Desktop Learning Adventures

"Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's party!'"  That's a great quote from Robin Williams, and I couldn't agree more.  For those of us in Colorado, it's the time of year when we all breathe a collective sigh of relief, as we finally lay to rest the state assessment for another year. Yes, April is a welcome guest with her daffodils, tulips and crocuses blooming, brightening up everyone's mood, signaling a fresh awakening. To me, keeping things fresh means giving choices, and the way I do that is by using RAFTs  to apply what they've learned. It's one of the easiest ways I know to differentiate for students. I was told RAFT has a different meaning in different parts of the country (world?). To clarify, my version of RAFT means R ole, A udience, F ormat, and T opic. I like using them as culminating activities to assess understanding, and I love them because they give students a choice. One of my favorite RAFTs is for the boo...

Baseball season is here again! For all you diehard fans, I hope your favorite team wins the pennant. I still remember one particular opening day in Denver (I think it was 20 years ago!) when half my class left with their parents. The city finally got a major league baseball team and this was the Colorado Rockies first home game ever! I was told it was an historic event, not to be missed. Well, if I can't beat 'em, then I might as well harness that enthusiasm in the classroom. I'd like to introduce you to  my version of America's sport,  Spelling Baseball , a differentiated Spelling practice board game. I have a few guidelines I follow when making a game to use in the classroom, and I use them whether it's a math game or a language arts game or any kind of game. It has to be accessible to all students at their level, with opportunities to grow.   Spelling Baseball has different lengths of word lists. 20-, 30- or 40-word games are available to play with s...

In today's society, we are constantly bombarded with data.  While data can be very useful, it is often misleading, used incorrectly or skewed to meet a particular need.  This month, for my example of  Math Is Real Life , I would like to share two pieces of data that we receive each month- our water bill and our gas/electric bill. Each bill has all kinds of useful information on it: how much it costs, when payment is due, and information about consumption. Below is a graph from our water bill comparing usage from year to year. I find this data to be useful, as it indicates a potential issue that needs our attention. As you can see below, there was a huge drop in usage from July to September, 2013-2014.  Did we all of a sudden become concerned about how much we were watering our lawn, washing our car, power-washing our siding?  Possibly, but not true.  Living in a high-plains desert, we're always concerned about water conservation.  Turns o...