I enjoy the times when our AP US History Teacher, Kevin Randolph, and I sit down to talk about embedding new ways of learning and new tools to accomplish the learning goals he wants to achieve within his classroom. On Wednesday, asked him to help me brainstorm about what to present at our end of the year Upper School faculty meeting. I have been give the last time slot of the last meeting of the year, with a special luncheon right after my presentation. I have to make the presentation short, sweet, and to the point while planting seeds that […]
Category: teaching and learning
Where Did Learning to Change Go?
Let’s face it, I have been busy over the last few weeks. I have been working with multiple student groups on a variety of different projects, doing a variety of household projects, both inside and outside, and finishing going through my mother’s and father’s possessions. Over the weekend, I saw all kinds of traffic about the new video, Learning to Change. Knowing I had some down time on Tuesday morning, I set it aside. When I went back to view it, I found out that it had been taken down. I wonder why? I couldn’t find an explanation. I had […]
13 Days Project – Work Day One
The Progess of the Group Today was the start of each of us started working on creating their 4-5 minute story about the day we selected or were assigned. The class spent the first part of the class trying to determine what standards were needed for consistency and how to organize the days, either chronologically, relative importance, or thematic group. The group seemed disinterested in some of these details, wanting to dig into their own project. I had other items to attend to so I did not find out what the final decision was. I know that I will find […]
Turning a Dream Into Reality
On Saturday, May 17th, for a group of our seniors, a dream became a reality. The embarked on a journey that began in Chicago and was going to take them to Moshe, Tanzania, where they are going to be able experience first hand the growth of a school which they raised funds for. Last year, as juniors, they began the year by reading Three Cups of Tea. I have written many posts about the experiences that we have had, both the students and myself. They are documenting their experience via a TravelBlog. I hope you take some time to read […]
Guest Post – Kevin Randolph’s Reflections on Start of 13 Days Project
From Kevin Randolph, who is currently not blogging, but hopefully will join the list soon: Historically the Advanced Placement US History test is given during the first ten days of May and that leaves almost three full weeks of class before our school year ends. I think every AP teacher faces the same dilemma; what to do with the time? For over fifteen years I have ended my classes with some sort of project. I have elected to do that for a variety of reasons. First, my students were tired of the grind and the information glut that […]