Jul 03

My 6th grade Plan

I’ve been planning for the fall already and I’ve been using a spreadsheet from 3DGL to help organize the activities into quests with XP and achievements. Now I need to get those “quests” into the 3DGL interface for students to start playing (learning)! It’s really helpful to “see” the whole year at a glance. I’ve …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/03/my-6th-grade-plan-3dgamelab/

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Jul 02

Planning for the Fall Already #3dgamelab

We’ve barely been out of school for two weeks and I’ve already had the first day of school nightmare! What the heck?! It’s probably because I’ve been obsessing with 3DGL and I’m so excited to use it that I’m jumping right in planning my year. I think it’s better to do it now, while I’m …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/02/planning-for-the-fall-already/

Jul 01

Gamifying Take 2 #3dgamelab

This past year I tried my hand at gamifying my classes after reading Lee Sheldon’s Multiplayer Classroom. It was quite a failure. The class didn’t feel like a game. Kids didn’t show the level of engagement I was after. After going gradeless and offering kids more and more choice to take charge of their learning …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/01/gamifying-take-2/

Jun 30

Molting Roach!

Okay I’m not a big fan of cockroaches. I grew up in Miami, FL and we had those big, flying cockroaches with the antennae that looked like human hair. My mother always screamed when she saw one so early on I picked up that fear. To this day when I see a black blur out …

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Jun 29

Time Out or Intervention?

One year we had a program that was rather successful in helping students. We called it Skill Builders but either that’s not it’s real name or it isn’t a program that others use. So there is a classroom designated as the Skill Builder’s room. A teacher works that room all year. As other classrooms went …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/06/29/time-out-or-intervention/

Jun 15

Another Close

Yesterday, Friday the 14th, was our last day of school. It was a half day of fun for us at the middle school. We did start the day by giving out awards to the top academic kids but those were the only awards (besides honor roll and attendance) that we gave out all year! After …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/06/15/another_close/

Jun 01

Is Variety Better?

Coming up on the last two weeks of school I started to reflect on something I’ve maybe been taking for granted. I’ve noticed that I offer my students variety. Variety in Science instruction (and curriculum to an extent), variety in integrated technology and variety in how students show what they are learning. Lately I’m wondering, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/06/01/is-variety-better/

May 20

Testing is Over

State testing is over! My 6th graders took a Math and Language Arts test and my 8th graders took a Math, Language Arts, and Science test. The Science test, the subject that I teach, has questions on Earth, Physical and Life Science. Our curriculum, for better or for worse, includes Physical and Environmental Science in …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/05/20/testing-is-over/

Apr 29

Awesome Webinar on Feedback

Here is a Storify recap of tonight’s webinar with Grant Wiggins and Mark Barnes on Feedback hosted by Kristen Swanson (recording can be found here and slides can be found here):

Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/04/29/awesome-webinar-on-feedback/

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