Into the Driver's Seat

We're diving into our top 4 creative and powerful ways you can implement right away to create that positive classroom culture you have been craving.

Technology is changing the world at a rapid pace, and education isn’t exempt from the effects of that. Social media, in particular, is one of the greatest influences of our time — not just on young people, but on culture in general — encouraging social connections and enabling the exchange of thoughts and information on a global scale.

And although it has its drawbacks (peer pressure, bullying, access to questionable content, and its addictive nature, to name a few), there are also tremendous benefits when it comes to social networks — and let’s face it, they’re not going anywhere.

With over 10 million users, Pinterest has rocketed to pop-culture fame since its launch in beta in March 2010. This rapid growth makes it the fastest growing social media site of the past year. Educators have caught on to Pinterest in a big way. From kindergarten to college, teachers, professors and students are using Pinterest creatively to organize and share ideas from all around the Web and even in their own classrooms and campuses.

For generations, cartoons and comics have been used for entertainment purposes, but what if they were used for more? Today, educators are using cartoons as a unique way to spark engagement in the classroom.

According to Teach.com, “Emerging research shows that comics and graphic novels are motivating, support struggling readers, enrich the skills of accomplished readers and are highly effective at teaching sometimes dull or dry material in subject areas such as science and social studies.” Students enjoy viewing comics, discussing comics, and creating comics.

If you are new to the idea of using cartoons in the classroom, the first thing you must understand is that the terms cartoons and comics are used interchangeably. Traditionally, a cartoon refers to a single-panel image (such as a political cartoon), whereas a comic refers to a multi-panel strip of images. As you will see, it is easy to use both forms in the classroom to capture your students’ attention.

Somehow by the luck of the draw, I ended up with the worst desks in our entire school when I joined this staff in 2013. Not only are the desk legs loose, and I’m constantly tightening them with a wrench, but also they are peeling and carved up. One even says “I hate this class” in big letters across the front. Let’s not even get into the gum artwork under the desks...


It finally came to a point where I was fed up. These desks have been through a lot, and they aren’t serving my kids’ needs. I can’t exactly go out and buy new desks. Solution: do some DIY and make whiteboard desks.

A few brief, high-impact guidelines for using technology in the classroom.

In the video below, Justin Reich describes the ability of online learning environments to record and retain real-time learning interactions between teachers, students and peers, and to open up possibilities for new forms of K-12 assessment. Here are just a few highlights from the video, but the full interview (below) is flush with analytical insights from this former social studies teacher.