I have way too much stuff. And, like most people, I continue to accumulate more of it. The other day I found myself at a local Italian market in the small town of San Giovanni, where a charming, middle-aged vendor charismatically overtook a crowd of Italian women. He knew his target well. These were women … Continue reading Less is More
One of my favourite math routines are seat finders. I use these right from day one, which gets students thinking and doing math before they even step foot into the classroom. They are low-prep, and easy to implement. The routine works as follows: Greet students at the door and hand them a playing card. They … Continue reading Seat Finders
Check-In Prompt of the Day How I Use This: I like to begin my first few lessons with a check-in prompt that students respond to in an editable Google Slides document. The prompts vary from general getting-to-know you questions, would-you-rather questions, or may review content from the previous day/week/month...etc. I copy and paste my class … Continue reading Ideas for Building a Community of Learners in Virtual School
I knew I wanted to become a Teach the moment I saw them: mystical beings dipped in silver and draped in white; creatures from ancient Greek folklore. They came in a massive wave, surrounding the herd of frosh as we nervously huddled together along the steps of Victoria Hall. Apprehensive and shy, the energy we … Continue reading Lollipop Moments
What is good email etiquette and why should we care? Before the Digital Age, we picked up the phone and called people. Today, email has become the ubiquitous form of communication and is often mistreated as a form of text messaging. My personal feelings towards email in general are that they are not conducive to deep … Continue reading Email Expectations
I was nine when I learned that kindness could be commodified. Kindness, caring, and compassion were acts you put on only when there were people to witness them. I grew up agnostic, so naturally this excluded God. The world was too complicated and too chaotic for me to decipher on my own, so I looked … Continue reading Rewards and Vacuous Praise
Welcome, Padawan. Ms. Soo here. If you are taking a class with me, you will need to familiarize yourself with my course expectations, along with a bit of Star Wars terminology. A Padawan of the Jedi Order achieves the rank of Jedi Knight upon successful completion of the Jedi Trials. The Trials consist of nine … Continue reading Course Expectations
I love it when professional development is purposeful and practical. I've been following Robert Kaplinsky for some time now and finally enrolled in his Empowered Problem Solving Workshop. My reflection post in the last module of the workshop. Sad it's over... "I don't have time for problem solving in my classroom." TRUST me, I've been … Continue reading Empowered Problem Solving Workshop: My Takeaways
April Soo 