Start with a Question

Daniel Pink's book Drive  boldly analyzes why we humans do things.  His analysis was meant to be read by business CEOs and managers, but many have applied his research and conclusions to education.  While his ideas are interesting, they certainly do not fit into the current public education model.  His book did cause me to ask myself, "What drives me to be a teacher?" The Test Pink discusses of the two types of people that exist according to him in Chapter 3. Type X "Type X behavior is fueled more by extrinsic desires than intrinsic ones.  It concerns itself less with the inherent satisfaction of an activity and more with the external rewards to which that activity leads." Type I "Type I behavior is fueled more by intrinsic desires than extrinsic ones.  It concerns itself less with the external rewards to which an activity leads and more wit the inherent satisfaction of the activity itself." Well, of course after reading these descriptions...

I posted about my limited experience with Vine last spring soon after the app was launched by Twitter.  A couple of days ago in class I was in a bind, and the opportunity to use Vine as an academic tool presented itself.  I grabbed it. An analysis of the potential of Vine and Instagram videos in the classroom was recently posted on the Edutopia website .  After reading it, I was determined to find a way to make it work for me.  My philosophy is: If I can meet my students where they already are, rather than forcing them to learn on my terms, they are more likely to see how history can be relevant in their own lives. Things Weren't Going As I'd Planned I had spent the better part of a Friday evening building interactive review games through my Smart Notebook software.  I've used these activities before.  They give students a chance to play with the Smart Board and they review content to prepare for assessments.  But, when I tried to fire them up t...

The answer is: BOTH The ed-tech integration cohort I'm working with this school year completed an iPad scavenger hunt with 9 tasks that required us to look for apps and work together to solve problems.  For one of the tasks we had to use Doodle Buddy to create our avatar.  It was fun.  We giggled.  But the real world classroom application of creating one's avatar was not immediately apparent.  How would this task help improve my students' learning experience? Here's the selfie and the resulting avatar from the scavenger hunt. Meh. At the same time, in all of my classes, students have gone paperless.  They're taking notes and carrying out class activities using mostly Evernote and the suite of accompanying apps.  One that they've been using quite a bit is Penultimate .  It has similar capabilities to Doodle Buddy, but it connects rather seamlessly to Evernote, so it fits into my class better.  Here's how it works: Before the Less...

My little family is fortunate this week because we are all still working.  Even though the 94% "non-essential" federal workers are furloughed, everyone we know personally who works for the federal government is considered "essential" and is still working and earning a paycheck.  That doesn't mean, however, that I'm not feeling the far-reaching effects of this giant Congressional tantrum. Day 1 of Shutdown First, on Monday, October 1 I tried to get onto the Library of Congress website to do some research for an upcoming lesson.  When I was faced with a government shutdown message, I tweeted out my frustrations. The #shutdown prevents me from researching historical information for the high school students I teach. #ebtl2 pic.twitter.com/7Q01uVNZAm — Kerry Gallagher (@KerryHawk02) October 1, 2013 To my delight, I got a few retweets from sympathizing teachers and a new follower.  Darin Johnston ( @AnIowaTeacher ) certainly isn't anyone I've...

...these are the 3 Google apps I could NOT live without. PS - Your island would also need Internet, wifi, laptops, smartphones, tablets, AND a way to charge everything. So... yeah. Number 1: Feedly Available on iPad or Google Chrome, Feedly seemlessly transferred my Google Reader RSS over and allows me to view the musings of my PLN (which includes ed techies, history geeks, and colleagues from Reading, MA) in a much sexier format.  This means I'm not just keeping up with their thoughts in 140 characters or less via Twitter, I'm getting their fully developed philosophies and stories delivered to me day in and day out. Additionally, since working with Steve Olivo  on a middle school team I've decided that the best way to hold students accountable for their writing is to have them blog.  They are publishing their work to me, each other, and the world.  What better motivation to build a portfolio that tracks one's own progress?  They may not realize th...

OK, so the title is a little bit of a misnomer.  I have been a part of several backchannel experiences at professional conferences.  However, I've never invited my students to backchannel during my class. What is Backchannel? According to the TodaysMeet website. I've enjoyed contributing to and learning from these audience insights in the past.  However, I've never invited my own students to backchannel while we were in the midst of a class activity or discussion.  After looking at a few backchannel platforms, I decided on TodaysMeet .  I was especially inspired by Richard Byrne's post on his blog Free Tech 4 Teachers .  So, here is a reflection on my first forays into backchanneling in my own classroom with my own students.  Both attempts involved documentaries. Attempt #1: Honors Sophomores and the Industrial Revolution Students at this particular age and level tend to be eager to participate and prove to their teacher that they are workin...

Sure, you could find some of these primary sources by Googling them.  Sure, you could come up with a few of these lesson activities on your own.  Your bright, experienced, and you know what's good for kids. But this stuff is reeeeeally good.  Like, it's a veteran history teacher's dream.  Go ahead. Give them a try.  Just a peek.  You'll be hooked too. Reading Like a Historian  is published by Stanford University and has primary sources embedded in short analytical and engaging activities.  Instead of just asking students what a source says, they are asked deeper questions about the value of the source, the motivations of the authors, and so much more.  This a better source for U.S. than for world history teachers, but what is there will elevate the conversation in your classroom.  I also can't stress how interesting the sources are.  Not your typical text book appendix stuff.  Worth a visit and the time it takes t...