Leadership teams wanting to bring about any kind of change in schools right now may be (understandably) met with resistance from the educators in their school community. Any kind of change—continuous improvement, strategic implementation of new initiatives, new or updated curriculum, shifts in the makeup of the student body, new schools or attendance boundary changes, and so much...
Starting to offer maker opportunities to students can feel overwhelming. And, finding the right tools for students to use can be confusing. There are so many options out there and most of the materials are not found at local stores, so it is often impossible to sample them prior to purchasing. So, if you are just starting to dip your toes into the maker education/STEM water, here is a...
Pizza for reading, tickets for good behavior, points for participation, stickers for homework completion, marbles in a jar for teamwork, a good grade on an assignment. Educators have been using carrots and candy to reward behavior for a very long time. And why wouldn’t we? It seems to work. Students in my sophomore English class participated way more when I had my clipboard out and...
Figuring out what robotics tools to get for your makerspace or classroom can be tricky. There are many options out there and they are typically a large investment, so it can be an intimidating purchase with district/school/grant money—especially if you don’t get to interact with any of them in real life first. To help, I’ve created a list below that includes some of my favorite robots for...