Challenges
Thankful for the Mountains We Climb
By Guest Blogger on November 22nd, 2016
2016 is an incredible time to be a teacher.
I am grateful for each and every day I get to work alongside the best of the best in education.
While expectations are high, standards seem impossible to meet, and the everyday trials and struggles we face seem endless, this time in our country and our world is truly an incredible time to be a teacher. We have so much more access to research about how and why we learn. We have clearer pictures of our brains and all they can accomplish.
We might be up against some very difficult mountains to climb, but the teachers that have gone before us have never been as well equipped as we are today.
As a teacher I’ve always been fascinated with the brain – how it operates so much more than just our physical bodies. Each and every day, new research is published confirming something I think teachers have always known. Continue reading
Help! I need somebody! Help!
By Guest Blogger on January 19th, 2016
My daughter is not quite two, yet her little brain is abuzz – learning new things at every turn of the corner.
Almost constantly she comes up against something new, something strange or challenging, and every time without fail, she looks up at me with her big brown eyes and says “help!”
It astonishes me how easily she is able to admit she needs a helping hand. How quickly she recognizes she’s facing something new and challenging and she may not get it right the first time. This mindset is what Carol Dweck calls a “growth mindset.” And most children my daughter’s age have it.
They are perfectly okay with asking for help, and not just asking, but receiving it. Continue reading
Innovative Math Instruction
By Guest Blogger on May 8th, 2015
More than ever before, middle school math students are being asked to perform at a higher rate in class and on assessments.
Students are learning higher-level standards and being evaluated in new ways with computer-based testing and interactive tools.
New standards expect students to be able to: make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, reason abstractly and quantitatively, construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, model with mathematics, use appropriate tools strategically, look for and make use of structure, and look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. Continue reading
The Creativity Conundrum
By Dr. Jeanne Giardino on September 10th, 2014
When Did Students Become So Scared to Make Mistakes?
Directions: Please read the following article. At the end of the article you will be asked to give your opinion regarding creativity in schools. You will be expected to provide a response that shows thinking outside the box and is worthy of a Nobel Prize. No pressure. Think Creatively. Continue reading
Teach Me With Minecraft: Contest Winners
By Guest Blogger on July 25th, 2014
The votes are in!
We are so excited to announce the winners for our “Teach Me With Minecraft” competition. Our goal was to learn more about what can be taught from games like Minecraft and how we can use similar interactive elements in our FLVS courses.
We had hundreds of amazing submissions and have learned so much from your Minecraft builds!
Congratulations to all the winners, and to everyone who submitted a build…YOU ROCK!
Got Grit?
By Elise Harris on April 17th, 2014
Bright eyed and bushy tailed I moved right from graduation to teaching geography, reading, and running a computer lab. Everyone said, your light will dim and your focus will change. Well, they were wrong.
Let the record show, that was some 10 years ago and my intentions have not changed, but have only grown stronger and more awesome. Why? Because I “got” grit and I teach my students to have grit.
How else can I prepare my students to function in the interconnected online global world that is full of competition? By never stopping to achieve their goals – that’s how! Do not be pushed down in the face of adversity. Remember, it is okay and even good to make mistakes; this is how we learn. Stand up for what you believe in. If you get knocked down, get up! Life can be hard and hurtful. Learn from this and get back to work.