Here’s a roundup of the top 10 SmartBlog on Education posts that your colleagues have been reading, tweeting, liking and sharing with others this summer.
Ditching the desks in second grade
The layout and design of any space can impact the mood and productivity for the individuals intended to use the area. Prior to becoming a teacher, I studied interior design at Michigan State University for three years. Read more.
Teachers: Finished products or works in progress?
Top performers in any field have one common characteristic: they are always trying to get better. If given a box to check on whether they are “finished products” or “works in progress,” they would check the latter. Read more.
What should teacher walk-throughs measure?
Teacher walk-throughs are formative data collection opportunities for teachers and leaders to learn about general trends in a school. They are NOT designed to evaluate or judge the performance of a single teacher. Read more.
Common core leadership principles
Become ambidextrous. Learn to dribble with both hands. Go to your right as easily as you can to your left. Like basketball, a versatile leader is far more effective than a one dimensional one. Read more.
5 steps to STEM effectiveness
STEM education isn’t complex. It’s not a doctrine, a program or a product. Yet, defining and implementing STEM education continues to challenge the education community. Read more.
6 tips for cultivating a connected school
In today’s world of learning, with its possibilities for global connection, one-way communication is no longer good enough. When interaction is one-way (e.g., note in the backpack, using online spaces with comments turned off), it develops or increases the sense that the school is out of touch. Read more.
How to give students a voice in their education
Those who know me, know that student voice is one of my biggest passions in education. And not just any student voice, but including the voice of my students, all students, in the education that is being done to them every day. Read more.
The first question
As a teacher, you can see it right away. The excitement on the faces of students. A whole classroom of laptops, lids raised. The expectation that the learning experience can and will be different. Read more.
5 questions to end the school year
Recently, I spent some time talking with the administrators in my district about technology, our vision for where we want to go and how they play a key role in the development of technology practices that can have a huge impact on student learning. Read more.
3 ways to make career exploration cool again
In many schools and districts, career education has gotten a “bad rap.” Sometimes, vocational- and career-exploration activities are only offered to students who aren’t attending college. Due to this, career exploration can carry a negative stigma that seems silly and even detrimental. Read more.