From RSS Feeds, I Discovered...

From the blog Learning In Hand with Tony Vincent, I read a post titled, "Instagram for Teachers," (June 4, 2017). This article caught my eye because I love a good Instagram feed, and I've just recently discovered some great art educator Instagram accounts. But I had no idea there were so many possibilities to use it as a teaching tool! For instance, I can explore educator accounts by searching the hash tag #iteach, or by grade level or subject (#iteachk and #iteachart), or even #ipaded for ideas using ipads in education. Another thing I learned from this article was that it's possible to have multiple Instagram accounts (personal and professional). It explains how to set them up and how easy it is to switch between them. I'm excited to try it out!

Another article that captured my interest is from the website edutopia.org,  "A 7th Grade Teacher’s Shift to Flexible Seating," by Brooke Markle (October 20, 2017). It describes a middle school teacher's decision to take a risk and try some different seating options in her classroom. She was hesitant at first, but did her research and gained approval from the building principal. In the end she concluded that it was worth the risk because students as well as parents embraced the new classroom environment. I love this idea and really want to try and implement a version of it in my future classroom. It would take a lot of planning and there might be some trial and error, but the payoff could be huge if the students feel some type of ownership of their environment and feel empowered to be responsible for their own learning.

The author’s classroom, featuring an array of seating options.