TL;DR: The importance of creativity in the classroom. How creative thinking can increase the level of learning in your students. Five ways you can adjust or create lessons that promote creative thinking. Creativity is so valuable in our classrooms. With today’s focus on 21st century skills, thinking creatively is becoming even more important. We all know that the problems our … Read More
Promote Creative Thinking Through Passion Projects
In This Post An overview of passion projects in the classroom. Why you should consider doing a passion project with your students. Suggestions to rethink a unit and approach it as a passion project! Creative thinking is a skill we absolutely want to cultivate. We want our students to think critically and analyze. We want them to assess situations, look … Read More
How To: Set Better Goals
TL;DR: Four strategies to set better, more realistic goals that you can actually achieve. A bonus fifth step with a review of SMART goal setting. We hear a lot about setting goals. “It’s important to have goals.” “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re already lost.” And the quotes go on and on. So we set goals. Sometimes we … Read More
4 Steps to Successful Implementation of a New Idea
In This Post: Success on New Year’s resolutions rarely ever happens. But why? The “New Year’s resolution” model doesn’t work for educational ideas either. Four steps to successfully implementing the new idea you’re considering. January is often a strange time at my gym. New Year’s Resolutionists show up in droves. They pack into our small yoga studio spaces with their … Read More
Preparing Students for Life: How Retakes Help Instead of Hurt
In This Post: A common argument against retaking assessments, and why it doesn’t quite work. The benefits of allowing retakes in your classroom. “You can’t do retakes, they won’t have redos in the real world.” This is one of the most common arguments I hear about allowing for reassessment in our classrooms. And honestly, I don’t think it’s valid. At … Read More