Mastery Based Grading is an approach to gathering data that reflects what students know, rather than the scores students have received on assignments. In other words, Mastery Based Grading is about what the score represents, rather than just the score itself! Here are five reasons you should give this a…
Learning Management Systems, as defined by Wikipedia, are software applications for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, and delivery of educational courses or training programs. Ok, so that’s the technical definition. A more personal and granular observation of an LMS reveals its power to transform learning by breaking down the walls of…
As we come to the end of another school year, assessments are often the first thing that come to an educator’s mind. We are familiar with the concept of our students testing for hours at a time for multiple days, but what if there was a more engaging way to…
I recently had the pleasure of reading David Sax’s 2016 book The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter in which he explores recent movements away from the digital realm and towards high quality, analog experiences. His premise is impossible to deny. Two decades into the digital revolution…
Do you often find yourself wishing for a few extra minutes (or hours) each day? I think we’ve all been there, but as educators, a few more moments to grade those stack of papers or extend the perfect in-class discussion seems impossible at times. So, the idea of introducing a…
Educational conferences are always a great opportunity to connect and learn more about the great work schools are doing across the country. That especially holds true for the annual Kentucky Society for Technology in Education (KySTE) Conference. It’s a chance for innovative Kentucky educators to gather and inspire, learn, and…
Digital Learning is alive and well in Boyle County Public Schools. Situated in Danville, KY, the district’s commitment to promoting anytime, anywhere learning led to the 2015-2016 school year deployment of 1800 Chromebooks to support a 1:1 environment for all middle and high school students. After much consideration of the…
Students today are different than they were five or even 10 years ago. Their lives are flooded with technology and students want to use this tech to create in a variety of ways. Think about the times in your teaching career when you assigned an open ended project, meaning students…
Whether your affiliation is with a public or private school, most likely any student you see is carrying around a pretty heavy load of textbooks in their backpack… still. So, why is this the case when digital textbooks have been accessible for over five years now? The use of digital textbooks in school…
Continuous instruction during the winter months sometimes feels like climbing up a steep, snow covered hill while dodging oncoming sleds. We keep treading the snow covered incline, but slide back every few steps.
With record-breaking snowfall, many school districts around the nation are exploring options for a non-traditional school day during the winter months; whereby students receive instruction while off for inclement weather. Although this idea is meant to keep from extending the school year as well as provide more instructional continuity, the founding concept reaches far beyond simply making up a snow day. This Blended Learning model has the transformative power to change traditional teaching and learning. Through this transformation, learning becomes more student centered, more innovative, and without the laws of time and space.