Growth Mindset and Computer Science

 99 little bugs in the code, 99 little bugs. Take one down, patch it around 117 little bugs in the code.   @sertig What a growth mindset is and isn’t.  […]

Continue reading

Overcoming Learned Helplessness in the Digital Age

Exploring growth mindset and productive struggle as strategies to move learners from learned helplessness to learned industriousness in the digital age.

Continue reading

Rewarding the Process Develops Student Resilience

Yesterday I sat at the piano and played through the whole of Strauss’ Emperor’s Waltz. It’s a beautiful piece when…

Continue reading

ISTE 3 – Citizen and ISTE 6 – Facilitator – Growth Mindset – a sequence of steps for growing students into this mindset

My question for the ISTE 3-Citizen: Educators inspire students to positively contribute to and responsibly participate in the digital world and ISTE 6- Facilitator: Educators facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement of the ISTE Standards for Students touches on the importance of a growth mindset throughout education, no matter what your age, in …

Continue reading “ISTE 3 – Citizen and ISTE 6 – Facilitator – Growth Mindset – a sequence of steps for growing students into this mindset”

Continue reading

Growing 21stCentennial Learners: Can rubric and standards-based assessment co-exist with open-ended learning?

I recently had an opportunity to evaluate my belief that compliance-based learning is often perceived as the death of critical thinking skills while evaluating ISTE Standard 4 (Innovative Designer).  I wonder, can the educational standards-based culture support innovative thinking as our students “exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended… Continue reading Growing 21stCentennial Learners: Can rubric and standards-based assessment co-exist with open-ended learning?

Continue reading

Boost your professional learning network with Twitter chats

Back in my first year as a middle school science teacher, I asked experienced colleagues, “When will I know what I am doing as a teacher?” One said it would be at least three years. Another forecasted five. Well, I am approaching the end of my fifth year, and I have come to know what … Continue reading “Boost your professional learning network with Twitter chats”

Continue reading

How To Not Kill Creativity in the Science Classroom

Creativity is at once an ethereal goal for science teachers and an essential ability for science students. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standard for students as innovative designers proposes that “students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.” … Continue reading “How To Not Kill Creativity in the Science Classroom”

Continue reading

Connecting the Dots: Is there room for creativity in professional development?

Dot-to-dot puzzles. My kid loves them. Always has. Now in sixth grade, his favorites still start off 1-2-3, but now they’re cranked up to 11. Extreme puzzles like this one:   This giraffe puzzle (sorry to spoil the surprise… it’s a giraffe) has over 1300 dots to connect, but the concept is still the same […]

Continue reading

Learned Helplessness Attacks!

Learned helplessness: a behavior often seen when an individual believes they have no control over the outcome of a situation, regardless of the reality of their perceived control. “The motivational effect of learned helplessness is often seen in the classroom. Students who repeatedly fail may conclude that they are incapable of improving their performance, and […]

Continue reading