Teacher & Student Burnout, Longer Days/Shorter Nights, Spring Sports, insert "...", yes there are many things we teachers face to keep the students focused on learning till the end of the school year. Heck, I personally struggle especially when I turn my desktop calendar page to May and see the "LAST DAY OF SCHOOL" in the date square. You'd be lying to yourself if you didn't start your own internal countdown clock. As a tech teacher I can even insert a countdown clock right into this post. But this post is about staying focused till that last day. I like breaking my final 9 weeks down into segments, have the students focus on giving back to their community with project based learning, and doing lessons that carryover to the summer into next year. Learning never stops! ( Click to tweet ) #1 Segments: I know every year that I have Spring Break the 4th quarter, the BIG test week of which I am both a proctor and still t
"Technology is NOT a Solution." As a technology teacher reading this chapter title in the TOC the first time in Kasey Bell's new book Shake Up Learning: Practical Ideas to Move Learning from Static to Dynamic I will admit she had me not scared but hooked. Where was she going with this topic since I know she is not only a Google Trainer but also a Google Innovator? She has to train yearly on Google products just like I do to keep her trainer status. Google products are technology. Heck! Her whole blog shakeuplearning.com is practically about how teachers can become Google Certified Educators and Trainers just like her. Why was she doing a 180 in her book and saying technology is not a solution? Finding out the WHY is the main reason that I jumped at the chance to read her book before it got published. I just had to know the answer to my WHY. Kasey has built a website around her new book at shakeuplearningbook.com . I encourage everyone to go grab the FREE Quick