This summer my family and I have an 18 year-old roommate. An amazing young woman we know from our involvement with student leadership organizations, she had a chance to do an internship at the state capitol for the summer, and took it – with no place to live. Hence – I have an 18 year old roommate.

A few days ago (8 to be precise) she and I were talking about summer plans. I asked her what she wanted to do while she was in town, aside from her internship of course. Then she turned the question on me. But I live here – I thought. There’s no rush. Our conversation continued and I found myself saying, “ Wouldn’t it be cool if I could purposefully exercise every day for an entire month. I would feel so much better.” She looked at me and simply said, “So…why not?”.

I couldn’t come up with a good answer, which is why I was out the door at 5:30 this morning hitting the pavement with my new accountability partner.  8 days in – a few weeks to go. But you know what? I already feel better.

Many of you are jumping into summer breaks – what could you change in one month? Take a few minutes to jot down some thoughts to these questions.  When you get back to school in the fall, have your students do the same. Train yourself in the way you train your students – to continually grow, learn, and be better tomorrow than you were yesterday.

·      What could you do to be healthier?

·      What could you do to be more knowledgeable about things that interest you?

·      What could you do to place more value on the things important in your life?

You don’t need a book or a coach to tell you what to do – I’m sure you have something in mind to do. So why not? Thanks Leah. 

I’m a huge proponent of game-based learning. I remember vividly waiting all week for computer class in school, where we’d line up and march down to the dark lab filled with Apple 2E’s to enter commands and receive text-based. As painful as that sounds, even the limited amount of early “games” made learning so much more interesting. So while I was still somewhat surprised to read that Minecraft, a game my husband plays here at home on the weekends, is the latest trend in game-based learning in classrooms, I kind of wasn’t. The game is delightfully old-school and simple, but wildly expansive and customizable for both teachers and students alike. Not only that, it’s multi-player, so you can play and collaborate with others (check out this video to learn more). There is even a company (appropriately named MinecraftEdu) that now offers prebuilt modifications and lessons for teachers as well as in-service training and world building tools. 

So does it live up to the hype of being the ultimate educational tool? I think the value still lies in how the tool is used, but I’m excited to see how its use expands and grows in the classroom. 

Have you or someone you know used Minecraft in the classroom?  Let us know!

I recently read an article that said we need to shift our thinking about education from K-12 preparation to K-J preparation – “Kindergarten through Jobs”. It went on to discuss the importance of career preparation at all grade levels, and it made me think – what could I have done better to help kids connect to careers in my biology class? The result of my mental time-travel is below - a quick, practical way that you can help your students, regardless of age, begin thinking about careers.

NCL Seating Chart: Download the chart PPT template here.

Step 1 – Give each student a small slip of paper

Step 2  - Write the letters N, C and L on the board. Ask students to copy on their paper.

Step 3 – Decode the letters: N = name, C = career goal of student, L  = anything the student likes (could be a hobby, food, musician, tv show, book, etc.)

Step 4 – collect cards, open the seating chart template on your computer, and fill in the info

Step 5 – Keep your chart out as you teach. Make a habit of glancing at it and connecting to at least 3 students’ interests each class period.

This could be a direct content connection. “We just learned about photosynthesis. Jenny you want to be a nutritionist. How might photosynthesis impact the job of a nutritionist?” Or it could be used as a life check-in. “We have 5 minutes left of class. Taylor, what interests you the most about being a nurse? What’s your next step to prepare? John you want to be a mechanic – did you see that L Tech is having an open house this weekend?

*Want an added challenge? Put your chart in a sheet protector. Place a dot or check mark on each student as you make a connection. Try to connect with each student each week.