A parent of one of my students recently sent me this video: Shawn Achor encourages us to think differently about the correlation between success and happiness. Many people would say that if you become successful, you will be happy. Achor argues that if your focus is first on being happy, success will follow and your happiness will be longer … Continue reading »
Category Archives: Internet
Google Apps for Education: MindMeister
The second app I found through Google Apps is MindMeister – which was also referenced in this post. I signed up for a free account and created the following (click to enlarge): MindMeister allows for a collaborative approach to brainstorming or planning. You can add icons/images from the built-in library or source your own images. … Continue reading »
Google Apps for Education: EDCANVAS
This morning I was taking a look through Google Apps for Education. Here is one I thought was pretty interesting and worth sharing: EDCANVAS If you are familiar with Padlet (formerly known as Wallwisher), this is fairly similar. It is a place for you to store your research on a particular topic. Sources of information … Continue reading »
Voki – Giving Students a Voice
In our previous unit under the theme How We Express Ourselves my students were asked to create a Voki avatar to persuade people to send their kids kids to our school – essentially answering the question “Why Riverstone?” from their perspective. We had used Voki in the past, and I wanted to revisit it in a … Continue reading »
2012 in Review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 13,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 3 Film Festivals Click here to see the complete report. Continue reading »
Technology and Innovation Advisor – What’s that?
Next year, I will be teaching the one fifth grade class at our school. In addition, I will be the Technology and Innovation Advisor – a position that is new to our school. What does a person in this position do? Good question! Primarily, the role has three responsibilities: facilitating faculty professional development on the … Continue reading »
To Tweet or Not To Tweet – It is Now A Conscious Decision
Gone are the days when it was “cool” to not know what Twitter was. Or any form of Web 2.0 technology that enables you to connect to the bigger picture. I took a while to become a fan of Twitter and now, I can’t imagine my life as an Educator without it. But first, came … Continue reading »
Creativity / Design / Inspiration / Internet
Become an Enabler….of Creativity!
I have read a couple of articles recently which advocate for the development of creativity in children. Tinkerers Unite! How Parents Enable Kids’ Creativity This WSJ article is in favor of kids making and creating without the use of directions. Trial and error are favored over “getting it right” and parents who support their child … Continue reading »
Follow Your Passion – If Tony can, so can you!
My motto, even though I never really said it, is “Follow Your Passion”. -Tony Hawk Even though our “Passions” unit has just come to an end, I am still eagerly gathering examples for next fall of what it means to follow your passion. In this short video clip, Tony Hawk describes what it means to … Continue reading »
Light Your Beacon!
I arrived home from what has arguably been one of the worst weeks at school (nothing to do with my gorgeous kids or my fabulous parents) to find a package on my doorstep. I took the package and my dog and together we sat in the Boise sunshine and read our new book: Freedom Is … Continue reading »
