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"Smart Homework: Can We Get Real?"

"In the first installment of Rick Wormeli's homework advice, he made the case for take-home assignments that matter for learning and engage student interest. In Part 2, Rick offers some guiding principles that can help teachers create homework challenges that motivate kids and spark deeper learning in and out of school. These articles are adapted and updated from Rick's seminal book about teaching in the middle grades, Day One & Beyond: Practical Matters for New Middle Level Teachers. Rick continues to offer great advice about homework, differentiation, assessment and many other topics in workshops and presentations across North America. Check back in Part 1 for some additional homework resources."

"You may be familiar with maker spaces. In one form or another, hands-on teaching has always involved kids in "making." Today's new focus on maker spaces is taking making to a whole new level. Visualize a space filled with an assortment of materials and tools where people explore ideas together, create, and invent. Now think of such a space existing in a school - a space where students can go to imagine, investigate, figure things out, and design prototypes. Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager explain this growing school phenomenon in their MiddleWeb article, Maker Schools: Classroom Tinkers & Inventors."

"During this year's Computer Science Education Week (specifically on Dec 11th), I saw the other side of "The Hour of Code" campaign. Many schools around the world are beginning to include computer science and programming instruction in their math and language arts classes. At my school, we also saw the inclusion of some great discussion about narrative and story in our computer science special event."

"We were in the midst of moving the oversized red bird around the maze to capture the evil green pig, using block-style programming codes up on the interactive board, when one of my sixth grade students raised her hand and asked the inevitable question: "Mr. H, why are we learning about computer programming in writing class? Why do we need to know this?""

"Girls are smart, creative and talented - they have the right stuff for STEM careers. So where are they? It's still a front-burner issue - women in STEM; or, more to the point, the lack of women in STEM fields."

"In a recent post, I wrote about card sorts as a tool to promote mathematical conversations and mentioned the value of "productive struggle" in the math classroom. This phrase has recently appeared on the growing list of educational buzzwords that are part of our professional lives these days. Although I am personally convinced that productive struggle is a necessary component for student growth, I am less sure of how to successfully implement it my own classroom."

"If there is a better guide to establishing a school-based center for sparking creative student-based making than Laura Fleming's small book, I have not yet found it. In Worlds of Making, Fleming describes her own experiences as a school librarian transforming her library into a vibrant makerspace and offers practical advice for anyone wondering how she went about doing it. Or as she puts it, her book is designed to provide "the nuts and bolts of imagining, planning, creating and managing your own makerspace.""

"Some projects over the years have stood out to us. They seem to have certain qualities that result in a meaningful learning experience for our students, as well as for the people around the world who get to enjoy the products they share. Here are five types of projects we like:"