Who is reshaping education in a time when we need it? Who is impacting educators and students around the world at a time when the world is in need of help? Inspire Citizens are! We chat with Steve Sostak and Aaron Moniz from inspirecitizens.org. They cohosted the Shekou SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Summit in Shenzhen,... Continue Reading →
Making Better Teachers Podcast Episode 12: Building Community with PYPconnectED
Why is it important to build community as teachers? What are the benefits? This week we chat with David Towse. He is a technology coach based in Tokyo and the person behind PYP ConnectED. What is PYP ConnectED and how is it bringing teachers around the world together? Listen to the Making Better Teachers... Continue Reading →
Making Better Teachers Podcast 3 – What’s the PYP Exhibition?
So what is the IB PYP Exhibition anyway? Well, if you are a student or teacher at Primary Years Program school, its a pretty big deal. In Episode 3 of the podcast, Grade 5 teacher, Christopher Murray talks with us about the culminating event in a PYP student's academic career. Listen to the Making... Continue Reading →
5 Simple Classroom Management Strategies
It’s January of 2019 and sometimes the start of the new calendar year after the Winter Holiday can be a good time to reboot as a teacher. Maybe you were having some issues with classroom management in the fall and want to try some new things? Maybe your class is doing well, but you are... Continue Reading →
Citizen Scientist Students: iNaturalist
About a year ago I decided to check out a Birding Beijing social event here in Beijing, China. I do a great deal of work within my school with regards to environmental and nature education, but I wanted to meet people from outside the international school world who like-minded. It was a fantastic event and... Continue Reading →
Math Outdoors: Even and Odd Numbers
I have always been a huge advocate of outdoor learning and outdoor play. I think it stems from my upbringing in rural Canada and I grew up with a close connection to the outdoors and nature. That coupled with the sadness I have felt my entire international teaching career, working in large cities where... Continue Reading →
What makes you happy as a teacher?
I am really excited to start blogging here again. I felt as if life was just too busy for too long to do so, but as I find moments of balance here and there I like to share my thoughts and feelings as a teacher here. Recently I have been going through a bit of... Continue Reading →
New School Year: Resetting Priorities and Teacher Introspection
It’s been a long time, but I am back. Where have I been all this time? Probably where you have been as well, in the classroom. The new school year kicked off for me in late August and there were some big changes. I moved grade levels from Grade 2 to Grade 1. I moved... Continue Reading →
Making the Pivot Away from Tech in the Classroom
Tech has become more and more prevalent in classrooms across the world in recent years. It has become a wonderful way to connect students with others around the world, give them new avenues of creativity and access to knowledge may not have had in the past. I personally think it has also become a way... Continue Reading →
New Teacher Advice: Jump at Professional Development
"Sacrifice my weekend to work? What? I don’t want to do PD, it’s always on weekends!" Some teachers feel this way, but I certainly don’t. My advice to new teachers is to close your ears to this sort of talk and jump at as much PD as is offered to you. We all need our... Continue Reading →