This month I presented at the California Association of Gifted on this topic and received great reviews. It focused on how to keep students engaged with this rapid change. We explored how change has impacted engagement for over fifty years. Those that survive and thrive during change possess a backpack of strategies. When students have
I spoke with a third grade boy about his impression of the first weeks of school. The following are his observations: It was hard sitting in a chari all day. I like to stand, but she kept telling me to sit down and sit still. That made it hard for me to listen to her.
Traditional methods outlined in TM’s aren’t appealing to today’s students. If we start with “What do you know about our topic for today?” Â This direction is only interesting to the student who is sharing what they already know. Look around the room and kids are fidgeting, doodling, or even sending notes to classmates. Some may
Ever since COVID, big venues have stopped taking cash and are only dealing with ATM and credit cards. I tried to pay for a drink the other day with quarters, and I was informed we don’t take change. So what will we do if the grid goes down and there is no way to take
When I write my blogs, I often have the television playing sappy movies in the background. The devices are a new frontier we really know very little about and it is changing exponentially faster everyday, so it is tough to know what we need to look out for. As I was working, I looked up
With the focus on passing tests to determine student success being the focus of so many educational institutions since the 1980’s, critical thinking has taken a backseat. It’s crucial that we help students recognize for every one opinion there should be several opposing opinions. Finding opposing opinions was much easier in the 1970’s when students
What is the tool they all possess but don’t know how to maximize it’s power? Here are some clues: It doesn’t plug in. It doesn’t run on conventional energy. It can be used any time of day or night and doesn’t require parent or teacher support. It gets teachers to teach to the learning style
I’ve been asked, “Hw did you survive 5o years of teaching under the conditions teachers experience?” My answer is simple, “I listened every new next great idea in teaching demanded by administrators. I evaluated it considering the unique needs of each of my students, and if it was no aligned with that, I would nod
Today’s Question: “What can I do if my mother says I have to leave my Chromebook at school locked in my locker, but my teachers assign work that has to be done on the Chromebook?” He shared that his mother was firm on her position. She does not want her son on a device after
I’m not talking about using a pole and hook in the traditional sense. AI, however, is much like fishing. Unethical developers put out a post, text messages, or hooks inside children’s games to gather important data about the users designed to capture their dollars. Phishing, now powered by AI, is getting more sophisticated everyday. For
Victoria is an educational consultant, nationally recognized speaker. Her over 50 years in education has been focused on developing resilient self-reliant self-advocates who know how to tap into their innate ability to independently solve challenges.