Education 2.0 & 3.0

Teaching face-to-face during a pandemic is tough and much harder than I think many of us were anticipating.

I added this meme to my Curriculum Night video to parents this year. I think sometimes if we weren’t laughing we’d be crying…my heart also goes out to all of my colleagues who are teaching virtually right now! Sending strength, safety, and good vibes to all educators who are struggling right now.

We’re better together so let us continue to count on one another during these difficult times. I hope this post can help some of you get outside or get active and have some fun with your students

Are you looking for educational activities to keep your students engaged as the academic year comes to a close? Perhaps you are looking for ways students can review material or reflect on their year. Here are 10 easy to implement ideas that involve the use of technology:

A heads up: Dyson has "created 44 engineering and science activities for children to try out while at home during the coronavirus pandemic, from making a balloon-powered car to building a bridge from spaghetti," writes the Dezeen website. They go on to add: "Comprised of 22 science tasks and 22 engineering activities, the Challenge Cards can be completed by children using common household items such as eggs, string and balloons." You can also find a related playlist of videos on YouTube, one of which appears above.

I have the privilege of teaching my gifted elementary students for multiple years. At my one school, I have them in class for a full day each week, and each year I have special thematic days for which the students get very excited, e.g., Halloween and Day of the Dead “Wars,” Valentines Day, Book Celebrations, and Pi Day. I love planning a variety of interdisciplinary activities for these days and I love watching how 100% are fully engaged for the entire time.

Design challenges have the power to encourage creativity in your students – by providing limitations and guidelines, students can actually become more creative. Learn strategies for creating design prompts, running challenges and incorporating the design process into projects with your students. We’ll discuss how to create open-ended challenges and material-specific challenges in a way that will maximize your students’ creativity, as well as how to create passive design challenges that require minimal supervision. We’ll talk about some of the problems that educators face when running challenges, how to help your students focus, and balancing guided projects, design challenges and open-ended exploration. Whether you’ve had a makerspace up and running for years or are just getting started with the Maker Movement, you will leave this session feeling equipped to lead your students through design challenges that will spark their creative genius.