This is an example of me being neurotic about a term: hacking. Life-hacks, kitchen-hacks, education-hacks, etc. I understand the context it’s being used in. It’s meant as a shortcut, or time-saving tip. The word hack originally means to cut something with rough or heavy blows. The term was more popularized with computer hacking; the exploiting of…
Read more A Schmidty Way to Assess Learning
Work hard + good school grades = university degree = good job = good life This long-held cultural belief is starting to unravel at the seams. Why? Countless Millenials have completed the first half of the equation, but the second half doesn’t compute. Many end up with a boatload of debt, living in their parent’s basements if they’re lucky. This generation…
Read more Grades Aren’t Helping Anyone, Anymore
This book is a creative, funny, and beautiful notebook/memoir in which author and cartoonist Lynda Barry reflects on her time teaching college students to keep a composition notebook: a place to practice a physical activity – in this case writing and drawing by hand – with a certain state of mind. This practice can result in what…
Read more Book Review: Syllabus
In part 1, I explored ideas relating to the current state of video game culture; the way video games have evolved with the ubiquity of social media and video sharing and how our students participate in this culture. Here in part two I’m examining: how gamers have personality types, why we should view students as gamers, and why we need to…
Read more Bartle’s Kids: Teaching a Gaming Generation (Part 2)
Starting Note Disclaimer: I’ve been a gamer my whole life. Not just video games though – I play sports, board games, cooperative games, riddles, whatever! I love using my mind and talents in a playful and challenging way. So it’s natural that I’m fascinated by the way gaming has evolved. But how we can use games…
Read more Down the Rabbit Hole: Teaching a Gaming Generation (Part 1)
I believe in… education. it helps make our future brighter. I believe in… a future with an education system that meets the needs of all students. I believe in… volunteerism. a network of care in action. I believe in… learning about various histories, cultures, stories, and peoples of the world I believe in……
Read more This I Believe