How to Use Book Clubs for Deeper Professional Learning Blog Post

This is my latest article in a series on owning your professional learning. This is the second in a series on owning your professional learning. Book clubs can be a powerful way to learn new skills, find new ideas, and experience paradigm shifts. Book studies…

Seven Teacher-Tested Ways to Find Renewal During Distance Learning Blog Post

Last week, I created the following goofy video as a reminder about the differences between teaching in-person and teaching from home: Subscribe to My Channel Subscribe to YouTube Channel While this video is a little goofy, it points to a reality that teaching from home…

Seven Reasons to Pilot Genius Hour Projects Blog Post

Genius Hour (or 20% Time) projects begin with a simple idea: give students a dedicated period of time to pursue their passions, interests, and questions in a creative way. In this blog post and podcast, we explore the benefits of doing Genius Hour projects. This…

4 Ways to Craft Choice Menus in Distance Learning Classes Blog Post

I have three kids ranging from older elementary to high school. Each one of them is handling distance learning differently. My daughter, who is also the youngest, initially felt overwhelmed at the list of assignments that popped up each Monday and the scheduled meetings twice…

5 Ways to Boost Attendance in Virtual Class Meetings Blog Post

I have a friend who is a phenomenal teacher. She has been making a positive impact on middle schoolers’ lives for 20 years. I used to go into her classroom during my prep period and take detailed notes so I could refine my class. She…

How to Make PBL a Reality in a Distance Learning Environment Blog Post

If you think about your most powerful learning experiences, there’s a good chance at least one of these experiences involved a project. This is where you learned how to research, how to ideate, how to work with others, how to engage in productive struggle, and…

Distance Learning and Hybrid Learning Workshops Page

DISTANCE LEARNING WORKSHOPS As a technology coach and STEM teacher, I helped lead my district in blended and virtual options. As a university professor, I have worked as a Digital Fluency Initiative mentor, provided professional development on course design, and helped professors transform their face-to-face...

10 Free Classroom Activities for Your Distant Learning Classroom Blog Post

In my last article, I wrote about using a vintage innovation approach to create meaningful distance learning lessons. Being creative often means designing these activities and projects from scratch. However, creativity doesn’t always work this way. When we think of creativity, it’s easy to picture…

Taking Distance Learning Away from the Screen Blog Post

In education, we often use a metaphor  of content delivery. We use terms like “deliver a lesson.” We ask, “did the students get it?” But the last week and a half has proven that teachers are not merely content delivery machines. In my last post,…

7 Big Ideas as You Shift Toward Online Teaching Blog Post

A few days ago, we found out that all of the schools here in Oregon will be off until the start of April. Many of the universities have asked professors to switch their courses from face-to-face to online. This is a move that school districts…