Digital Eyes

I was recently reminded of something one of our principals used to say. When teachers were stressed out about all the many things they are required to do, he would always bring it back to the students by asking what is the most important thing your students need from you today? As we look at the world that our students will graduate into, what are the most important things for us to focus on to help them be successful? Is it reading, writing, and arithmetic? Well no one can argue that reading, written communication, and math are still important. But in what context? Do we use math in the same way we used to? How is the math we use impacted by programming, AI, ... How is reading impacted by the Internet, media, bias, lateral reading? How is writing changed by online collaborative tools, multimedia, blogging, etc...? There are so many ways that our basic skills have changed over the past 30 years.Helping our students access, curate, analyze, summarize, communicate, problem solve, r

In the world of software development, there is a movement towards using a "Sprint" as a way to improve productivity. The basic idea is that a development team meets and agrees on a work outcome. They are given a short period of time to build their product. They then meet to show the group their outcome. They get feedback and set up another sprint to adapt their work based on the feedback. I have been chatting with groups of teachers about the power of sprints in the classroom. Here is an example of what we have discussed: Instead of giving students a long period of time to work on a project, try giving them a very short period of time (5-10 minutes) to sketch out their product. Then share it with a partner and get feedback. Now give them time to reflect on the feedback and adapt their sketch to the feedback. Continue this cycle of work/feedback/reflect multiple times.  Here are a few reasons why this process works better than just giving them the longer period of wo

As part of the New Year, I have been setting some goals for what I want to accomplish this year. One of my goals is to spend more time creating. So I thought, I should dust off the ol' blog and get started again! We often fear creating because we open ourselves up to judgment. But creating is how we put ideas into the world. It is how we turn them on their axis and look at them from different perspectives. And yes, it is how we present them to others to get their thoughts and feedback. My hopes are that writing will spark some creative thinking for myself, while also sharing my thinking and learning with others. I hope you will join me and set a goal of creating something, anything, this year. What are your hidden talents? Woodwork? Paint? Play Doh? Whatever it is, it's time to flex your creative muscles. Work them and develop them! Everyone is creative, but only through practice do we become better at it!