Posts by Michael Niehoff
SmartStart: Starting the School Year Off Right
If we focus on anything but academics to start the school year - such as culture, opportunity, creativity, relationships and the “why” - we may actually produce a more academically successful student and school year. This post explores how to make that happen.
9 Ways To Make Student Work Authentic
Making learning more “real” has long been a goal of those who have promoted everything from project-based learning to career technical education. Both learners and learning facilitators want learning where the ‘why’ is an integral part of the process. It’s this desire to be “real” that has now found its way into our vernacular as “authenticity”.
5 Good Ways for EdLeaders to Make Teachers Feel as Important as They Are
If you ask teachers, most will indicate that they want appreciation and recognition for their hard work. However, they will also often say that they would rather have that appreciation and recognition be an ongoing, sincere and cultural acknowledgment than an official event or days on a calendar.
Letting Students Lead School Culture
If school leaders and classroom teachers recognize the collective power of their students, then it makes sense for them to give their students the chance to identify needs, challenges, and issues within their school's culture, and develop potential means of addressing them.
7 Real-World Issues That Can Allow Students To Tackle Big Challenges
How can we creatively collaborate, critically think and communicate in ways that will make our world a better place to live? Letting our students practice thinking about and working on these seven big issues can present hundreds of relevant challenges that can be a big step toward that future.
3 Ways To Model Collaboration and Partnership in Schools and Classrooms
Our challenge as educators is whether we walk the walk. We ask our students to collaborate, or partner, but do we truly do it ourselves? How can educators model true collaboration and partnering to our students?
What CTE “Gets,” What CTE Needs To “Get” More
Education as a whole can learn a great deal from the successes of many CTE programs. However, CTE cannot operate in isolation, and needs to learn from the best of transformative education outside of its standard practices. Mutual benefits await.
Training Today’s Learners To Be The Hired Guns Of Tomorrow
Our students will need to continually learn about and apply current developments in technology, global collaboration, market opportunities and emerging industries to win in this new economy. How do we give students both the mindset and the skillset to not only survive, but to thrive?
How to Create & Cultivate a PBL Culture
Transitioning to a more project-based pedagogy can be challenging and overwhelming, but there is one simple factor in particular that will affect your success: culture. Learn more about how to build a PBL culture here.
The 5 Core Components of K-12 Entrepreneurship Education
Today's students need their curriculum and instruction - or rather their learning experiences and performance opportunities - to allow for ideation, virtual global collaboration, design thinking, transdisciplinary practices, adaptive thinking, and cross-cultural competencies.