When I first started teaching, I thought essay writing was the ideal form of assessment. If students could “write intelligently” about an idea (or the big idea of a certain academic standard), they understood. If they struggled, they probably didn’t—and that struggle...
We tend to think of project-based learning as focused on research, planning problem-solving, authenticity, and inquiry. Further, collaboration, resourcefulness, and networking matter too–dozens of characteristics “fit” into project-based learning. Its popularity comes...
Teachers mean well. By teachers, I mean you and I. We mean well. After all, here we are, creating and consuming resources to improve the learning of someone, somewhere. And we’re both in education to begin with — that’s a selfless and Sisyphean pursuit in itself. We...
We’ve come to accept that just about the only thing that seems to be constant in this day and age is change. But we sometimes don’t spend enough time thinking about how to manage change. Here are some things to have in mind before undertaking any significant change...
There is an irony to bad questions, in that they can be more difficult to answer than a good question. Questioning is the art of learning. Learning to ask important questions is the best evidence of understanding there is, far surpassing the temporary endorphins of a...
Even though teachers have the summer off we usually have a hard time switching off our teacher brains. I find myself on my family summer holidays looking around and thinking about whether I can use different natural objects in my classroom. I can’t walk down a...
Thank you to everyone who entered our recent newsletter subscription giveaway. These giveaways are our chance to give back to our community and to help spread the word of our community work building better learning environments. The winner of this contest will receive...
Most of us are familiar with the idea of homeschooling, which involves parents educating their children at home rather than in a traditional school setting. Generally, these families are using less formal ways of imparting a traditional education and curriculum. A...
Children spend as much, if not more, time at school than at home, so shouldn’t our learning environments be given the same attention and care as our home environments? While recently reading this article about how to achieve Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese art of...
What we love most about our work are the people we work with. We’re very proud of our education community here at Natural Pod and to celebrate some of the people in our community, we enjoy connecting with them to learn more about their work so that we can all learn...
Sprig, the last classroom table you’ll ever need
