My dear, very smart, and seriously good friend Angela Maiers asked me to help spread the news about Dot Day. I am happy to oblige and I hope that you will join in spreading the word as well about a project that asks students to make their mark. Angela shares: Every year on September 15, [...]
Crowdsourcing Fifty (or so) ways to leave your paper:
August 21, 2012 By 5 Comments
Every couple of years I attach a list of alternate project ideas to my September faculty newsletter. As I began to update those ideas this time around, it occurred to me that it would be a much better list if we built it together. So here’s the document I have so far. I invite you [...]
Our own Creative Commons
June 21, 2012 By 1 Comment
Right before the end of school we launched a new creative space. The transformation of our reference area to a making space was funded by a very generous gift from a family in our community. This little video gives you a flavor of the change. The Altman family wanted the space to be accessible to [...]
Honoring our filmmakers: If you give a kid a camera . . .
June 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
It’s not Hollywood, New York, or Cannes, but for a particular group of students, this red carpet will be unforgettable. This time of year we traditionally award students who over the year score the highest on their exams, attend class every day, participate the most in school activities, achieve glory on the field or court. [...]
Rules of a creator
January 6, 2012 By 2 Comments
Just a brief post to share this poster I discovered on Tanner Christensen’s Creative Something blog. (Lot’s more to explore there.) Tanner explains: Nine simple rules that help propel creatives (that means you) to success. Whether you’re an artist, a writer, a craftsperson, an entrepreneur, a student or a teacher, or anyone in-between: these rules [...]
12/5 is Smackdown/Open Mic/Karaoke night. Prepare!
November 20, 2011 By 3 Comments
Time to look back at the best of 2011 in our school library/edtech world and share! At the TL Virtual Cafe on December 5th, 8PM Eastern, we’ll be hosting a Learning Tools Open Mic/Smackdown/Karaoke. And the plan is to get ready by building a crowd-souced presentation/book. Gwyneth and I are listed as host and presenter, [...]
Above and Beyond: The Story of the 4Cs
July 30, 2011 By 2 Comments
Communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a national organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student, advises that we inspire learners to achieve and that we teach well beyond the bubble test: In an increasingly complex, demanding and competitive 21st century, students need to learn more than the [...]
Celebrating “The Power of Open”
July 4, 2011 By 4 Comments
If you teach about Creative Commons, if you have students and teachers interested in creating new media, in remixing or mashing-up, you will want to download a copy of The Power of Open. The pdf book is a kind of temperature check, more accurately a celebration, of the impact of the global explosion of openness [...]
Infographics as an infolit product
June 29, 2011 By 2 Comments
Data is the new soil. Because for me, it feels like a fertile, creative medium. You know, over the years, online, we’ve laid down a huge amount of information and data, and we irrigate it with networks and connectivity, and it’s been worked and tilled by unpaid workers and governments. . . But it’s a [...]
Our new orientation video
June 10, 2011 By 5 Comments
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