What are you reevaluating? Parents and teachers are struggling right now, all around the world. How do we do THIS? How do we parent and teach, at home, in a crisis? What do we hold on to, and what do we let float away? We’re all reevaluating so many things right now. What’s workingI’m gettingContinue reading “Homebound Parenting – Two Ingredients for Thriving”
Author Archives: Aaron Eden
Building Self-evaluative Mindsets and Tools
I had a teacher recently ask how handle it when students ask if their work is “good”. She wants to help them, but doesn’t want to be seen as the ultimate authority on what is “good”. Firstly, “authority” and “expertise” are not bad things, and we don’t want to remove that experience and skill fromContinue reading “Building Self-evaluative Mindsets and Tools”
Assisted Accountability – The True Flipped Classroom
Eric Mazur introduced the flipped classroom to much interest a couple of decades ago. The idea—and a very good one—is that the time we have together in class is precious, and is being totally underutilized by a one-to-many dissemination of information. In the internet age, Mazur thought, why couldn’t we do the lecture outside of class,Continue reading “Assisted Accountability – The True Flipped Classroom”
Value-based Learning: From Bake-sale to Brilliant
Schools all over are trying to figure out how to provide real-world learning for their students and many are beginning to realize how much a regular school schedule gets in the way of curating authentic learning experiences. Part of “real-world” is rethinking how we structure our time. I have previously written about the importance ofContinue reading “Value-based Learning: From Bake-sale to Brilliant”
Redefining Academic Rigor
There are two kinds of academic rigor. The standard kind is measured in number of hours spent; in the amount of predetermined information memorized and regurgitated. It involves running fast to jump through the hoops put before you. It involves being handed problems and showing you can follow prescribed pathways to solve them. It involvesContinue reading “Redefining Academic Rigor”
Pedagogy vs. Curriculum – The How is the What
The How is the What What (content) and how (pedagogy) cannot be separated. How we teach also teaches a what. Example 1: Coercion has no place in education. If we use coercion to get students to study what we want when we want, we are teaching them that how you get people to do theContinue reading “Pedagogy vs. Curriculum – The How is the What”
Concentrated Endeavor
I often get asked about the learning environments that support entrepreneurial learning/21st century skills development. There are many practices that weave together to create proper conditions, informed by guiding principles and paradigms such as: Education must be real. Primary focus should be creating advanced learners (see my Teaching Without Knowing post for more on this) We must scaffold our studentsContinue reading “Concentrated Endeavor”
Noticing and Wondering: Kicking off and supporting enquiry
Noticing and Wondering (Special thanks to colleague Sara Soulier who helped me workshop this at a recent conference) Could there be any more important skills than the skills to notice and to wonder? The normal paradigm in school is to train students that what other people notice and wonder about is more important than theirContinue reading “Noticing and Wondering: Kicking off and supporting enquiry”
The Mixed Messages of School
School to students— “Here’s the problem. Here’s how you solve it. Don’t fail. Do it, or else.” And now that you are done with school— “Please identify problems, Figure out how to solve them, Learn from your failures. Oh, and BTW, use influence—not power—to get people to do things. You’re welcome.” -School
Why Graduate Profiles Feel Wrong
Let’s face it. Every school’s graduate profile sounds the same these days. “Lifelong learner” “Global citizen” “Able and willing to make a difference” Etc. You know the drill. All worthy aspirations for our students, and for what we want to help them become. All schools engage in conversations about these end goals, the programs andContinue reading “Why Graduate Profiles Feel Wrong”
Edunautics 