as they physically walked around experiencing these locations in augmented reality (AR). An amazing […]
A&GC: What is an Action Research Project?
Action Research is something most teachers have done in one form or another, just without the title. A multi-step process that has you as the educator select a focus, develop a theory, implement while gathering research, and then analyse the results. I’ll be undertaking an Action Research Project (ARP) as the capstone project of my […]