EPS Ideas Blog

Critical Thinking - great short videos to stimulate discussion.

Please read this. We've been focusing our assessment efforts on grading, and vice versa. Is grading really how we want to show that we value 'responsible action'?

I like the idea. Gives more flexibility, increases the student buy in etc.

Should we find some school shirts to start sporing as conversation starters?

Can we please, please, please try do binary grades in 9th grade?

Very pertinant after our discussion of what "meeting standard" means.

What, we have to teach them this?

Wanna talk 21st century skills? I'm struggling to think of one more fundamental than good search skills.

A nice outline, description, and template of project management applied to everyday projects. This could be a great scaffold for many of the projects we ask out kids to complete.

Get networked

Pretty sure part of why people aren't into the whole curating the internet thing is that it seems overwhelming. It isn't - read this, then go find good stuff and share it with the rest of us.

The kids need to hear this. Advisory?

My physics kids are using VPython with great success this trimester. Let me know if you want to play along (please).

I'm not sure about the causal inference here, but the data is interesting. Are we doing any 'social networking' education?

Some good ideas here. Perhaps this should find its way into the curriculum for laptops in some way?

Here's an interesting policy from Fairfax county about use of personal devices at school. Might be something work visiting as we're now seeing things like Nook's and Kindles and phones are becoming more powerful and could potentially be something beneficial to use (in some instances) during class.

Remember this guy? He's still doing awesome stuff - in rural Iowa.

How long does this take? Can we program in mindfulness breaks? Would it help with transitions in the day?

As the woodshop tools find a new home in the stagecraft area, our fabrication studio will become Makerspace - so stoked.

Great stuff. If you aren't a Dick Feynman fan, it's because you haven't read enough about him.

Are we big enough to hire an instructional coach yet?

Science teachers - I'd love to have a discussion on content focus. We say we spiral - when and how?

Are we thinking about taking our design orientation to a bigger community? I still think there's a lot to be gained from having the kids engage some bigger problems in a more public forum.

"Discover how giving students more responsibility in shaping their own curriculum can lead to more active participation."