James Sturtevant Hacking Engagement show

James Sturtevant Hacking Engagement

Summary: It is my great pleasure to publish this weekly podcast that supplements my book "Hacking Engagement". Listen and get creative ideas on how to engage students tomorrow! Please visit my website: http://jamesalansturtevant.com/ And...for a cornucopia of teacher empowerment resources, visit: http://hacklearning.org/

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Podcasts:

 57-Escape Rooms Encourage Students to Sneak Out of your Class...Starring Kayla DeMuth | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 894

Kristen Macklin and Jason Manly are Escape Room Architects. Kristen is a District Media Specialist and Jason a District Instructional Facilitator. When I asked Kristen where she got the idea for student escape rooms, she answered quickly, “Our principal went to one with his kids and loved it. Then, Spanish teacher Jennifer Zimmer appeared and asked for an assessment idea. I did a little research, found an article about educational escape rooms, and then approached Jason Manly with the concept.” What happens next is magical!

 56-Multiply yourself by 26 with Class Playlists...Starring Tracy Enos and Heather Roberti | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1240

I love Spotify. I’ve created a number of cool playlists. My music is known to get guests moving at parties. Most of my playlists consist of songs from my younger days...1970s and 80s R&B. My wife enjoys much of my music, but not all. When I do chores around my house, I often put on my headphones and listen to some of my more ostentatious old skool jamz that I’m certain my wife won’t like. In other words, I personalize my musical consumption. That’s the beauty of the playlists. They provide anytime anywhere jamz on demand. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could personalize tomorrow’s lesson in the same way? Tracy Enos and her twin sister Heather Roberti are two outstanding middle school educators from West Warwick, Rhode Island. Tracy teaches ELA and Heather is a Math teacher. Both enlightened your humble narrator about the beauty of class playlists. The idea is simple, elegant, and contemporary.

 55-Give Students Virtually no Instructions...Starring Charlie Smith | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1067

Picture this...tomorrow you stroll confidently into your first-period class. You gleefully announce the day's essential question. You observe with satisfaction the looks on thirty adolescent faces as their intellectual gears perk to life and start rotating. You then point out that 5 minutes of the class is already in the rear-view mirror, so they better get cracking! You spend the remainder of the period gliding from group to group challenging, inspiring, coaching, offering new perspectives, evaluating, and congratulating. This, my dear friends, is the classroom of the future!

 54-Morph Student Identities...Starring Spencer Cappel and Josh Kent | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1213

I'm certain most of my listeners have employed simulations and role play in their class. It's a great way to learn. This episode demonstrates how you can combine role-play and simulations with my favorite student activity.I love Socratic seminars! They’re the embodiment of self-directed learning and student collaboration. Kids take a complex topic, learn about it, and then sit in a circle with their peers and apply it, discuss it, explain it, and ask questions to one another. My experience has been that concepts, events, and topics covered in this fashion leads to deep understanding and significant engagement. But everything, even things you and your students love, will get old if you don’t alter it occasionally.I faced this dilemma in teaching the incredibly complex topic which is the Syrian Civil War. I wanted students to engage in a Socratic Seminar, but I wanted it to be different. We had conducted a number of such seminars and I felt the format was getting a bit stale. So...I decided that in order for my students to understand the Syrian Civil War, they needed to become the powerful actors involved.

 53-Entice Kids to Confront Their Phone Obsession and Actually Look Up...AT YOU...Starring Nahom Buckles | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1076

It's so discouraging! You're preaching the gospel of education, enlightenment, self-improvement, promoting humanities' greatest ideas...but then you notice that many kids are staring intently down at their laps. Unfortunately, you know why. They need to put that sweet pair of shoes on their Amazon Wishlist before you notice them obsessing over their screens and redirect them.As a contemporary instructor, I've felt this profound burn. I'll bet you have too. Some teachers are totally hard-nosed. They don't give the kids an inch on phone use during instruction. If that's you...RESPECT! However I, like I suspect many teachers, am not so stern when it comes to students and their phones. Plus, kids are darned adept at subtle screen time. And let's not forget, students can use their devices in class in the pursuit of knowledge. While I'm uncomfortable with prohibition, I'd certainly love to see kids to stare at their phones less during strategic moments of instruction.In this episode, I promote enlightenment over prohibition. I do this with the InTheMoment App.

 52-Priming the Pump for Tomorrow's Lesson...Starring Campbell Allen and Emma Neeper | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1097

You stroll into class and you're stoked! You have an awesome lesson and you can't wait to lay it on your young disciples. Alas! Your students are more interested in who's zoomin' who. You have to compete with contemporary school and youth culture...which is a tall order. You get discouraged because you know that if they gave this lesson their full attention, it would enrich their lives.So...that's the problem and this episode will help you grab them by the virtual lapels and pull them into an amazing learning experience! I brought back some original sources we all love so much...the students! For this episode, I'm joined by Campbell Allen and Emma Neeper ...two wonderful young adults. They took time out of their busy existence to talk about how to prime the pump for tomorrow's lesson.

 51-Please Apply the You...Y'all...We Template Tomorrow...Starring Norman Eng | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2671

Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it will seem like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl, and an hour seems like a minute. That’s relativity. Albert Einstein This wonderful quote is the embodiment of engagement. As teachers...we need to be more like the engaging companion (obviously not in terms of physical attraction) and less like the stove. And that's why I'm simply thrilled to bring you my interview with Norman Eng. We'll discuss the fabulous "You...Y'all...We" template. You simply must apply it to tomorrow's lesson!

 50-Take a Peek at your School in 2037...Starring April Domine | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2293

Today, I'm celebrating the release of the 50th episode of the Hacking Engagement Podcast! So, I thought I'd do something special. I interviewed an expert on the future of this noble profession. What will schools look like in 2027? How about 2037? Today's episode will not sound like my other programs. This episode is longer than most...almost 40 minutes. This episode does not have the tight little list at the end explaining what you can do tomorrow. You're certainly encouraged to implement ideas from this conversation into tomorrow's lesson, but I was more focussed on what your lessons and your school will be like 10 and 20 years down the road!My problem with retirement is simple...schools are becoming too fascinating to leave! The way I instruct has changed fundamentally over the past decade. I'm a markedly different teacher than I was last year. I'm closing in on the end of this school year, but I keep thinking about tools, tactics, and strategies I can't wait to try next fall. In short, I'm nowhere near ready to call it quits!Then...I go and interview April Domine and I really get stoked!

 49-Engage as you Grade...Starring Kaizena | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 687

I teach 18-year-olds how to write research papers. I totally get the struggle of students not embracing advice on how to evolve as writers. I was frustrated because I knew my students needed help, but they weren't reading my comments. And then...I met a lovely little app called Kaizena. It detonated my paradigm on providing students with feedback. It transformed grading papers into a collaborative process!

 48-Google Classroom...Plus Edublogs...Equals Epic Enrichment...Starring Camden Edwards, Emily Kuederle, and Coltrane Matos | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1386

I'll bet you've gazed out at your students and thought:I wonder if some kids aren't being challenged.If I personalize instruction...my your room will be unmanageable.Last spring, I had a student teacher. He was doing well, but one aspect of his instruction...and mine for that matter, that needed work was personalization. While he was busy teaching, I had some downtime and a chance to observe my kids and think. I came up with a method to personalize by combining 2 powerful tech tools...Google Classroom and Edublogs. We employed these 2 tools to offer enrichment to any student who wanted to go deeper in a particular unit.

 47-6 Incredibly Simple and Powerful Student Incentives | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 748

When it comes to the classroom, some students love incentives and competition and some kids hate them. It's been my experience, that incentives motivate many students, but not all. Hence, it's important to offer the right kind of incentives. It's been my mission to include the incentives that are:FunLow-riskSimpleSocial in natureNon-academicEngagingRelationship-inducingIn this episode, I'll promote 6 such incentives.

 46-Utilize the ENTIRE School Building with this Engaging Scavenger Hunt...Starring Caroline Craig-Bowden and Sandy Smith | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1205

As I read through the 20 page assignment on the Industrial Revolution, I kept thinking to myself..."Wow, this is boring!" If I was feeling that burn, imagine what my students were going to feel. I decided it was time to break out of the box. In this case, literally break out of the box of the four walls of my classroom. I sent my students on a school-wide scavenger hunt utilizing QR-codes, a hint sheet, and provocative prompts from the reading. This episode will detail this EPIC lesson plan from the vantage point of two of my awesome students. I will also offer advice on how you can create a scavenger hunt at your school.

 45-How to Bounce Back After a Bad Day in the Classroom | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 971

Just because I've authored a couple of books and host a podcast on engagement, does not mean that I don't have challenging days in the classroom. Last Friday was one of those days! The first 3 periods went great. My students were animated and participatory. The last 3 periods were miserable. My kids were lethargic and crabby. They were not the least bit impressed with my lesson. I left home on Friday defeated!Now...I've been teaching a long time. I've learned what to do when I have a miserable day like Friday. I've had plenty such days in my career. In this episode, I'll tell you about my miserable Friday and about 5 coping mechanisms I employ whenever I have a bad day. The good news is that I bounced back on Monday and thoroughly engaged ALL my classes.This episode will help you bounce back too!

 44-Stage 27 Student Presentations in 9 Minutes! Starring Kat Brammer and Peter Pohlod | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1211

A few years ago, my students matriculated through 2 days of student presentations. IT WAS PAINFUL! I was bored! They were bored! The novelty wore off after about 3 presentations. It wasn't that there weren't some good ones...there were, but many were low energy, filled with endless bullet points, and were rehashing tired topics. Once a student gave their presentation or grasped a concept, they had little incentive to listen to the next gabfest. I vowed I wasn't going to do this to my kids again!

 43-3 Totally Original, Easy, Powerful, and Joyful Icebreakers to Randomly Sort Students...Tomorrow | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 918

February represents the Dog Days in education. All the freshness of the school year are gone. Spring break is still a long way off and the weather...at least in the great state of Ohio...is nothing to write home about! Sometimes, as you watch your kids march in at the beginning of the period, you feel like you're observing a church congregation full of middle-aged parishioners. Everyone sits in the same pew, shakes hands with the same people, and says pretty much the same things. It's time to shake things up!In today's program, I'm going to give you 3 totally original icebreakers with which you can randomly sort your students. Perhaps, a new seating chart is needed. Or, it's time get kids working with different peers on the next project. These icebreakers will help you rearrange your students socially...BUT THE REAL DRAW...is your students and you will have a blast working through these easy prompts.

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