The Purple Parade

Robotics is a great way to introduce engineering into all subject areas.  When creating robots to solve a particular problem, students must use researching skills, mathematics, design, and so much more to create robots that do specific tasks.  So why are robots only being designed in specified robotics courses or after-school clubs?  We should be integrating robots, coding, and design into all courses.  I would love to see our schools using robots in math, ELA, science, social studies, and elective courses to integrate the disciplines and show students how robotics and automation are so important for our future occupations.  A few weeks ago, our district had teams compete in the GM Robotics Challenge at a local community college.  It was amazing to see what the teams came up with to meet the challenge.   Most of the teams came from high school robotics courses, but our middle school teams were after school clubs.  Wouldn't it be amazing to s...

Are Your Students #Creating?  Or, are they just doing crafts with no purpose?  Try to encourage empathy in your students.  Students who create with a purpose and audience in mind are more likely to want to share their ideas with the world.  They are more likely to accept failures and try again until it works.  They are more likely to use critical thinking skills needed in today's society. Try using the Design Thinking Model in your classroom.  Try having students create in your classroom for a purpose.  All subject area teachers can use this model.  If you haven't used this model before or haven't heard of it, I have included a picture below that demonstrates the model. Image from springhillschool.org This past week, I attended the MOREnet conference.  I listened to the keynote speaker, John Spencer, discuss the need for empathy in our students.  Without empathy, there is no beginning to the Design Thinking Model.  Th...

Me, Hadi Partovi (creator of code.org) and R2D2 at ISTE 2016 It's been a couple weeks since I returned home from ISTE 2016 in Denver, CO.  I've been trying to keep my mind clear and focused on what the theme of the conference truly was.  To me, I believe that the Makerspace philosophy (creating solutions to problems through the design process) and STEM (adding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to all subject areas) were the overarching themes of the conference. For example, I enjoyed seeing the robots created by students.  It really showed how students used all types of materials available to make their robots work. I also participated in breakout sessions about the Makerspace philosophy.  In one such session, a panel of speakers from South Fayette Township School District spoke about how they added "making" to the curriculum and have seen science scores soar.  Now of course, test scores aren't the only indicator to the success of the...

Google Slides Google Slides is an amazing presentation creator.  If you are still using PowerPoint, DON'T!  With Google Slides' opportunity of anywhere/anytime access and sharing capabilities, it is all you need to present your information in an engaging slide presentation. After facilitating Google Bootcamp with teachers in my district for 4 days, I'd like to share out my favorite 5 Google Slides tips that I shared with them.    1.  Crop an image to a shape... Insert your image onto a slide Click on the image so it is highlighted. Click on the little arrow next to the crop icon. Choose the shape, callout, etc. that you'd like your image to be cropped to. And you're done!    2.  Slides Carnival Can't find a template in Google Slides that excites you?  Then go to Slides Carnival to find more.  Just make a copy of any of the templates on the site.  Re-name them (put the word template in your name so yo...

Ever since I participated in the Google Teacher (now Innovator) Academy in 2014, I have been amazed by the power of Google My Maps.  It just keeps getting better, and the ways to use it are unlimited! If you've never tried Google My Maps, just try it!  Sign into your Google Account and go to your Google Drive.  Click on "NEW" and then "More", and then "Google My Maps".  You can also access it through Google Maps (click on the 3 lines on the left hand side of the screen and click on "Your places"). For fun, I decided to create a map of all the locations of the 250th anniversary cakes in St. Louis .  I did in the old Google My Maps, so it looks a little different since it was converted to the new maps.  I've also presented on Google My Maps at several conferences.  This is a tour of St. Louis from the M3 conference sponsored by MOREnet . You might think that Google My Maps is only for social studies, and it does lend itself to that s...

Are you ready to have an awesome unlearning experience in St. Charles, MO?  Then join us for our very first EDCAMP!   After attending EdcampSTL, I was stoked to help plan our school district's first EDCAMP!  It will be a fun morning (8am - noon) of collaboration and learning  So, join us in St. Charles, MO on Saturday, June 4th!! For more information or to register, just go to:   https://sites.google.com/a/stcharlessd.org/edcamp-scsd/ Hope to see you there!