Play-Based Learning

Let me tell you something about my office. It is covered in Funko Pops. Floor to ceiling, shelf to shelf, every available surface. I have lost count of how many I own, but the number is somewhere north of embarrassing and south of intervention. My classroom alone has roughly thirty of them staring at my students every single day — a silent, big-eyed audience for every lesson I teach. My office in February, before my recent reorganization, there are now more, and it looks craz

In 2008, American rock band Vampire Weekend shook the world by asking one simple question... " Who gives a F$%K about an Oxford Comma?" and my brain immediately thought two things: I do... What does the Oxford Comma feel about this song? I cannot be the only person who asks hard-hitting questions like this. I definitely know that I'm not the only one who has conversations with inanimate objects frequently. Do you think I sound a little crazy? If you've ever bumped into a pie

Some of ya'll may remember the game, but not the amazing commercial. As someone who's obsessed with communication and language, one of my classroom staples has always been the physical game Taboo! The premise is simple. Get your teammates to guess a word or concept, but you cannot say any of the words on the card you've drawn. It's always a fun watch because you have to instantly watch someone rethink how to explain a word or phrase without using the most commonly associated

Created with Nano Banana We are in the middle of our 2nd day back from Spring Break, and getting the kids to re-engage is a struggle. How do we take them from 9 days of freedom and lock them back into the rigors and routines of a school day? If my students spent any part of their break as I did, I had plenty of lengthy doomscrolling sessions on social media, because the algorithm is locked into what my brain craves. Even if you're not dealing with the post-vacation slump, we'

On Friday, I released the first wave of materials for my Vibe Coding for Educators course ! On my YouTube channel , you can find the "What is Vibe Coding?" video in addition to the first three lessons in both the Canva and Google Gemini units. Each video gets you from the prompt through the first iteration of your idea in 5 minutes or less! This week, on Wednesday, videos 4-6 will be released in both courses; with 7-9 hopefully coming by Friday! If you want the eBook and my

Happy Monday! After returning home from TCEA, I dealt with not just 1 but all three of my kiddos getting sick with a crud being passed around their school. But don't you fret! While they were taking some cold medicine-induced naps and getting better, my brain was stirring, and I was motivated to bottle up some of my post-conference energy! In today's Monday-MegaPost, you'll find three quick things to add some play to your day! Updates to the App/Game Arcade A NEW Youtube Ser

Two quick announcements at the top: The podcast is bumped to next week; my editing software ate it, so now I'm trying out Adobe Podcast! As an appateaser, here's the new logo/theme! On October 15th at 11E/10C I'll be presenting at the Wakelet Appsmash Festival, showcasing the power of appsmashing wakelet with Edpuzzle! Horizon/West by Thrice If you missed last Friday's post about the Starting Line and Edpuzzle , know that my love of both early 00's music and ed tech runs d

I'm guilty, several times in my past, of creating an assignment for students and simply telling them to "be creative!" As someone who can engage in creative acts, I've known that I struggle when I do not have a deep connection with the prompt. I've also become overwhelmed with ideas and die a slow death from choice paralysis. However, the last three years I've leaned into a tool that is dedicated to harnessing the creative spark and giving users the ability to create anything

A couple of weeks ago on the podcast , I reviewed Quinn Rollins' Play Like a Pirate. I believe the first thing out of my mouth was "if I ever wrote a book, this would be it." Rollins speaks to so many amazing ideas and things to incorporate, that I never thought of, but they are definitely in my wheelhouse. As someone who is both a massive collector and massive nerd I already bring those passions into my classroom. I have plenty of in and out of box Funko Pops, action figur

I have always been a massive basketball fan. Living near Lawrence, Kansas nearly all of my life has always made the ever presence of the Jayhawks in March impossible to avoid! It always feels like the first four big days of the tournament head into our spring break. However, with us headed back to school on March 18th, I'm excited to bracket literally everything, to give me moments of competitive joy when there are no active games being played. Whether or not you're a basket

So, I decided to start a podcast, and one recommendation I've gotten is to post the transcript of the podcast on my blog! So, if you didn't check out episode 1, or you want to read my thoughts instead of listen to my dulcet tones, then here we go! So last week I gave my high school economics class. Some Play-Doh. And to find out why. It's time to plai around and find out. In today's episode, there are going to be two topics of discussion. What I'm lovingly dubbing, playdo

As a high school student (1998-2002), I vividly remember the times when my creativity was stifled by the rigid structure of traditional education practices. The repetitive assignments and standardized tests left little room for imagination and innovation. If I wanted to get create unique essays or projects, I was penalized for "not taking the assignment seriously." However, those opportunities where we engaged in game-based learning, or we just got to "play" that I truly fel

I have always been fascinated with the idea of hands-on learning and experiential education. This is why I've created games, simulations and a variety of other "creative" endeavors for my students to engage in. However, these are always things dictated by me, with little room for creativity by the students. So, as I've pivoted more into the arena of pushing for more student-owned knowledge production, I wanted to figure out how I could easily transform what I had already b