J.P. Prezzavento - The Bits and Bytes of Education:

Last night I locked myself in the guest bedroom to wrap my wife's Christmas presents.  I didn't think this would be a difficult task since I have been wrapping presents for many years.  I wrapped her "main" present easily; it was a standard box shape, so I didn't have to put much thought or effort into it.  Her second, smaller gift was slightly more complicated, so I had to think about how I was going to wrap the present before I started, but in the end I used the same basic method I did for the box.  When it came to her third gift, one of those travel cups that has a built-in straw (sorry for the spoiler alert, Kim), I decided to use the same process that I did for the other two gifts, but low and behold, I wasn't successful...at all.  I tried to wrap it several times before I had the stroke of genius to use the gift bag you see to the right. After I put her gift in the bag and admired my handiwork (or lack thereof), I started thinking about some of my cu...

Student engagement is a topic that is constantly being discussed by teachers, administrators, and parents alike.  While all of these stakeholders know what student engagement looks like, it is often times unclear how to get students actively engaged in a lesson. I am going to suggest a variety of activities to increase student engagement in your classroom using both modern technology and traditional classroom instruction.  1 - Jigsaw Activities   After reading a story, article, or book, I split students into small groups and assign each group a concept to focus on.  After the students have discussed their concept, I split the groups up again so that each group has one member from each original group.  Each student will be responsible for sharing with his or her classmates what was discussed in the first group. The beauty of the Jigsaw Activity is that each student in the classroom is held accountable for disseminating information to other members of the cla...