I'm Back!

I have spent the last two years focused deeply on my classroom -- on making things better, finding inspiration (looking at you, Terri Eicholz!), and creating a learning space that I would be excited and proud to share.

This year, I've dipped my toe into the next level as a teacher, (how's that for mixing metaphors?), providing professional development to other teachers. 

It's been terrifying. And thrilling.

Today, I spent the morning with a dear friend creating a pitch to present at next year's SXSW EDU. We want to take what we've learned from Making in our classrooms and translate it into something teachers can use in ALL classrooms.

To find out more, check out our video. 

And stay tuned -- Ed Remix has lots of ideas, just waiting to be shared.

Coding with Kids

I know I'm just the latest in a very long line of educators jumping on the coding bandwagon, but I'm hooked. Coding -- computer programming -- is being called a "New Literacy" for our kids to learn. It's also really fun.

This week, our First Lego League teams dived into building and programming their robots -- a little behind, I know, but we're rookies. Kids who have had no exposure to programming (and coaches who have had very little), are now expected to create robot that can make its way through a multitude of obstacles and perform a task. Overwhelming? Perhaps a bit (especially for the grownups). But the kids looked up some how-to videos, opened up the program, and dove right in.

Looking ahead, I'm realizing that my younger students really need experience with programming, so when they join FLL in a few years, they will be ready to go (also, it's good for that whole career/future/rest-of-their-life thing).

The upcoming Hour of Code is a great opportunity to kick off some coding projects, which I'll write about here as we do them. For more information -- and a plethora of amazing resources, check out Terri Eichholz's "Engage their Minds" blog or Cristina Popescu's "Think Appy Thoughts."

Managing Overload

Do you ever feel like you're on information overload? That so many good ideas have come your way that you just don't know where to look or what to do next?

That's where I am right now.

I work with some amazingly talented, creative, passionate people, who follow the blogs and read the books of other amazingly talented, creative, passionate people.

That much creativity has left my head spinning this week.  I am full of questions: What should I do next with my students?  Am I doing enough? Is that creative enough? Is that really reaching them the way I want it to? Is there enough depth to that assignment? Will that prepare them for life in our fast-paced, changing society? Will they enjoy it? Will I enjoy it? Is this important? Am I doing the important things with them?

I have these precious butterflies (I know, old, tired, rather melodramatic metaphor, but still appropriate), and I don't want to waste a second of the time we spend together.

So, what to do next?

Here are just a few of the ideas that have come my way this week.

From colleagues: Genius Hour, Engineering Mystery Bags, and the most intriguing, Traveling Differentiation Suitcases. (The suitcases are the creation of a fellow GT facilitator. Made from MacBook boxes -- our district has a surplus of the boxes at the moment following computer upgrades -- the suitcases include everything necessary for an advanced lesson for a small number of students. Novel, handouts, instructions, etc. Genius!)

From the web: Coding for kids, books clubs for GT parents, and really, anything that Terry Eichholz writes about.

I'm glad I have a weekend to ponder and digest these ideas...I'm sure something great will come out of the mix.