Get ready for your weekly serving of what’s been happening in my head and life!

Ed-Tech I’m Using

I used Mentimeter for the first time whilst delivering a workshop at ISPP in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I first came across this on a bright morning podcast. The host, Elena Aguilar, said that a great way to start a session with people you don’t know is to declare some psychological safety. So I used Mentimeter to ask everybody to pick a core emotion, listed on the projector, of how they were feeling that morning. It was awesome to be able to see and share emotions, and it helped me adjust my pitch a little after seeing how many people were tired, and at the same time, I was motivated by the 2 people who said that they were excited about the session.

Teaching Practice I’m Trying

I came across this awesome teaching strategy on the cult of pedagogy pod. The strategy of “building thinking classrooms” by Peter Liljedahl is an approach to teaching and learning that emphasizes the development of students’ thinking skills and engagement in the classroom. The strategy involves creating a classroom environment that is designed to promote critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration among students. Key elements of the strategy include using vertical non-permanent surfaces (VNPS) in the classroom, implementing group problem-solving tasks, and fostering a growth mindset in students. The ultimate goal of the strategy is to create a classroom culture that supports students in becoming independent, self-directed learners who are capable of thinking critically and solving complex problems.

YouTube Video I’m Watching

Recommended to me by a friend, The Core Quadrant® model by Daniel Ofman is a tool for self-awareness and personal development. It consists of four elements:

• Core Quality
• The Pitfall
• The Challenge, and
• The Allergy.

The Core Quality is a person’s unique positive trait, while the Pitfall is the negative aspect of that trait when overused. The Challenge is a trait that complements the Core Quality and helps to balance it, while the Allergy is a trait that the person strongly dislikes and is often a reflection of their own Pitfall. The goal of the Core Quadrant® is to help individuals recognize their Core Quality, avoid their Pitfall, and develop their Challenge, leading to greater self-awareness and personal growth.

Check out the video here.

Things I’ve Learned

I had another go at practising the memory palace, this time for memorizing all 25 criteria of the ISTE standards. I’m currently training to be an SD trainer, and I’m sometimes struggling to remember all of the different criteria. So I’ve been reading Moonwalking with Einstein, and the book talks at length about how to use the memory palace. I have to say it was amazing, and a total blast. I will follow up soon with the crazy memory palace that now stores all 25 ISTE criteria.

The String I’m Pulling

Identify existing problems in education, and then using a problem tree analysis, break down what the problem is until you can go no further. It is at this point, identifying the problems, that you can start coming up with solutions.

Quote, I’m Pondering

‘The toe you step on today could be connected to the ass you’re kissing tomorrow’ by Aryeh Bourkoff on Tim Ferris

Get ready for your weekly serving of what’s been happening in my head and life!

Ed-Tech I’m Testing

This week one of my students introduced me to CapCut an online video editor to match the power of iMovie! It is free to use, available on both Android and iOS, as well as being browser-based. It has quite an extensive library of templates to browse from as well. Here are some example projects to get you going in the classroom:

1. Stop-motion animation
2. Virtual field trips
3. News broadcasts
4. Science experiments
5. Music videos
6. Public service announcements
7. Historical reenactments
8. Cooking tutorials
9. Sports highlights
10. Poetry recitals

Teaching Practice I’m Trying

The IDEO U website offers an insightful overview of design thinking, a creative approach to problem-solving that emphasizes empathy, ideation, prototyping, and testing. The article explains that design thinking is a human-centred approach that seeks to understand people’s needs and create solutions that meet those needs. The process involves five stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test.

The article also emphasizes that design thinking is not just for designers. It can be used by anyone who wants to solve complex problems and create innovative solutions. The process is flexible, iterative, and collaborative, and it encourages individuals and teams to embrace ambiguity, take risks, and learn from failure. The article concludes by stating that design thinking is a powerful tool for creating meaningful change in the world.

YouTube Video I’m Watching

Ok, technically this is not even a video! It is a website with lofi beats with the occasional sound of air traffic control coming and interrupting the beats!

Things I’ve Learned

I have often wondered why International schools cap the class size at 20 students. Where does that come from? Is it an arbitrary number? Is there some theory and science behind it?

In reading Pauls Burn’s Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation, I came across Parkinson’s coefficient of inefficiency, and wonder if there was any link between this and class sizes. In research completed by Parkinson, he discovered that groups of adults, larger than 20 people, are less efficient at making effective decisions than groups smaller than that. I do prefer smaller class sizes, but I still wonder where this magic number of 20 students comes from in international schools.

The String I’m Pulling

Sticking with our guy, David Kelley, I watched him get interviewed on stage, where he talked about the design process and how it all started. You can watch the full interview here.

Quote, I’m Pondering

Not to constantly correct people or jump on their mistakes. Just add to the conversation. Meditations 10. The Literary Critic Alexander.

Ed-Tech I’m Testing

This week my co-teacher and I were teaching plotting points, and writing coordinates on a 4 quadrant graph. I found the following a lot of fun and a way for the students to approach the topic in a fun way.

Topmarks has a bunch of links to different websites for a multitude of topics. It was the beginning of the yellow brick road I went down to get the following web-apps to help my students with 4 quadrant graphs:

• Alien Attack – zap aliens by typing in the correct coordinate.
• Rainforest: Walking track – click and drag tracks linking up coordinates (1 quadrant only).
• Rainforest: Locate things – click on the correct coordinate of a location (1 quadrant only).
• Coordinate Plane Plotter – this is an amazing web app that you type in coordinates in any of the 4 quadrants – my favourite out of all 4 web apps.

Teaching Practice I’m Trying

I just read Project Zero’s Step Inside thinking routine, again when teaching math and 4 quadrants. In a moment of inspiration in the lesson, I grabbed some masking tape and rushed to tape the floor to make a rough 4-quadrant graph. Then I asked 4 students to each pretend that they were different letters: a,b,c,d. Another student would then tell each one of the letters where to stand! I think we all had a blast with this, and I fully intend to give it another spin very soon.

YouTube Video I’m Watching

This fella is a movement coach with a no-nonsense attitude to mobility. In this video, he takes you through his daily squat routine, which involves some serious flexibility and balance work. From Budha prayer squats to deep squats with arm rotations – check out Ido’s squat routine here.

Things I’ve Learned

What is it that I am trying to achieve? Questioning myself this when I am teaching or implementing something new, or going about any of the daily randomness or procrastination that I find myself in.

The String I’m Pulling

Back to the 6 part story link here. I wanted to teach the kids how a mnemonic would help them remember the 6 part story method – so I asked AI to help with the creative thinking process. After 3 attempts, Sage chatbot came up with the mnemonic STORY and what an absolute belter it was! I introduced it to the students, with full disclosure that it was created with AI, and they absolutely loved it and used it that very lesson to transform their writing.

This is how the conversation unfolded:

Quote I’m Pondering

Avoid the lead balloon people, as they will bring you down. Instead, go find those balloons filled with helium instead, as they will lift you up!” I remixed this after speaking to a friend Kate!