Happy Cake Day, Milestomes.com

December 14, 2011 Milestomes.com was born with the blogpost "How Grades Change Conversations About Assessment & Achievement" I wanted to start blogging partly in fulfillment of my employer's requirement to submit an annual statement of professional growth, but mostly because I started Tweeting and reading other blogs. I wanted to be part of the conversation and the professional dialogue. [...]

Posted by milesmac on December 14th, 2012 | No Comments Posted in big ideas, Pedagogy

Teachers and Shrodinger's Cat: Connected Educators on Social Media

If Shrodinger's cat would meow, we'd know whether it is alive or dead. If teachers talked about what they are doing in the classrooms... A report from the box would be helpful for everyone. Many connected educators are working to get out of the box, open the doors, tear down the walls, get out of the building, virtually and [...]

Posted by milesmac on December 1st, 2012 | No Comments Posted in Pedagogy

Touching story of integration and an insightful teacher aide

Middle years Halloween dances are loud, energetic, and smelly. Almost every student is there, dancing and shouting conversations over the thump thump of the music. Near the back of the room a teacher aid moves in front of a severely disabled student: blind and restricted to a wheelchair. She holds the arms of the chair [...]

Posted by milesmac on November 29th, 2012 | No Comments Posted in Pedagogy

#eduwin Changing student self image through positive talk

There is always one. Sometimes more. The challenging kids that show up with reputations and rap sheets. My strategy is to talk up a positive year, right from the start. Focus on the good, build up the image of a positive individual, delight in achievements, focus on the feeling of legitimate accomplishment. Use lots of [...]

Posted by milesmac on November 20th, 2012 | 1 Comment Posted in Pedagogy

Middle School Students Advocate for Social Justice as Global Citizens

Social Justice in the Middle Years This post briefly describes and assembles some media from a social justice project we did after working with the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation. The project evolved from a fundraising effort likely to raise a few hundred dollars to something much larger. The entire school was brought on board engaging [...]

Posted by milesmac on November 19th, 2012 | No Comments Posted in Pedagogy

Being a Connected Educator

Erin at EdCamp in Ottawa sent this tweet from one of her sessions about table top white boards. White board table tops...so cool. #edcampottawa Erin Kristalyn Sun, Nov 11 2012 05:23:10 ReplyRetweetFavorite From EdCamp in Minneapolis-St.Paul I sent her a link to Laura's website where she had blogged about IdeaPaint. RT @ekristalyn: White board table [...]

Posted by milesmac on November 12th, 2012 | No Comments Posted in Pedagogy

2 Projector Remote Control Buttons You Need to Know About

Everyone can use the power button, but what on earth are the rest of the buttons for on the projector's remote control? Here are two that every projector user will love:

Posted by milesmac on September 25th, 2012 | 4 Comments Posted in Resources

Stories from the School Parking Lot

The car pulls up to the middle school entrance. A parent and her child - one of the ones that can be a challenge sometimes, one that takes that extra effort to really appreciate. He leans over, gives his mom a kiss on the cheek. She smiles and cups the back of his head with [...]

Posted by milesmac on June 15th, 2012 | No Comments Posted in Pedagogy

Amazing story of interpersonal giftedness

Picture this: a new student arrives mid year, emotionally scarred from past traumas, social service files inches thick and an obvious fish out of water in this new school. Looking different than everyone else at this middle school, her body language screams out rage mixed with fear and the threat of something bad if you [...]

Posted by milesmac on January 14th, 2012 | 5 Comments Posted in Pedagogy

Walking the Line in the Middle Years

Young adults? Older children? Something in between? Tween is a neat description for these amazing people in education's middle years. Walking the line between adulthood and childhood, they venture forward into mature responsibilities and retreat back to a child's freedoms. Or is it really a back-and-forth suggesting a nether place between two states of being? [...]

Posted by milesmac on December 14th, 2011 | No Comments Posted in Pedagogy