Matt Renwick I wrote this post for my school blog yesterday and thought it might work here too. Have a nice weekend! -Matt In an article for The Atlantic, professor of psychology Jean Twenge offers some stark information about the effects of smartphones on our youngest generation. Referring to this group as “iGen”, these teens and preteens have … Read more
Below is a short video I recorded to promote my new book through ASCD. Below the video is the transcript for the hearing impaired. Have a great weekend, Matt [vimeo 234072848 w=640 h=480] Digital Portfolios in the Classroom – promo video from Matt Renwick on Vimeo. Assessment is messy. We try to make school and … Read more
I recently responded to a series of questions regarding my new book, Digital Portfolios in the Classroom: Showcasing and Assessing Student Work (ASCD, 2017). This Q & A was with Dr. Rod Berger for his blog with Scholastic, titled Down the Hall. You can click here to read the entire interview. Below is an excerpt from … Read more
This was a nice surprise to come home to yesterday. ASCD is great to work with. It’s great to see my book finally in print. I signed the contract for this project almost two years ago to the day. In that time, our family moved to Mineral Point, took on new positions in education, and … Read more
On Tuesday, August 8 from 2-3 P.M. CST, I will be hosting a free one-hour webinar for my upcoming book Digital Portfolios in the Classroom: Showcasing and Assessing Student Work. I’ll go over some of my favorite tools for facilitating digital portfolios and share teaching strategies for making this authentic approach to assessment work in … Read more
At the risk of sounding like a know-it-all, I have wanted to point out a misconception that some educators have regarding digital portfolios and what is facilitated in classrooms. This post comes from the idea that by merely publishing student work online for families and a wider audience to view, that students now have a … Read more
I know about the negatives regarding social media, the detriments of being “always on”. We are distracted; we sometimes prioritize our online connections over our physical ones; we become accustomed to responding to our messages and other habit-building notifications. I don’t disagree with the sentiments…in theory. Yet social media and online interactions are where so … Read more
Colleagues sent me a link to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) webpage. The next convention is in Chicago, not far from where I live. “It’s not going to get any closer to us!” remarked one person. The web banner promoting the next ISTE convention proclaimed the following statistics: 16,000 Educators 550 Education … Read more
During a recent instructional technology workshop related to self-directed learning, a few teachers asked for a guide for students. At first, I was hesitant. “If we are telling students how to direct their own learning, are we defeating the purpose? Have we not taught them well enough how to create time and space for learning, … Read more
I write this post on a Saturday night, a time when I should be away from my computer and enjoying the weekend. Ok, let’s retract – I am enjoying my weekend. Just not like you might imagine the typical someone enjoying their weekend. See, I’m a writer. I’m also an educator, an elementary principal to … Read more
