Want to see what’s possible in a classroom today?

Fair warning: when you see what these 2nd graders in a Northern California public elementary school do – you’ll want it for your kids.

A good friend of mine who’s passionate about education shared this amazing video with me and a couple of my friends. I won’t lie when I tell you that a couple of us got teary. It’s amazing.

Check out how these 2nd grade teachers and literacy coaches guide students through a meaningful learning experience using 21st century skills of ‘Critical thinking and problem solving, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity and innovation’.  All beautifully wrapped up using today’s technology with iPads.

Desks & Goats

I can’t wait to hear about their garage sale and how many desks and goats they were able to provide other students around the world.

So? What did you think?

The post Desks, Goats & 21st Century Skills: What 2nd Grade CAN Look Like appeared first on Periwinkle Papillon.

We all need friends… We all need..

Coaches…

So my amazing friend shared this incredible video with me yesterday.  She happened on it via the Instructional Coach Chat Wiki as we continue on our shared quest to learn more about best practices in education.

If I lost you there… come back to me… this video is ah-may-zing.

Imagine a fantastically talented young singer charged with performing our National Anthem if front of hundreds and hundreds of people at a basketball game.

A little bit intimidating right?

She starts, she sings…it’s beautiful…

Then… Two stanzas in, it all starts to go horribly horribly wrong.

The lyrics get messed up and she chokes. She stops altogether. Her confidence is completely rattled.

From the sidelines enters one of the basketball coaches.
He walks up to her puts his arm around her and helps her find the words to get back on track.
She sings…
She gains confidence.
She belts out our national anthem and the crowd joins in on her heartfelt rendition.

It’s amazing.

Go watch it. Now. I’ll wait…

Find more videos like this on The Big Four

Right?!?

What an amazing example of the importance of coaches! Of why, no matter how amazing our talent (and this girl has some serious pipes!) we all can use some coaching.

Today, we were talking about this in the context of the people that spend more time on a daily basis with my kids than I do. Their teachers.

We’ve heard from them how having coaches and professional development feedback loops in their workplace is the standard of excellence and best practice.  My kids’ teachers (on top of everything else they do) are still on a quest for self-improvement -and to me, that makes them my heroes.

Such a great idea right? Coaches. For teachers. Because no matter how awesome we are (and my kids’ teachers ARE awesome) we all would love to have a coach in our corner like the one in this video.

Come to think of it, I could use one of these as a parent sometimes…

What did you think of the video? Does your school use coaches? 

The post Some. Times. In. Our Lives…Coaches [Video] appeared first on Periwinkle Papillon.

Have you heard of the Khan Academy? It’s free and it’s going to change the way our kids (and you and I) learn.

Watch this video of its founder, Salman Khan at TED Talks from March 2011. He’s entertaining and inspiring. Then log on with your kids, you’ll never run the other way again when they ask you to help them with their calculus homework!

I love this…

The post Innovation in Education: Video appeared first on Periwinkle Papillon.

I’ve had a lot of fun introducing some of my readers to the ‘Beauty and the Agony’ of having an Elf On The Shelf with my current giveaway. So I thought I’d add to it by doing my first movie for the blog.

If you don’t have an Elf yet, you can easily enter the giveaway (just leave a comment) or buy your own here.  It’s fun – really it is, despite the agony that I mentioned in the giveaway post and the video.

You can get really creative. See?  Here’s a good one from last year by MamaCheaps.com

Source: Mama Cheaps

In fact, I want to see just how creative you guys can get. So please link up or post your photos on the Periwinkle Papillon Facebook Fan page Elf 2011 Album or if you have your own blog you can link up your post using the linkup below. There will be 3 prizes:  Most Creative, Most Creepy and Most Merry but I have no idea what they are yet.

Have fun, and oh, here’s the movie short that I made. Spoiler Alert! Not intended to be seen by kids that can read! Just warning you. 

It’s official we’re skipping Thanksgiving entirely!  Link up and share your pics today!

The post Lights! Camera! Action! The Agony And Beauty of Elf On The Shelf appeared first on Periwinkle Papillon.

Because sometimes you just want to laugh.

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