Nocking the Arrow

Thanks to the holiday generosity of my sons, I have entered the world of wearable technology. Each of the past four days has been marked by at least eight thousand steps, at least thirty minutes of vigorous exercise, and at least seven hours of restful sleep. With the accompanying mobile app, my Fitbit Charge HR monitors my daily steps, heart rate, calories burned, and length and quality of sleep. I can increase the breadth and depth of my wellness program by logging food and water consumption, body weight, and types of exercise. The Fitbit dashboard provides detailed, real-time feedback that is personalized to my wellness targets. What does wearable technology have to do with putting students in a position to win in the classroom? Drive - ( Daniel Pink ) The general well-wishes for winter break include rest and relaxation; it's easy to become unmotivated with more free time on hand. Daniel Pink's research shines a light on factors that feed our motivation; auto

Writing is learning. It's taken me about thirty years to realize the metacognitive power of written expression, the same amount of time it took for me to recognize that my writing skills suck. Apparently, time in composition class was spent daydreaming and making silly faces at girls. Today, each post is an exercise of will power, unlearning and relearning prepositional phrases, comma usage, and when to use the ever-popular semicolon. Two hundred posts into my blogging adventure I've picked up a few tricks that add efficiency to my writing, things that make me appear smarter than I really am. Freelance writer, Jennie Cromie , writing for ProBlogger.net , identifies five ways blogging can make you a better writer . Discover your voice Build social connections Acquire valuable feedback Become self-disciplined Write faster and more efficiently Writing with intent to learn is the mindset to lead with. Using the right tools permits scatterbrains like me to focu

"Globally competent students are curious about and engaged in the world. They are increasingly able to investigate the world beyond their immediate surroundings, understand their own and others' cultural perspectives, communicate differences, and take action to improve conditions." - Veronica Boix Mansilla Beyond oceans, climate types, and capital cities, global competence is an essential component of modern learning. More about projects and solving problems, and less about rote memorization, Edsteps defines global competence as; "The knowledge, skills and dispositions to understand and act creatively and innovatively on issues of global significance." Edsteps shared these matrices to support the development of global competency in any academic discipline. ISTE, International Society for Technology in Education, recently updated their learning standards for students . Standard Seven, Global Collaborator , challenges students to " broaden