Week Ten Review: For the Love of Learning
What My Husband Taught Me
I was very surprised by the beginning of this website. This woman, Tamara, is Joe Bower's widow. She starts this post by thanking the readers and people who have been sending her support recently. Joe died after experiencing cardiac arrest, but his teaching had been so memorable that hundreds of people reached out to Tamara after his death. Tamara recounts all of the wonderful things she and Joe shared and explained his love for teaching. This article was touching and it really showed how much impact someone's online presence can have.
"Many people have followed my husband's blog or twitter for his ideas and beliefs in the education world, they followed him for his stand in his own teaching and his pride in not following the norm for conventional teaching...I don’t blog, I have never had the desire to blog, but with Joe's passing away I do want to share what my husband taught me personally so far, as a tribute to him." - Tamara Bower
I was very surprised by the beginning of this website. This woman, Tamara, is Joe Bower's widow. She starts this post by thanking the readers and people who have been sending her support recently. Joe died after experiencing cardiac arrest, but his teaching had been so memorable that hundreds of people reached out to Tamara after his death. Tamara recounts all of the wonderful things she and Joe shared and explained his love for teaching. This article was touching and it really showed how much impact someone's online presence can have.
"Many people have followed my husband's blog or twitter for his ideas and beliefs in the education world, they followed him for his stand in his own teaching and his pride in not following the norm for conventional teaching...I don’t blog, I have never had the desire to blog, but with Joe's passing away I do want to share what my husband taught me personally so far, as a tribute to him." - Tamara Bower
Joe made the excellent point that these concepts, though often confused, are not the same. "Assessment is not a spreadsheet-- it's a conversation." Joe believed in replacing tests and grades with projects, portfolios, and presentations. He did this to his own classroom and threw out his gradebook in 2006. The concept of not having grades is hard to wrap my mind around, but I also imagine the pressure and anxiety that would be relieved for students who stress and worry about tests and concrete grades.
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Four Great Board Games I Play with Students and Family
Joe was an advocate of board games and using them to get to know people, especially his students. He claimed that board games are excellent icebreakers and also help develop "creativity, collaboration, adaptability, resiliency, critical thinking, problem solving, patience, literacy and numeracy."
The four games are Ticket to Ride, King of Tokyo, Pandemic, and Black Fleet. (Click on the pictures to check them out) Joe liked using board games because they build relationships and create memories!
Joe was an advocate of board games and using them to get to know people, especially his students. He claimed that board games are excellent icebreakers and also help develop "creativity, collaboration, adaptability, resiliency, critical thinking, problem solving, patience, literacy and numeracy."
The four games are Ticket to Ride, King of Tokyo, Pandemic, and Black Fleet. (Click on the pictures to check them out) Joe liked using board games because they build relationships and create memories!