Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from June, 2015

Generate Instant Pear Decks

  I’ll keep this short as the video explains most of you. Any new educational technology can be complicated to dig into from scratch as you attempt to align it to learning outcomes.  Well, a new feature that Pear Deck has introduced has taken a giant leap forward to help educators do just that.  Before we jump into the new features, if you are unfamiliar with Pear Deck and why my students and I consider it the #1 EdTech tool that helps their learning, check out the video in the previous blog post.   But if you are more concerned with why you should even dive into Pear Deck or learn about this new AI generation of Pear Deck sessions to a learning target, check out the video below. Like I said, I’m keeping it short so you have time to watch the video. If you have questions, please contact me at mohammam@elmbrookschools.org or the Pear Deck Learning team at support@deck.peardeck.com . Also, check out the amazing Stacey Roshan's video on this update. 

Three Days in the Valley Part 3

The morning of the third and final day of PBL 101, I was feeling kind of thought full. I think you may know what I mean. You have absorbed so much new knowledge that you don't have the ability to take on more before some time this reflect and break it down.  For those of you who have had a health course, think about how your liver handles alcohol in the blood. The liver breaks down alcohol in the bloodstream. But sometimes the liver can't keep up with the concentration in our bloodstream and this leads to the intoxicating effects of alcohol.   I say this to point out that I was feeling a little overwhelmed coming in to the last day I'd be attending PBL World.  The feeling quickly changed from overwhelmed to extremely engaged when I discovered that Alfred Solis was giving the keynote.  Ok, in all honesty it occurred when I learned exactly who Alfred Solis was.  A couple of years ago when I first tried to learn about what PBL was and how it tied to physics, I ...

Three Days in the Valley Part 2

I've been to a few conferences and conventions in my time. I've heard quite a few keynote speeches in that time.  But on day 2 of PBL World, I think I finally understood the purpose of a keynote speech and speaker is.  I could go on describing the keynote, but I won’t.  The keynote speaker was Stephen Ritz.  That’s all I'll say as preamble. Please take the time to watch the keynote and feel yourself empowered to get out of your chair and plan a project for change. Try to resist, you can’t. For more info on Stephen and his students, head to greenbronxmachine.org . So what was going through my mind during this presentation?  Well, my mind drifted to possible projects.  The driving question that came to my mind was “How can you cost effectively grow food in a room with no windows?”  My classroom has no windows so it would be perfect. Growing plants may be a perfect project for a biology classroom, but what place does it have in a physics...