I didn’t hear her. I wasn’t even around her. I was upstairs, had the door closed. The walls are thick in this house. Nothing gets through. And she wasn’t screaming. I would have heard screaming. But I was upstairs, and it was quiet. If I had heard something – anything – I’d have helped her. […]

  When I originally wrote my reading challenge, I knew that I was only going to be getting busier with student teaching and all that is life around the Brott farm. I absolutely got busier and life has yet to slow down. Student teaching has been a great experience as of yet, and I hope …

This week I have a homecoming hangover! What a week it was, my little girl was honored with the duty of carrying the crowns for the senior homecoming court and received her own crown to wear as she pleases. Does she believe she is a princess now? Well, you might think so, but some days …

This week was homecoming week in Hayes Center, loads of fun and non stop evenings. I created literacy rich lessons for my students this week, that included stories from our reading series and also some short stories that were chosen by my students. With these stories we talked a lot of plot, theme and character. …

Caption: My son picked up The One and Only Ivan and has been enjoying for his “reading for enjoyment” book! Are there enough hours? If I were to reflect upon my first 8 weeks of reading I would tell you that it was a bit of a blur. My reading choices have been a combination …

Each Sunday I plan lessons for my sixth grade class for the following week and make sure all of my copies are made, along with this planning I have a good set of fiction and nonfiction short stories I go through to find anything that may match up or connect with the new weeks lessons. …

I've been playing some casual games as part of the Apple Arcade trial subscription, and have really been enjoying Hexaflip by Rogue Games. One part Q-Bert, one part Marble Madness, one part platform runner. It's a deceptively simple game - there are o...

I've been playing some casual games as part of the Apple Arcade trial subscription, and have really been enjoying Hexaflip by Rogue Games. One part Q-Bert, one part Marble Madness, one part platform runner. It's a deceptively simple game - there are o...

Old Yeller Because most of my reading now consists of reading that will be done with my 6th graders this is one that I have chosen to read with them. We are reading a shortened version of the book because it is just for the weeks lessons, but it has been a fun one to …

After quickly (and I mean QUICKLY - it took less than half an hour's worth of fiddling around with code while sitting on the couch watching garbage TV) building a way for people to markup chunks of text using the TIDraw.net -powered digital whiteboards...

After quickly (and I mean QUICKLY - it took less than half an hour's worth of fiddling around with code while sitting on the couch watching garbage TV) building a way for people to markup chunks of text using the TIDraw.net -powered digital whiteboards...

We hosted a "TI Instructors Gathering" this morning, where we invite folks who are teaching in the Taylor Institute to come together to share their experiences and we can learn from them about how they use the spaces and technologies. This gathering wa...

We hosted a "TI Instructors Gathering" this morning, where we invite folks who are teaching in the Taylor Institute to come together to share their experiences and we can learn from them about how they use the spaces and technologies. This gathering wa...

As the school starts to really catch a rhythm and I attempt to find the groove of the schedule with my children, I’ve found that the books I’m searching out are ones that I can read with my children. This week with my toddler we have been particularly interested in any board book with farm …

The one and only- When I started to read this book I’ll admit there was a line in the opening “chapters” that turned me off a bit. It went something like “we are distant cousins…”. Being a religious person, I don’t quite believe in the whole evolution theory brought about by scientists and questioned whether …

Disclaimer: This Post has been sitting in my “drafts box” for a while now…Thinking I had published it! Sometimes tech and I are not the best of friends😬 I have decided that “It’s Monday, what are you reading?” isn’t really “my meme”. Depending on what it is, I may not have much self control, especially …

Robert Kelly has been hosting his Design Thinking course in the TI for the past several years. I was away over the summer, so missed the latest instance of the course. Giant lobsters! Thankfully, they documented the course and published ...