Design Thinking And Solving School Problems With No Code Apps
The Design Problem $12,000. That’s a hefty number for most public schools. We had a need though. We had a growing Experiential Learning program at our local high school. Over 1000 of our high school students students participated in some sort of job shadow, internship, or site visit in the past year. The quote from […]
Limited Time To Learn: How We Coach Busy Educators
How did we ever get so busy? And how do we go about intentionally learning new things when we are so busy? It seems all adult learners experience a constant tension between productivity and learning new skills.
A Note From the Future
Artificial Intelligence is coming. Errr… it’s already here. Ok, so maybe artificial intelligence isn’t so much about the future, but more about current trends. It’s something that is happening right now. Art is being made by an Artificial Intelligence called Dall-E (along with many others). If you were at graduation last year, you heard the […]
How Do You Track Learner Belonging? Here’s a Tool to Try!
I’m pretty excited for this tool. This was co-developed with my thinking partner Shawna Parkinson. So, big credit to her for this initial big-picture idea. Why Belonging? We’ve been working with teachers at Mason High School to create a stronger sense of belonging. It’s a big school. Last year, students were online or masked up in-person. […]
High Quality Student Data in the Arts
What data is most useful – and actionable – to the arts educator?
Empathy Mapping to Put the Learner At the Center
I recently created a quick video introducing Mason High School teachers to the idea of empathy mapping. Empathy mapping is a tool that designers use to focus on the end-user of their designs. In this case, I see teachers as designers. An empathy map helps a teacher get into the headspace of their students. It […]
Mason City Schools Personalized Learning Guide for Educators
It has been an intensely busy few weeks in Mason City Schools and Mason High School. That has made it hard for me to take time to create some new posts for this site. I do have some things I would like to share, though. This week, we released the Mason City Schools Educator’s Guide […]
Brainstorming with Jamboards
I try to be a purposefully creative thinker in everything I do. In fact, sometimes I’m stuck in my head way too much. I love a good brainstorming activity to help get those ideas out of my head and into the world. Sometimes those ideas aren’t workable. Other times they are. I don’t know, however, […]
Changes and Reflections
I did this little SketchThinking back in June of 2020. We were in the heart of the Covid-19 pandemic. I don’t think this thinking isn’t terribly profound. I don’t think I experienced or am experiencing anything different than other people. Nonetheless, I think capturing your own experiences somehow helps you become better at seeing and […]
Even Michael Phelps Has a Coach
I recently saw a really surprising comment from a teacher on a social media discussion board. The teacher said she felt like teachers were the only profession where we have to be “coached.” As if those education reformers think we can’t handle the job on our own. I certainly recognize that coaching doesn’t always “feel” […]