Personalizing Learning
This is truly an exciting time to be an educator. These past few days and weeks have been a delightful crazy-and-busy blur. I’ve been privileged to travel and meet with educators and learners in different places and see how individuals are innovating left right and centre! This week I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting at European Schoolnet in Brussels, where the Interactive Classroom Working Group has put a spotlight on Personalizing Learning. It was a compact, intense 2 days of sharing experiences and discussing strategy and ways of working going forward. How can personalized learning be fostered in the classrooms of European schoolchildren? What we saw and heard helped us to find answers to these questions. „Personalizing Learning“ weiterlesen
How attending an Apple conference transformed my teaching
„How attending an Apple conference transformed my teaching“ weiterlesen
Combining Challenge-Based Learning with Genius Hour to create Magic in the classroom
„Combining Challenge-Based Learning with Genius Hour to create Magic in the classroom“ weiterlesen
Moments that transform
Testing with iPads
This year marks the first where I have the chance to use tablets systematically in a classroom, in my case with a group of 14-year old English learners, so there are a lot of things that I’ve read about but hadn’t had the opportunity to try. This week in class I tested testing with the iPad for the first time. Here is what I’ve learned. „Testing with iPads“ weiterlesen
My thoughts on defining homework for today’s educator
The newly appointed president of the Vienna Board of Education has reportedly declared he would like to see schools without homework, no doubt causing many teachers‘ eyes to roll. Homework remains a point of contention, a matter of fervent debate at all levels and in all school types. Many teachers view it as necessary evil, a fact of life, a given, without which learning cannot take place. Other teachers question its validity and efficiency, especially in the 21st century classroom, where the individual needs of students should be put first and foremost. You likely fall into one of these camps and have made your own experiences and observations. What does it look like from my perspective in the Austrian Middle School classroom? „My thoughts on defining homework for today’s educator“ weiterlesen
My flipped teaching routine: it keeps getting better!
For the first time this school year I’ve had the chance to implement this strategy with a group of 14-year old English language learners. Would there be technical obstacles? Could I really produce videos myself or rely on external ones? And most importantly: how would my students react to this „innovation“? Here is the state of things after almost one full semester. „My flipped teaching routine: it keeps getting better!“ weiterlesen
How I welcomed my students into the new year
Like many other educators, I spent my Christmas holiday break being EXTREMELY lazy at times – on the Internet, on Netflix, at the Spa 🙂 but also EXTREMELY BUSY IN MY MIND – reflecting on the hectic months behind me and thinking about how to shape the ones that lie ahead. „How I welcomed my students into the new year“ weiterlesen
A tale of 2 educational conferences: #DED15 & #ELDF15
Last week I had the privilege of attending two conferences for educators interested in digital learning and teaching: the eLearning Didaktik Fachtagung in Linz, Austria on 23rd October and the Digital Education Day in Cologne, Germany on 24th October. The latter was a lucky coincidence so to speak, as I was in town visiting relatives so I decided to stop by and meet my fellow #EDchatDE twitterers.
I say privilege because it’s always an opportunity for me, not only to meet friends and get to know new ones, but to learn a lot. And by a lot, I mean a great deal. Whenever I leave a conference I have a very long to-do list – articles to read, apps to try, links to check out, people to contact or actions to follow up on. And still, it remains one of the most enjoyable aspects of the teaching profession in my view. Here’s why … „A tale of 2 educational conferences: #DED15 & #ELDF15“ weiterlesen