As a right-handed person, I have always put my right arm in first to my jackets. However this past school year, it has felt more like I have been trying to put my left arm in first to my jackets. If you have never tried this "simple" task, I suggest you try it. It feels awkward, cumbersome, confusing, and you might just look at little foolish, when at first you thought it would be a fun challenge that you would quickly master. I would like to say after a few attempts, it becomes easier and natural, but that is not the case. It takes many repeated attempts for it become easier (not easy) and for it to feel somewhat natural. For me, this is how I felt when after 13 years of teaching, I decided to try something completely different to me, teaching a blended learning classroom. While I was getting effective results from my students year after year, I knew how I was teaching them was out of date with the demands of today's world. I wanted to put them, not me, at the center...

The past few months I have been incorporating Google Classroom more and more into my science classes. Students are becoming very familiar with Google Docs, and they are starting to wake up from worksheet induced comas and starting to think again. When I first presented them with Google Classroom and Google Docs, they seemed dazed and confused at what I was showing them and what I was expecting from them. What I was showing them were the tools to create, collaborate, communicate, and apply critical thinking beyond a textbook and beyond the standard worksheet. What I was expecting from them was to learn in a meaningful, authentic, personalized way. It was a rude awakening for many. While a few students are still wanting to "sleep in" a bit more, most are already awake and are energized to learn. Students are telling me, "I really like doing these (tasks)," "This doesn't even feel like school," and "Have you looked at my work yet? I'm real...