I was reading Lilly’s Purple Purse by Kevin Henkes the other night when I came across something that piqued my curiosity (no pun intended). The book, published in 1996, is a story about Lilly, an out of the bok thinker, who goes on an adventure. When she is in the classroom, there is a section […]
This past year our school embarked on the Genius Hour journey. (For previous posts that lead to the Genius Hour: inspiration; 80/20 staff meetings; my passion). In short, I took 20% of the the Staff Meetings this year and made them Genius Hour. The staff could do whatever they wanted with the time (it just had […]
Earlier this week we started Genius Hour 2.0 with the staff. Want more information on how we got here? Check out Genius Hour 1.0. I started off the meeting with a quote I heard on a podcast on the way in to work…. I’d rather have questions without answers than answers without questions – Max Tegmart, […]
Here is the presentation made to the staff regarding this year’s Genius Hour. We are starting slowly, but in a few short weeks there are so many awesome projects that will transform our school. What is your passion? What do you want to transform? Invent? The sky is the limit.. there is no […]
As we plan for the upcoming school year, I feel we are on the cusp of making remarkable changes in kids lives… There are a few ideas that may help us on on our journey… Makerspaces and Genius Hour…. Let’s face it, we have all but taken the hands-on learning out of schools and […]
I know the title of this blog post ironic. What type of “drive” am I talking about? Actually, this post is more about my fixed mindset. I tell people all the time to keep an open mind, and I get frustrated when I think they are being close minded or “fixed” in their decision making. I’ll admit […]
A few weeks ago I read the ASCDEdge blog post 3-2-1 Countdown to Summer by Kevin Parr. It was just what I needed. It was just what our staff needed. Since the concept was so applicable, I was able to integrate it into my final staff meeting of the year. Our purpose was to reflect on […]
I just finished Spring Break, and it hit me…. the school year is ending soon! Well, honestly we still have over 2 months, but time is of the essence. As school leaders and teachers view the calendar, it is a perfect time to ensure the end of the year goes smoothly. Here are a few […]
As I get closer to my goal of blogging for 365 days in a row, I figured I would go back and look at the posts. Obvioulsy, some of the posts resonated with people more than others. Today, I want to highlight the top 5 posts of the year (so far). There were a few […]
I went to EdcampNJ, and attended the Maker Fair set up in the gym. Meredith Martin, an awesome educator and innovator, set up a few opportunities for people to make stuff. When I asked her about the cost of setting up a Makerspace, she said that most of the materials are available at Dollar Stores […]