Mr Hammerlund

What's my reaction to the LAUNCH Cycle? That is the question I am at in the Design Thinking for Teachers course. I have seen many different cycles for design thinking and many more than that for inquiry. I don't know if the cycle is what makes one successful, rather the implementation of it.   The LAUNCH Cycle As opposed to other cycles, though, I am excited to try this one because it was made for kids rather than adults, or even older kids like the MYP Design Cycle.  I would like to close out the year with more project based learning, so I have been looking for ways to add projects to all my lessons.

When thinking of a provocation I could use for the Sharing the Planet unit, Resources, with the Central Idea, " Access to resources is shared and limited leading people to make choices ", I wanted to offer my students the experience of making choices and understanding the consequences of their choices. The Writing Workshop connected to the unit is on opinion letter writing, so to create a connection between the writing and the unit concept I created an island. Of course, someone from that island had to send them a letter inviting them there. The students had a lot of questions, and I did not have the answers, so they had to write back to the man on the island and try to get the answers. After another round of letter writing, we brainstormed what resources are and what resources might be on the island. The students started populating the island with resources until there was a good-sized forest with animals, a river, and a lake. One student said she needed a house if...

I am taking a MOOC (again) about technology integration (2015). These are my notes. Strategic Technology Integration STEP 1: EVALUATE AND ASSESS Find Inspiration and Evidence of Tool Effectiveness Use your intuition. Ask yourself: "Does this tool allow me to do something in my teaching practice that I can't do without it?" Poll your personal learning network Attend a professional conference like ISTE or TCEA . Ask a colleague to sit in on a lesson Search the web for research-based evidence Take a free online graduate course at Tarleton State ;-) Assess Your Own Understanding, Skill, and Confidence Level with the Tool Do you truly understand the functional purpose(s) of the tool and its general capabilities? Assess Your Students' Understanding, Skill, and Confidence Level with the Tool Do your students truly understand the functional purpose(s) of the tool and its general capabilities? Assess Your Resources and Time Needs...