Take the Tech Outside

It’s that time of year. Take your students outside for fresh air and supercharged STEM learning! Courtesy of the STEMblog, here are “5 Ways to Take Technology Outdoors.”

How Fast Is the Future Arriving?

Mix tapes. They were the best. I used to spend hours and hours putting together what I consider to be some of the world’s best music mixes ever. Ever. Without dispute. I was to the mix tape what a modern deejay like Deadmau5 is to electronic dance music.

The Unknown Future of Hand-Generated Communication, part 2

Learning hand-generated communication leads to a deepening of the thought process so essential to good composition. Good composition leads to a more fully realized knowledge of syntax, meaning, and subtext. Once you’ve got that, well, you’re really on your way, aren’t you?…Which is to say, in my opinion, that stripping away handwriting instruction in the 21st century is a boneheaded quick fix.

Calling All Creative Technophiles!

The Mailbox upper grades editors (myself included) are looking for your classroom-tested ideas, tips, and activities for using new technologies in the classroom. How do you get the most out of your interactive whiteboard? Do you keep a digital camera holstered to your hip? What great suggestions do you have for using a document camera or tablet computer or even your smartphone to help you in your job? Are you a technophile, creating new ways of teaching using the latest in high technology? We want to know, and we want you to share with us.

The Next Great Debate? Probably not.

The next great cataclysmic education reform debate is about to erupt with the power of several hundred burning suns. Cursive handwriting: keep teaching it or not?

Everything Old Is New Again?

As a teacher, I used an antiquated overhead projector when document cameras were making inroads. Is there any antiquated classroom item you cling to? Perhaps you rush to embrace all new teaching technologies, from smartphones to tablets. Maybe you happily wear the label of School Luddite. Share your thoughts on tech in the classroom!

A Can of Worms: Education Reform and Technology

Despite the risk of opening a can of worms in our third post at the Upper Grades Exchange, I am going to talk about two things. Here, there, and everywhere in education circles, two refrains are heard over and over again: “Reform is a must” and “It’s technology or bust.”
Recently over at our sister blog, Be The [...]