Zach Groshell Education, motivation, Pastoral Care, Portfolio, relationships, Student

A Letter to My Student About Goal Setting, Body Image, and Healthy Living

I've talked about goal-setting before on educationrickshaw.com, including the SMART model. As my school nears Student Led Conferences, using Seesaw as our digital portfolio, my students have all set goals to achieve during the remainder of their time under my care. While most of my students chose goals centered on improving in a particular academic … Continue reading A Letter to My Student About Goal Setting, Body Image, and Healthy Living

Zach Groshell Education, Language, motivation, Play, relationships, Student

Kids should read a book and build a freaking fort

Motivating kids to become lifelong readers is every teacher's goal, but I'll be the first to admit to having to resort to crummy prizes and rewards, including candy and toys, to get kids to read a book. In this short post, I want to offer a fun alternative: The blanket fort. Set a goal with … Continue reading Kids should read a book and build a freaking fort

Zach Groshell Education

C21 Pen Pals: The Global Classroom Project

Every year of teaching I've done a version of pen pals. Here is the evolution up until this year: v.1.0 Handwritten letters sent by post v.2.0 Grainy pictures of handwritten letters sent by e-mail as PDF v.3.0 Typed letters collected on Google Docs and sent by e-mail v.4.0 Typed letters sent directly to pen pals … Continue reading C21 Pen Pals: The Global Classroom Project

Zach Groshell Education

Connected Blogs Redefine Learning

This week my class did their final assessment for our archaeology unit. They picked an artifact, researched it, replicated it, wrote a description of it, translated that description into their home language, and presented everything at a classroom museum for parents and other classes to come see. Amazing learning took place, but that’s where it … Continue reading Connected Blogs Redefine Learning

Zach Groshell BLE, Creativity, Education, Learning, PD, Teachers, technology

5 Books To Start a Book Club for Teachers

There is something special about book clubs that you don't get from other forms of teacher PD. I love the feeling of finally being able to share what I've read with a group of likeminded individuals, all of whom have a different perspective on the same source material. In book clubs, everyone comes in as … Continue reading 5 Books To Start a Book Club for Teachers

Zach Groshell Education, motivation, PD, Play, Student

Can a Class Teddy Bear Raise Achievement?

A few months ago I attended a fantastic session on how teachers can do their own Action Research at an AISA conference. In the session, I decided that I wanted to see if teaching my 2nd grade students specific strategies for what to do when they get stuck would help raise their achievement. To make … Continue reading Can a Class Teddy Bear Raise Achievement?

Zach Groshell Education, Math, motivation

Easiest Elementary School Hack for Increasing Motivation

I love making learning happen through fun, inquiry-based experiences. However, as we all know, there are some things that students just have to memorize (math facts, letter sounds and vocabulary words to name a few). Try as we might to make them fun, they still take some grit. Introducing the Master’s Charts When a student … Continue reading Easiest Elementary School Hack for Increasing Motivation

Zach Groshell bilingual, differentiation, Education, Language, technology

The CODA Perspective on Teaching and Learning

I am the child of a Deaf mother, emphasis on the capital D. CODA has been a term used by some to refer to a "Child Of a Deaf Adult", aka me. American Sign Language is one of my two home languages - and the one that I spend restless night practicing to the ceiling. … Continue reading The CODA Perspective on Teaching and Learning

Zach Groshell BLE, iPad, Learning, Student, technology

5 Ways to Give Your Class Back to Your Students

Like many new teachers, I used to be uncomfortable giving up control. I saw a well functioning class as largely teacher-directed, and that if you gave students too many choices they would end up choosing poorly for themselves. How wrong I was. The following tips are some strategies that I use to make my classroom … Continue reading 5 Ways to Give Your Class Back to Your Students

Zach Groshell Education, Math, Play, technology

Count By Songs Are Changing How Students Learn to Multiply

Learning Different Strategies Every year, I teach my students a number of different strategies for how to solve multiplication problems and they come up with and show me a few more. These include: Drawing a Picture Repeated Addition Making an Array And Count Bys By far the favorite strategy for my students year after year … Continue reading Count By Songs Are Changing How Students Learn to Multiply