End of the Experiment-For Now

Since our district filters now officially block all blogs, I am no longer updating this site. I am, however, blogging for my own personal and professional growth at www.edu-nerd.blogspot.com. Feel free to join me there.

Welcome Back!

I haven't given up on the idea of a BCHS teacher blog. While I still want this to be a place where we can discuss issues the are important to all of us, I have decided to also use this space to promote Web 2.0 technology in the classroom. And, of course, I'm going to start with wikis.

For those of you who haven't heard me remind colleagues to "check the wiki," or who weren't quite sure what I meant...watch this easy to understand video.

• To see how other teachers have used their classroom wikis, click here.
• To see how I have used my classroom wiki, click here.
• To sign up for your own free classroom wiki, click here.

My goal is to add information about at least one free and easy to use Web 2.0 tool each day, starting in September. Since all tools will be compatible with the PBWiki platform, be sure to create your by then.

So What is Critical Thinking?

Thank you to those who have responded to our first post. The survey will remain active until the end of closing day, so be sure to vote. Also, feel free to highlight other essential skills in your comments.

Now for my next question...

What is critical thinking? Many of you have said that it is important, so what does it mean? How can we (all of us) include more of it in our classes? Be specific.

Building Skills Across the School

As those of us in the Freshman Academy have begun to reflect on this year, it occurred to us that we have seldom asked for input from the rest of the school. We think about it a lot. But, like all of you, we get caught up in what absolutely has to be accomplished before the end of the day and never get to those things that we know we should do...someday.

So, here goes. Some of us have talked about developing a consistent skills plan for next-year's freshmen. Things like organization (same, or similar, system across the Academy), note-taking, critical-thinking, etc. Which of those skills is most important for you to see in upperclassmen? Do you have any recommendations as to how these skills should be taught?

Respond either in the survey on the right, by posting a comment to this post, or both. Please help us start a school-wide discussion on this topic.