Arts Education

Earlier this month I wrote about thinking about note-taking differently in my classes this year. That post shot to the top of my "posts most read" list since starting this blog about year ago. I'm not sure why it has been so popular. When I shared the described differences with my students, they weren't clamoring for more information. They had the same "ok, we'll take notes if we have to" looks on their faces that they typically have. Maybe one reason the post gained so much traction was my brief discussion of sketchnoting. Sketchnoting is hot right now. There is no doubt about that. If you are following this trend, you know that sketchnoting is like purposeful doodling. At least that's how I described it to my students. If you haven't seen much sketchnoting, imagine taking notes in pictures and images, using words and pictures equally or even pictures dominating over words. My first sketchnote, such that it is, is pictured above. I'm not a ...

I am always on the lookout for a good to-do list app. Every one that I've tried is too complicated or too needy. I download new ones from time to time and try them out, but always abandon them for paper and pencil. My fave so far has been Google Keep. Simple, shareable, easy. But yesterday I saw another one that looked so funny that I downloaded it to try it out. Quest is an iOS app for iPad or iPhone that you can use for to-dos or reminders or other similar task management. When you start using it, you get a pixelated 8-bit character. As you complete tasks and check things off your list (your Quests), you can level up your life and earn things for the avatar. It caught my eye because of the gaming quality. When my son was younger and didn't want to write his spelling words, I would sometimes draw him a scene where a truck would advance a certain amount with each word or a train advanced on a track toward the station. He is starting middle school tomorrow, so right after I ins...

It's no secret to anyone who has ever read this blog that I am a big fan of Nearpod . If you are unfamiliar, Nearpod is one part presentation tool, one part student response system. You import your slides and then add interactive components like quizzes, polls, drawing, websites, and more.  This week's update made this already great tool even better. Today at the SPARCC conference, I led a session comparing Nearpod and Pear Deck . I also compared them in a previous post . They are similar tools with many similar features. I like them both a lot and use them both in my classroom. Both combine slides with interactive components. Both export reports. Both integrate nicely with Google. Sometimes there is a tradeoff: Nearpod has better classroom management features, but Pear Deck allows teachers to ask questions on-the-fly, altering the prepared, planned lesson as necessary with spontaneous follow-up questions. But now Nearpod users can do that too. With this latest update, instant...

A couple of times this summer I have mentioned on my blog that we are working hard on math facts this summer with one of my kids. Both kids are changing schools this year and I am worried that we're not exactly math-fact-ready. We have tried a lot of things this summer - iPad and web games, flashcards, drawing visual representations of the facts. All were met with teeth gnashing and big sighing. The most recent addition to our math fact repertoire is a web tool called  Reflex . Reflex is a math fact fluency tool made by ExploreLearning , the Gizmos people. My school district has been a subscriber of Gizmos, standards-based math and science simulation tools, for over three years. As subscribers, we get a regular e-newsletter for Gizmos and Reflex. In each newsletter, the big gains possible with Reflex are highlighted. This is what made me try the 14-day trial.  The first time we used Reflex, we were greeted by a funny crab who delivered directions. Numbers had to be typed as ...