Posts by Jamie Back
STEM & Maker
Creating a Makerspace That Works
Jamie Back shares her recent learnings about setting up, maintaining, and working with students and faculty in her school’s makerspace.
Future of Learning
The Value of a STEM/Humanities Partnership
STEM/humanities partnerships are a great way to model the importance of valuing the diversity that all disciplines bring to the table.
EdTech
Integrating Computational Thinking into Math Classes
Change in the education system takes time, but you can integrate computational thinking into your math class now, with these tools and tips.
Future of Work
Framing a Classroom Around the Future of Work
One teacher decided to frame their entire school year around the future of work, analyzing the teaching and learning in their classroom in the context of takeaways from future of work reports, and chose strategies outlined in this post to educate and prepare students for the workplace ahead.
Future of Work
How Will Work Change in the Coming Decades? A Pittsburgh Case Study
According to the report “Still Hiring Humans: The Future of Work in Pittsburgh and Beyond,” workers of the future might change jobs as many as 15 times in their lifetimes. What should schools, employers, and communities focus on to prepare students for the future of work? Analyzing the report through the lens of an educator, Jamie Back summarizes her top takeaways.
Personalized Learning
Making the Most of Student Reflections
By: Jamie Back. Jamie shares how she uses several online tools to gather and respond to student reflections about such things as their mindset, study strategies, and understanding of topics.
Future of Learning
Inspiring Serendipity in the Classroom
Jamie Back discusses how as a teacher you can create serendipity in the classroom and provides suggestions on how to cultivate it yourself.
Personalized Learning
Student Choice to Prepare Students for the Future of Work
Jamie explains why the future of work's rapidly changing landscape requires our students to be flexible in their learning and why student choice is so important.
Difference Making
Cultivating An Innovation Mindset in the Classroom
According to GenDIY, people who have innovation mindsets possess qualities such as “perseverance, initiative, collaboration, tenacity, and curiosity.” How can classroom teachers give students opportunities to develop an innovation mindset and build these important skills? Jamie Back offers a few ideas.
EdTech
The Importance of Understanding Technology, Coding & Computational Thinking
To many students, technology is still a black box that requires a tech support person to fix, and according to Jamie Beck, this needs to change. For students to be successful in the future, they need to become competent and confident with technology—and troubleshooting—in various forms.