

10 First-Year Teacher Myths and How to Avoid Them
I believed that being new meant I had to follow someone else’s advice for the first six weeks of school, or I would be doomed. Now I know that students mostly know how to do school, and we must respect their intelligence as we build community with them.
Passion-Based Learning, Week 8: The End of the Beginning
In his summative reflection about an afterschool enrichment program, principal Matt Renwick shares comments from his students and his fellow teaching partner Renee, who agrees that “many of the students did things in this computer club time that blew me away.”
Passion-Based Learning, Week 7: Audience Is Everything
“Without an authentic audience – whether that be global, local community, family, or even oneself – a learner’s sense of purpose can decrease,” writes Matt Renwick in a final reflection about an afterschool enrichment program exploring passion based learning. “Lacking that ability to connect and grow, our new knowledge is gained within a vacuum, instead of for others to witness.”
Passion-Based Learning, Week 6: Minecraft, Lego & Makerspaces
When students in Matt Renwick’s afterschool enrichment club shift from a collaborative focus to a competitive drive in Minecraft, it’s time to get out the Lego maker toys and ponder some fresh questions about the relationships among digital games, hands-on projects and curriculum objectives.
Passion-Based Learning Week 5: Can Minecraft Foster a Growth Mindset?
The kids in principal Matt Renwick’s afterschool computer club love the time they spend creating (and destroying) things in the virtual world of Minecraft. Can these experiences help students develop a “growth mindset” and essential lifelong skills like effort, persistence, and positive attitude? Renwick is beginning to think so.