Happy Friday from the Bring IT, Together Conference! It’s a wonderful day to share some of the great reading I enjoyed recently from the blogs of Ontario Edubloggers. It’s always a pleasure to share some of the great thinking that’s happening.
It’s easy to “fall off the blogging wagon” at times. Life and other commitments sometimes get in the road. This post, by Jaimie Reaburn Weir, is a reflection on her personal blogging situation.
It’s good to see her blog back up and active again. She regularly shares insights about teaching and certainly is high on my reading list. Her emphasis on empathy is a great lesson for all.
ECOO16: Virtual Reality & The DIY School Computer Lab
I got a chance to stop by Tim King’s Minds on Media session yesterday. It was hard to miss. Many sessions were involved with people sitting on the floor operating robots or in chairs working with a piece of software.
Tim’s session was considerably different. Participants had virtual reality headsets and folks were waving their hands as they were immersed in a virtual universe.
Tim has become a very important part of the conference in the past few years. In this post, he shares thoughts about his Minds on Media session and his Friday breakout session. Both definitely are off the straight and easy path. If you’re looking for something completely different…
Best BITs: Wrestling with math in School 2.0
Alanna King takes on the topic of mathematics and where/how it fits into schooling.
Math does need to infiltrate all disciplines to be authentic. It would be best not taught in isolation. Embed it into art, dance, science, social studies etc. . . make it real by pondering real numbers and real questions.”
We talk about across the curriculum needs in so many subject areas.
Who better to offer a suggestion than a teacher-librarian who actually sees it all. They’re in the best position to take the pulse of education and the pulse of the culture within a school. I found her observations powerful and found my head nodding in agreement as she relates first her own personal experience with mathematics (which wasn’t negative in the beginning) and then extrapolates her current school.
Learning is a drug…no really, it is
David Carruthers made sure that I didn’t miss this post from Heidi Solway. So, with Roxy Music playing in my head, I clicked to check it out.
I’d like to think that the concepts that she touches on describes my fascination for continually looking for and learning new things.
Learning is a drug. No really, it is. If you find the right ‘stuff’ to learn about…you get hooked! You keep coming back for more, just like a gambler keeps hitting the casinos.
There are things that have to fall into place for the mindset of addiction to be effective and you shouldn’t feel a need to apologize searching for it. After all, nothing succeeds like success. It’s definitely worth the hunt.
Really?
You only have to turn your thoughts to two things in our recent past.
- the US election
- Pokémon
Could we agree that social media is a way to report on or enhance real life?
Yet, at the same time, we have to whip out our BS detector. Is effective literacy instruction a matter of helping students draw that line between real and not real life?
Student-Paced mode in @PearDeck for #3ActMath tasks
There are so many right in this post from Laura Wheeler.
I make no apologies for loving mathematics. I always have. I’ve always thought of every mathematics problem as a puzzle to be solved.
But, growing up learning mathematics, we never had things like PearDeck or the internet or the pedagogy of the 3 Act Math task.
So, reading this post was exciting for this guy.
I liked the concept of the lesson that she develops and shows how she works with, groups students, and implements the 3 Act Math. Mathematics teachers – take note – does it work for you?
I had a quick talk with Colleen Rose about this post. She called it just a short quick one.
But there’s so much there if you’re willing to think about the traditional approach to projects.
It sounds like she’s opened a door for that student and is now feeling the pressure to support him in a manner that she hadn’t expected.
So often, we think of blog posts has having the answer to a problem. What if they became the genesis for new thinking, learning, and teaching?
Love it.
Please take the time to drop by and check out these wonderful blog posts. Then, head on over to the Ontario Edublogger list for even more.
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.