Every day, I carry a small black journal around to jot down thoughts, changes, and quick reminders to myself. It's something kids find intriguing for some reason, possibly because I let them read it if they want to. They're surprised to see how often I think about school and how much I write down aboutRead More
As my website and work has grown, I've tried to organize my resources and files a little bit better. There were some in my blog, on the main page, and on my Learn page. So, here's a quick breakdown of what's going on: ohheybrian.com This is the landing page and will house all of myRead More
As we headed into day 2 of the flipped class conference, I was really excited about some of the discussions that are coming up with educators from all over the place. Some of the big takeaways from today: LiveScribe - If you can write with a pen, you can do a screencast. This is aRead More
After having most of this afternoon to mentally decompress from everything that happened this weekend at ETC11 and after a 2-hour advice session from Jeff Utecht, I'm going to begin moving my materials from my website to a new website (to be announced) over the coming days and weeks. This has been such an encouragingRead More
Some additions since my last post: I have fallen into the trap of Twitter, and I must admit, I love it. You can follow me @bennettscience. I'm at the EARCOS Teacher's conference in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia this week and I just finished a Mastery Learningpresentation for the first time outside of YISS...great response. New ideasRead More
Again, I'm still trying to figure out how to run my class. The mastery method is great, but it is very hard to assess student work effectively. So, day to day, a student may be doing well, but when it comes to test time, they really struggle putting ideas together. Students expressed frustration to meRead More
One of the challenges I've faced so far this year is explaining to parents how the class works and trying to convince some of them that this method is pedagogically sound. The biggest question I get from parents is: "With instruction based on videos and podcasts, what do you actually do in class? How isRead More
Mastering chemistry seems like it would be an oxymoron. Who can master chemistry? Is chemistry "master-able?" I like to think so. If we can teach students to think and make informed decisions, then we're teaching them to be master learners. We shouldn't be teaching only a textbook...in fact, the textbook shouldn't even be guiding curriculum. Read More