Miss Sarah, Teacher/Principal

  The Use of Games & Gameful Learning in the Classroom   Is the use of games and gameful learning the answer to students’ short attention spans, tendency to become bored, and difficulties staying engaged? Before we go any further, we need to differentiate between playing online learning games and gamification. Playing games is self-explanatory: Playing either different board or computer games that are in some way to a learning goal (or even just for fun and to learn social interaction and collaboration skills). On the other hand, gamification is the “application of game design elements to non-game tasks” (Langille, 2017, para. 3). I like how one video called it “game thinking” (MrWhitbyd, 2016). That’s just what it is: Approaching everyday life with “game thinking,” or a game spirit. An example of introducing games in the classroom would be a teacher who assigns her students a spelling game online that incorporates a fun storyline around spelling the words correctly. A...

  A Unique Solution to the Problems of Flipped Classrooms               Flipping a classroom is essentially switching around what the students would normally do at home and what they do in class with the teacher. Rather than completing projects and practice problems at home, and listening to the teacher lecture in class, students watch video instructions at home on their computers (or do readings), and complete group projects and work through practice problems in the classroom with the teacher. Before teachers implement this method, there are two main steps they should take first. First, I think the advice of a PBS NewsHour article is very important to consider: Teachers must think through what the problem is in their classroom. Perhaps the flipped classroom model is not for them. Just because others are flipping their classrooms and it sounds new and innovative, doesn’t mean it will be the right fit for you and you...

  Purpose and Benefits of Digital Storytelling in My Teaching Context               If you’re like me, when you first heard the term “digital storytelling,” you thought it was talking about the many education videos you can find on YouTube that you probably often show to your kids. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that digital storytelling was about more than just passively watching someone else’s digital creation. Digital storytelling is all about actively involving your students in the process of blending “video, audio, images, and text to convey stories, information, and ideas” (Warfield, 2016, para 1). Basically, it’s like writing an essay or story or information paragraph, but instead of just using paper and pencil, you incorporate multimedia to share the information or tell the story.               Digital storytelling can have many purposes...

  Key Ingredients of Critical Thinking How Critical Thinking Relates to My Teaching Context   I am a teacher in a small, multigrade classroom. My students are younger (kindergarten to second graders), but due to the nature of our classroom, they have to learn independence very early on. Even if our classroom atmosphere didn’t require this level of independence, I would still want to teach my students to be self-directed and think for themselves, as it is an important ability they will need to use all through their lives. What I find is that some students seem to inherently be able to look at a new assignment and figure out what to do for themselves. However, there’s always “that one student” who just doesn’t seem to be able to “get it” (every teacher has at least one). It’s hard to engage them, hard to get them to participate and to do assignments without walking them through each step, and they struggle to apply something you just explained to them in new situations. Th...

As teachers, it is so important to learn and incorporate and understand the technology that is so much a part of our students' lives. When we are able to interact with them and teach them using technology, this can help make the education process more meaningful and applicable to them (I Need My Teachers to Learn, 2009). One of the ways that we can do this is by embedding videos into our presentations or course communications.  For example, today I am going to be sharing a video that really caught my attention. My own recent studies about artificial intelligence led me down some cyber rabbit trails to the really interesting topic of music created by artificial intelligence. As a music-lover, I found this idea so captivating and interesting to learn more about. I hope you enjoy it as well:  References [changingworldbyfilm] (2009, August, 31). I Need My Teachers to Learn. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/RxHb5QVD7fo 

True Success in the 21 st Century: Abilities and Attributes I want My Students to Develop In Order to Be Successful                 There’s no doubt that the world has changed a lot over the last century. Just looking at our education system shows just how different our mindsets are now. While learners of the past were required to just listen and repeat (Crombie, 2014), today “we have the flipping of education where the learning takes place outside the classroom, but the essential engagement and practice is still conducted at school by the all-important facilitator rather than the teacher” (Fell, 2016, video). However, amidst all this change, our mission as believers has not changed. Our God has not changed. As a teacher, I ask myself how do I can prepare my students to meet this new world head-on, while still not forgetting what true success is in God’s eyes. For this reason, I believe that in order to be succ...