Teachers on Fire

We recognize that our assessment beliefs and practices fundamentally shape every other aspect of learning that occurs in the school environment. As such, we engage in constant professional learning and seek to apply evidence-based thinking to our practices. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/what-is-the-purpose-of-assessment-a1c4be4d7635. My name is Tim Cavey, and I’m proud to contribute to the education conversation through the Teachers on Fire podcast. Make sure to connect with me @TeachersOnFire on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to catch more from me and hear from amazing educators who are bringing growth and transformation to K-12 education today. CONNECT with ME On Twitter @TeachersOnFire (https://twitter.com/TeachersOnFire) On Instagram @TeachersOnFire (https://www.instagram.com/teachersonfire/) On Facebook @TeachersOnFire (https://www.facebook.com/TeachersOnFire/) On YouTube @Teachers On Fire (https://www.youtube.com/c/teachersonfire) On Voxer @TeachersOnFire (https://web.voxer.com/u/teachersonfire) On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwcavey/ Visit the home of Teachers on Fire at https://teachersonfire.net/. SONG TRACK CREDIT Flight to Tunisia by Causmic Tangled by Emmit Fenn Road Tripzzz by Ofshane Sunrise Drive by South London Hifi Fast and Run by Nico Staf *All songs retrieved from the YouTube Audio Library at https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/.

Following the thread, I had a startling realization. It’s a thought that I’m sure has crossed many educators’ minds over the last two years. We don’t even let our middle schoolers behave like this. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/compassion-over-cancellation-seeing-the-humanity-across-the-aisle-2ea326ed7a8c. My name is Tim Cavey, and I’m proud to contribute to the education conversation through the Teachers on Fire podcast. Make sure to connect with me @TeachersOnFire on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to catch more from me and hear from amazing educators who are bringing growth and transformation to K-12 education today. CONNECT with ME On Twitter @TeachersOnFire (https://twitter.com/TeachersOnFire) On Instagram @TeachersOnFire (https://www.instagram.com/teachersonfire/) On Facebook @TeachersOnFire (https://www.facebook.com/TeachersOnFire/) On YouTube @Teachers On Fire (https://www.youtube.com/c/teachersonfire) On Voxer @TeachersOnFire (https://web.voxer.com/u/teachersonfire) On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwcavey/ Visit the home of Teachers on Fire at https://teachersonfire.net/. SONG TRACK CREDIT Flight to Tunisia by Causmic Tangled by Emmit Fenn Road Tripzzz by Ofshane Sunrise Drive by South London Hifi Fast and Run by Nico Staf *All songs retrieved from the YouTube Audio Library at https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/.

How could you be so sure that your wonderful class or school community was X … only to hear that others view it as Y? Simple. You’re doing lots of great things within your own walls. But you’re doing a really bad job of telling your story. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/why-schools-must-tell-their-stories-d51f04d392f8. My name is Tim Cavey, and I’m proud to contribute to the education conversation through the Teachers on Fire podcast. Make sure to connect with me @TeachersOnFire on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to catch more from me and hear from amazing educators who are bringing growth and transformation to K-12 education today. CONNECT with ME On Twitter @TeachersOnFire (https://twitter.com/TeachersOnFire) On Instagram @TeachersOnFire (https://www.instagram.com/teachersonfire/) On Facebook @TeachersOnFire (https://www.facebook.com/TeachersOnFire/) On YouTube @Teachers On Fire (https://www.youtube.com/c/teachersonfire) On Voxer @TeachersOnFire (https://web.voxer.com/u/teachersonfire) On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwcavey/ Visit the home of Teachers on Fire at https://teachersonfire.net/. SONG TRACK CREDIT Flight to Tunisia by Causmic Tangled by Emmit Fenn Road Tripzzz by Ofshane Sunrise Drive by South London Hifi Fast and Run by Nico Staf *All songs retrieved from the YouTube Audio Library at https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/.

Dale Carnegie once said that “A person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language.” And so it is. If we want to build meaningful culture, community, and relationships in our schools, we need to learn our students’ names. This is one way to do it. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/my-best-hack-for-memorizing-student-names-4c005a24beae. My name is Tim Cavey, and I’m proud to contribute to the education conversation through the Teachers on Fire podcast. Make sure to connect with me @TeachersOnFire on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to catch more from me and hear from amazing educators who are bringing growth and transformation to K-12 education today. CONNECT with ME On Twitter @TeachersOnFire (https://twitter.com/TeachersOnFire) On Instagram @TeachersOnFire (https://www.instagram.com/teachersonfire/) On Facebook @TeachersOnFire (https://www.facebook.com/TeachersOnFire/) On YouTube @Teachers On Fire (https://www.youtube.com/c/teachersonfire) On Voxer @TeachersOnFire (https://web.voxer.com/u/teachersonfire) On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwcavey/ Visit the home of Teachers on Fire at https://teachersonfire.net/. SONG TRACK CREDIT Flight to Tunisia by Causmic Tangled by Emmit Fenn Road Tripzzz by Ofshane Sunrise Drive by South London Hifi Fast and Run by Nico Staf *All songs retrieved from the YouTube Audio Library at https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/.

This episode comes to you from a Tim Hortons coffee shop. Host Tim Cavey is joined by fellow edu podcasters Tim Stephenson (Science 360) and Bryon Carpenter (Fresh Air at Five). This is a learning conversation. We talk about what’s firing us up, the content that keeps us going, and the practices that stoke our fires. Join us. My guests today are: Bryon Carpenter @BryonCar: Husband, father, teacher, fisherman, carpenter. Google Certified, EdTech leader. One Word for 2022 is Presence.  Podcaster: @freshairatfive Tim Stephenson @AstroStephenson: Host of the podcast Science360 podcast • Recipient of the 2018 Prime Ministers Award of Canada • Author: Beyond the Classroom • Teach Better blogger • TEDX speaker My name is Tim Cavey, and I’m proud to contribute to the education conversation through the Teachers on Fire podcast. Make sure to connect with me @TeachersOnFire on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to catch more from me and hear from amazing educators who are bringing growth and transformation to K-12 education today. CONNECT with ME On Twitter @TeachersOnFire (https://twitter.com/TeachersOnFire) On Instagram @TeachersOnFire (https://www.instagram.com/teachersonfire/) On Facebook @TeachersOnFire (https://www.facebook.com/TeachersOnFire/) On YouTube @Teachers On Fire (https://www.youtube.com/c/teachersonfire) On Voxer @TeachersOnFire (https://web.voxer.com/u/teachersonfire) On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwcavey/ Visit the home of Teachers on Fire at https://teachersonfire.net/. SONG TRACK CREDIT Fast and Run by Nico Staf *All songs retrieved from the YouTube Audio Library at https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/.

Guess what, administrators. If you want your educators to teach responsively, dynamically, and sustainably, then you’ve got to create safe spaces for experimentation. That means that it has to be okay for teachers to try some new things. To leave the familiar from time to time. To make spontaneous decisions. And to make mistakes. That means that it has to be okay for you as an administrator to walk into a classroom where the lesson plan hasn’t been completely defined. Where the learning activity has yet to appear in a unit plan. Where the teacher asks students to try out new technologies that don’t work exactly as intended. That has to be okay with you. Because if it’s not — if every instructional decision has to be planned, defined, and described in advance — then experimentation simply won’t happen as often. Or ever. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/its-okay-to-be-messy-at-the-start-c4471dc2888c. My name is Tim Cavey, and I’m proud to contribute to the education conversation through the Teachers on Fire podcast. Make sure to connect with me @TeachersOnFire on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to catch more from me and hear from amazing educators who are bringing growth and transformation to K-12 education today. CONNECT with ME On Twitter @TeachersOnFire (https://twitter.com/TeachersOnFire) On Instagram @TeachersOnFire (https://www.instagram.com/teachersonfire/) On Facebook @TeachersOnFire (https://www.facebook.com/TeachersOnFire/) On YouTube @Teachers On Fire (https://www.youtube.com/c/teachersonfire) On Voxer @TeachersOnFire (https://web.voxer.com/u/teachersonfire) On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwcavey/ Visit the home of Teachers on Fire at https://teachersonfire.net/. SONG TRACK CREDIT Flight to Tunisia by Causmic Tangled by Emmit Fenn Road Tripzzz by Ofshane Sunrise Drive by South London Hifi Fast and Run by Nico Staf *All songs retrieved from the YouTube Audio Library at https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/.

Think for a moment. What if there was a physical skill that could actively determine an adult’s willingness to write virtually anything of length for any reason? What if this single skill determined whether basic academic tasks required minutes or hours? And what if proficiency in this same skill dramatically limited or expanded the number of academic options available to students outside of high school? Wow. That’s huge, right? If such a skill existed, you would think it would get a LOT of attention in our K-12 education systems. I believe such a skill does exist. But it hardly receives a mention. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/the-overlooked-skill-that-no-one-is-talking-about-cd3ce10a5dc. My name is Tim Cavey, and I’m proud to contribute to the education conversation through the Teachers on Fire podcast. Make sure to connect with me @TeachersOnFire on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to catch more from me and hear from amazing educators who are bringing growth and transformation to K-12 education today. CONNECT with ME On Twitter @TeachersOnFire (https://twitter.com/TeachersOnFire) On Instagram @TeachersOnFire (https://www.instagram.com/teachersonfire/) On Facebook @TeachersOnFire (https://www.facebook.com/TeachersOnFire/) On YouTube @Teachers On Fire (https://www.youtube.com/c/teachersonfire) On Voxer @TeachersOnFire (https://web.voxer.com/u/teachersonfire) On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwcavey/ Visit the home of Teachers on Fire at https://teachersonfire.net/. SONG TRACK CREDIT Flight to Tunisia by Causmic Tangled by Emmit Fenn Road Tripzzz by Ofshane Fast and Run by Nico Staf *All songs retrieved from the YouTube Audio Library at https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/.

Put your K-12 assessment tools to the test with 15 powerful questions. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/level-up-your-summative-assessments-with-this-checklist-3f05312b7ba2. My name is Tim Cavey, and I’m proud to contribute to the education conversation through the Teachers on Fire podcast. Make sure to connect with me @TeachersOnFire on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to catch more from me and hear from amazing educators who are bringing growth and transformation to K-12 education today. CONNECT with ME On Twitter @TeachersOnFire (https://twitter.com/TeachersOnFire) On Instagram @TeachersOnFire (https://www.instagram.com/teachersonfire/) On Facebook @TeachersOnFire (https://www.facebook.com/TeachersOnFire/) On YouTube @Teachers On Fire (https://www.youtube.com/c/teachersonfire) On Voxer @TeachersOnFire (https://web.voxer.com/u/teachersonfire) On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwcavey/ Visit the home of Teachers on Fire at https://teachersonfire.net/. SONG TRACK CREDIT Flight to Tunisia by Causmic Tangled by Emmit Fenn Road Tripzzz by Ofshane Fast and Run by Nico Staf *All songs retrieved from the YouTube Audio Library at https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/.

We’re all developing learners. Every last one of us. As adults, we often have the luxury of walking away from learning that proves difficult or doesn’t interest us. Students in our current models of K-12 (or at least K-8) don’t usually have that option. So when we see our kids in the learning pit, let’s not panic or shame. Instead, let’s engage in thoughtful conversations. Let’s ask helpful questions. And let’s see what we can do to give them a helping hand. And we’ll celebrate the growth that follows. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/we-are-all-developing-learners-4cc3288aea63. My name is Tim Cavey, and I’m proud to contribute to the education conversation through the Teachers on Fire podcast. Make sure to connect with me @TeachersOnFire on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to catch more from me and hear from amazing educators who are bringing growth and transformation to K-12 education today. CONNECT with ME On Twitter @TeachersOnFire (https://twitter.com/TeachersOnFire) On Instagram @TeachersOnFire (https://www.instagram.com/teachersonfire/) On Facebook @TeachersOnFire (https://www.facebook.com/TeachersOnFire/) On YouTube @Teachers On Fire (https://www.youtube.com/c/teachersonfire) On Voxer @TeachersOnFire (https://web.voxer.com/u/teachersonfire) On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwcavey/ Visit the home of Teachers on Fire at https://teachersonfire.net/. SONG TRACK CREDIT Flight to Tunisia by Causmic Tangled by Emmit Fenn Road Tripzzz by Ofshane Sunrise Drive by South London Hifi Fast and Run by Nico Staf *All songs retrieved from the YouTube Audio Library at https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/.

In 2017, I attended ISTE in San Antonio, Texas. ISTE, or The International Society for Technology in Education, hosts the largest conference for educational technology in the world. My first visit to the exhibitors’ hall was eye-opening. Wow, I thought. There are a lot of edtech companies in education right now. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/are-we-using-too-many-apps-in-education-430819c86ae3. My name is Tim Cavey, and I’m proud to contribute to the education conversation through the Teachers on Fire podcast. Make sure to connect with me @TeachersOnFire on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to catch more from me and hear from amazing educators who are bringing growth and transformation to K-12 education today. CONNECT with ME On Twitter @TeachersOnFire (https://twitter.com/TeachersOnFire) On Instagram @TeachersOnFire (https://www.instagram.com/teachersonfire/) On Facebook @TeachersOnFire (https://www.facebook.com/TeachersOnFire/) On YouTube @Teachers On Fire (https://www.youtube.com/c/teachersonfire) On Voxer @TeachersOnFire (https://web.voxer.com/u/teachersonfire) On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwcavey/ Visit the home of Teachers on Fire at https://teachersonfire.net/. SONG TRACK CREDIT Flight to Tunisia by Causmic Tangled by Emmit Fenn Road Tripzzz by Ofshane Fast and Run by Nico Staf *All songs retrieved from the YouTube Audio Library at https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/.