Education's Edge
The latest and greatest in education are found (and discussed) here.
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Welcome to my blog. Anything that I can't find a place for elsewhere will end up here. My goal is to provide specific recommendations of lessons and products that I've found useful in my instruction with an emphasis on how Disney inspires my classroom and lessons.
The Power of an Overlay - April 12, 2025 - Hyperspace Mountain is at Disneyland for the Season of the Force. What can we learn from this?
What's That Smell? - April 10, 2025: Come on, just read it. You know you want to.
31 Days of Lessons - Jan 1, 2025: My One Word for 2025 is discipline. I'll put it to the test by making a goal of posting a resource a day for all of January. Links inside!
Teaching Evidence Writing in Social Studies - Sep 2, 2024: 3 years of teaching seniors gave me a goal: Make sure my 7th graders leave my class knowing how to write good evidence statements. A summer of planning led to this lesson. Read about how it went!
Courageous Creativity 2024 Conference Report - June 21, 2024: Show's over, now time to put it work!
The Last Day of Teaching High School (For Now) - May 23, 2024: I'm on my way back to middle school, but today's last day was certainly one to remember.
Top 5 New Things of 23-24 - May 17, 2024: 5 new things to share (plus an honorable mention.) Most are Gov/Econ lessons, but I have one non-lesson in there too. This is the last top 5 Gov/Econ you're going to get for awhile (or maybe ever), so enjoy it!
Updating a Classic - March 11, 2024: Some things have become untouchable. At Disneyland, any update to a classic ride meets with strong opposition. How can we get over that grip of nostalgia and updates the classics in our classrooms?
On Churro Carts - March 8, 2024: Can a Churro cart teach us how to improve our classrooms? Well yeah, obviously, that's why I wrote about it!
Courageous Creativity 2023 Conference Report - June 30, 2023: Would you pay over $1,000 of your own money to attend an education conference? I did. Was it worth it? Read my rather lengthy report on what I learned at Disneyland this Summer! (Is that click-baity enough?!)
Top 5 New Lessons of 22-23: Not the full return of the Kevies, but at least a return of the most important category. Check out my best new lessons from this last school year from both Government and Economics.
How to Be Creative - April 28, 2023: Nearly a year since my last entry? I must have something really important to say. Check out the answer to my most commonly asked question.
Target Audience - 5/30/2022: Do we miss the idea of a target audience when designing for all students at once? Rescue Rangers says maybe.
New Teacher Magic 2: Organize Your Ideas - July 2: 2021: Planning ahead is hugely important for new teachers. See how I do it.
New Teacher Magic: Be Yourself! - June 26, 2021: Welcome to all the newly hired and newly certified teachers joining the profession. Here's the first in a series of posts to provide you with some tips to bring magic to your classroom!
Review Games: A Ton of Fun? - June 14, 2021: Review games are very in. They can't all be good. Here's some of my reviews of review games.
2021 Kevie Awards Part 2: - June 3, 2021: Finally, the award you've been waiting for, Font of the Year, is here!
2021 Kevie Awards Part 1 - May 31, 2021: What can possibly for Best Tech Hack, Best Binge and Most Frustrating in this crazy year?!
Chapter 2 - April 16, 2021: Time for chapter 2.
Planning and Dice - April 1, 2021: I plan everything. What happens when I can't? Magic!
MyHeritage: Actual Magic? - March 3, 2021: Let's perform some magic and animate some old photos! This is SO COOL!
Thanksgiving Activities (SEL) - November 13, 2020: It's the holiday season! There's no better time to get kids thinking about the importance of gratitude.
Branch Rap Battles - November 6, 2020: What if we turned a discussion of Checks and Balances into a rap battle? Definitely some Commandment 9 treat here!
Inside Out and SEL - October 9, 2020
Digital Constitutional Convention - September 15, 2020
The 2020 Kevie Awards: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 - June 12, 2020
PearDecktionary - May 22, 2020
The Power of Wow - March 1, 2020
Kindness Assassins - Feb 18, 2020
The Little Things - Dec 7, 2019
Keep it up! - Dec. 2, 2019
Absurdity, Humor, Fun and Science (?) - Nov. 19, 2019
Digging for the Truth: Florence - Oct 23, 2019
Fun with Costumes! - Oct 9, 2019
For Every Ounce of Treatment, Add a Ton of Fun (and Barbarians!) - Sept 27, 2019
One Story at a Time - Sept 19, 2019
The First Negative One Minute - Aug 5, 2019
Avoiding Overload in Simulations - July 30, 2019
Know Your Audience - July 16, 2019
Simple Wienies through Writing - July 6, 2019
Posters and Wienies — Jun 28, 2019
Courageous Creativity 2019 Conference Report — Jun 22, 2019
Why Galaxy's Edge is Not What you Think It Is — Jun 13, 2019 3:55:49 PM
2019 Kevy Awards Part 2 — Jun 7, 2019 10:52:21 PM
2019 Kevy Awards Part 1 — Jun 6, 2019 3:51:12 PM
More Time Warp! — May 16, 2019 1:24:04 AM
New Breakout! — Apr 9, 2019 7:34:45 PM
Improv in the Classroom — Apr 8, 2019 8:05:38 PM
Disneyland Hates Busy Days — Mar 22, 2019 3:55:34 PM
New and Improved Google Earth — Jan 15, 2019 2:21:05 AM
Gamified Everything — Jan 5, 2019 6:25:43 PM
Point and Click Adventures in History Class — Dec 6, 2018 11:36:46 PM
The Haunted Classroom — Nov 1, 2018 1:41:09 AM
The Power (and joy) of Role Play — Oct 10, 2018 1:44:16 AM
The Power of Fun — Sep 7, 2018 1:53:54 PM
Imagination Rocks! — Aug 18, 2018 6:33:03 PM
Courageous Creativity Conference Report — Jun 23, 2018 2:07:21 PM
The Art of Teaching: Live Entertainment — Jun 21, 2018 3:53:32 AM
The Kevies: Part 2 — Jun 12, 2018 3:42:54 PM
The Kevies — Jun 7, 2018 11:43:32 PM
Get on their Level — Jun 5, 2018 4:10:58 PM
17-18: Year in Review — Jun 1, 2018 8:15:28 PM
Donuts and the Power of Drafting — Apr 13, 2018 1:40:59 PM
5 Takeaways from CCSS18 — Mar 26, 2018 2:04:55 PM
Everything Starts with a Story — Feb 27, 2018 10:45:24 PM
Wienies! — Feb 23, 2018 4:52:44 PM
Let's Play: Provide or Conquer? — Sep 3, 2017 3:10:50 PM
The Power of Simplicity — Aug 19, 2017 2:49:41 AM
Basic History Through Play — Jul 21, 2017 5:10:35 PM
Gamification Year 2 Part 2 — Jul 20, 2017 3:43:54 PM
Gamification Year 2 Part 1 — May 28, 2017 6:56:24 PM
I hate, yes hate, TeachersPayTeachers.com — Mar 22, 2017 7:50:30 PM
Fake News? More like Old News! — Feb 27, 2017 11:25:10 PM
Cars Land, The Little Mermaid and Always 1.0 — Feb 14, 2017 9:19:40 PM
Well Begun is Half Done — Feb 7, 2017 12:55:38 AM
Always 1.0 — Jan 24, 2017 7:44:14 PM
Culture Shock: The Early Republic — Dec 22, 2016 4:52:14 PM
Teaching with Games — Oct 24, 2016 7:41:03 PM
Breakout EDU — Sep 29, 2016 9:31:12 PM
Purpose Projects and Genius Hour — Sep 8, 2016 2:11:13 PM
The Settlers of America Colony Game — Sep 5, 2016 7:47:08 PM
Gamification 1.5 — Sep 1, 2016 9:19:40 PM
Play Dead's Inside — Jul 7, 2016 12:46:20 AM
Notes and Lecture Aren't Bad Words — Jun 21, 2016 7:33:20 PM
Reflecting on One Year of "Gamification" — Jun 9, 2016 6:15:55 PM
Thinking About Theme — May 19, 2016 11:00:49 PM
Digging for the Truth — May 11, 2016 1:34:58 PM
Designing with Compelling Questions — Mar 29, 2016 8:46:53 PM
Taking Risks — Mar 13, 2016 12:34:07 AM
One Little Spark — Feb 15, 2016 2:56:51 PM
Imagineering a DBQ — Jan 13, 2016 6:58:27 PM
Gamification: Mid-level Checkpoint — Jan 13, 2016 5:53:12 PM
Gamification: 60 days in (plus like 12) — Oct 23, 2015 8:40:35 PM
Gamification: 30 Days In — Sep 11, 2015 8:07:49 PM
Having a Great First Day — Aug 3, 2015 10:19:26 PM
PowerPoint Tips for Teachers — Jul 3, 2015 2:33:07 PM
The Multiplayer Classroom — Jun 27, 2015 3:45:50 PM
Reflecting and Projecting — Jun 8, 2015 4:17:54 PM
Top 10 Lessons of 14-15 Part 6 — Jun 5, 2015 4:28:36 PM
Top 10 Lessons of 14-15: Part 5 — Jun 4, 2015 4:54:04 PM
Top 10 Lessons of 2014-15 Part 4 — Jun 3, 2015 8:53:08 PM
Top 10 Lessons of 14-15 Part 3 — Jun 2, 2015 9:44:39 PM
Top 10 of 14-15 Part 2 — Jun 1, 2015 7:59:12 PM
Top 10 Lessons of 14-15 — May 31, 2015 2:36:00 AM
Learning Experiences — May 24, 2015 8:14:06 PM
Going out with a bang (also some booms) — May 18, 2015 10:09:28 PM
Pirate Unit: Day 1 — May 14, 2015 9:59:17 PM
Chopped Part 2 — Apr 27, 2015 10:26:22 PM
Let them all play! — Apr 24, 2015 12:51:24 AM
Chopped: Lesson Plan Edition — Apr 20, 2015 9:55:42 PM
Weigh the Evidence — Apr 15, 2015 10:17:50 PM
Questions Without Answers — Feb 23, 2015 11:30:14 PM
Experiential Exercises II — Feb 2, 2015 10:44:32 PM
Inspiration — Jan 27, 2015 11:30:16 PM
Stealing and The War of 1812 — Jan 15, 2015 12:12:34 AM
Experiential Excercises — Dec 2, 2014 11:09:54 PM
History Mystery: The Death of Meriwether Lewis — Nov 23, 2014 7:18:20 PM
Growth of a History Mystery — Nov 16, 2014 9:58:17 PM
Birth of a Sim... History Mystery! — Nov 12, 2014 11:42:30 PM
Simulations — Oct 18, 2014 12:56:54 AM
Trust, Kindness and Relationships — Oct 9, 2014 10:39:35 PM
More Evidence that Teaching is the Best Job in the World — Oct 3, 2014 12:46:42 AM
Teaching Bias with Movie Trailers — Sep 29, 2014 9:56:02 PM
DIY Classroom Research Station Using Cheap Cell Phones — Sep 25, 2014 6:22:59 PM
Choose Your Own Adventure — Sep 22, 2014 8:16:59 PM
History Mystery — Sep 17, 2014 10:00:55 PM
Gamifying the 13 Colonies — Sep 9, 2014 10:02:29 PM
WTE: Boston Massacre — Aug 27, 2014 10:07:28 PM
I Told You! — Aug 22, 2014 9:55:43 PM
Inquiry — Aug 19, 2014 9:58:19 PM
Accepting Failure — Aug 18, 2014 10:52:56 PM
Teaching Teamwork — Aug 13, 2014 9:47:16 PM
Teaching — Aug 12, 2014 10:22:17 PM
Shared Summaries — Aug 7, 2014 10:43:25 PM
Reflecting — Jun 23, 2014 4:03:20 PM
Sharing — May 8, 2014 6:48:25 PM
I Am Malala [Book] — Mar 25, 2014 12:46:27 AM
Is "Guess" a Bad Word? — Feb 18, 2014 8:41:53 PM
Maps! (Wait... what?!) — Jan 3, 2014 8:09:15 PM
New AssignmentS: Bracketology and Judgment — Dec 6, 2013 7:08:43 PM
Aurasma — Nov 19, 2013 10:33:54 PM
Horrible Histories — Nov 12, 2013 9:21:32 PM
Clustr Maps — Oct 17, 2013 10:28:03 PM
"Is this real?" — Oct 11, 2013 9:53:48 PM
Powtoon — Oct 8, 2013 7:21:34 PM
Everything Bad is Good for You (Book) — Sep 29, 2013 2:39:10 PM
Mankind: The Story of All of Us (DVD) — Sep 29, 2013 2:34:37 PM
Betterlesson.org — Sep 29, 2013 2:32:52 PM
Teach like a PIRATE — Sep 29, 2013 2:32:04 PM
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