Putting the Cart Before the Horse

I fear we’re doing it wrong...education, that is. We live at a time when 21st century skills and edtech are all the rage. Creativity, coding, and active learning have become mainstays of teacher professional development. Heck, even the current US Secretary of Education incorrectly believes that we are preparing most students for jobs that haven’t... Continue Reading →

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I Just Want to Have a Conversation

*This is basically a glorified footnote of my post earlier today -- On Being Wrong...you may want to read it first...or maybe not.  Whatever. Setting the scene: You’ve worked hard at university for four, five, or maybe six years to earn your teaching degree. There was a semester of student teaching, where you were essentially... Continue Reading →

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Progressively Traditional

Today, I’m meeting with some pretty big names in education, technology, and social media and I’ll admit I’m a bit nervous. If you’ve followed my writing the past two years or so, you know I’m not the most progressive thinking educator. I’m of the opinion we sometimes make learning and education much more difficult than it... Continue Reading →

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2 Evidence-Based Learning Strategies

The following article originally featured on Edutopia January 23, 2018 at the following link:  https://www.edutopia.org/article/2-evidence-based-learning-strategies Spaced and retrieval practice help students retain content and give them a sense of what they know—and what they don’t. I often say to my students, “If a test is the first time you’re made to think about or with the class material,... Continue Reading →

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Effective Debate in Edchats

I’ve been on the blogging scene for just over a year.  Due to my beliefs on what education should look like, what it should represent, and how it should be conducted, I find myself generally agreeing mostly with educators in the UK.  This is a little odd, due to the fact that I live in... Continue Reading →

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365 Days As A Blogger

Exactly one year ago today, my first ever blog article was published by the wonderful researchers/educators, The Learning Scientists.  Since that day, I’ve had the bug...the reading research-writing-learning-growing bug.  It’s been an amazing journey so far.  A world of education, that I never knew existed, has been exposed to me and it’s changed everything about... Continue Reading →

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Easy Application of Spaced Practice in the Classroom

I’ve written at length about many learning strategies (dual coding and retrieval practice, for example) that positively impact our student’s retention of material.  Perhaps one of the toughest learning strategies to ‘show’ your students so they understand its importance is spaced practice.  By definition, it can take days, weeks, or months to demonstrate its positive... Continue Reading →

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A Day at researchED NYC

I recently returned from my first researchED experience in Brooklyn; perhaps you saw the hashtag #rEDNY17 floating around twitter lately.  Like a lot of education conferences, speakers presented information for which they are knowledgeable.  Unlike a lot of education conferences, there was no expo or product to buy.  No one wanted me to purchase the... Continue Reading →

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Assessment Isn’t A Bad Word

Earlier today on twitter, Tom Bennett (@tombennett71) launched a small thread on assessment.  You can check it out here. Essentially, he argues that testing doesn’t have to just mean an end of unit/chapter or course assessment and courses shouldn’t exist simply to focus on or teach to the test.  I completely agree.   I believe... Continue Reading →

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