Promoting My Teaching Materials

I've started to experiment with promoting teaching materials that I have created that I have posted on Teachers Pay Teachers. At this point, I am not planning to use any other advertising. All those google and banner ads look so tacky, and I am really proud of Minds in Bloom. But I don't want my ads to be too overwhelming or tacky looking either.

I've tried to make it clear which are my ads by putting them all in bold blue, whereas most of the rest of my links are in purple. I doubt many people read the About this Site posts, but if you are, and if you have an opinion about the way I self promote, I'd love to hear it. Trying to walk that line between getting people's attention, but not being obnoxious.

Post Date: October 29, 2009.

MindBlossom

MindBlossom: An idea. Ideally a good one that will flower into something amazing.

This blog is my MindBlossom. I came up with the name while thinking about Bloom's Taxonomy and then found that I was delighted by the little play on words. Then I made the logo, and since this is a blog about higher level thinking, of course it had to be a picture puzzle.

My original idea was to call it "Scarecrow's Wish" but some of my friends thought it sounded a little scary, and some of them didn't get the reference, and it is hard to draw an appealing scarecrow. So that idea got axed.

Minds in Bloom is still in its infancy, but I have high hopes. Please feel free to pass on any ideas or comments!

Date written: October 15, 2009 (posted date will not be accurate for this post)

Why Higher Level Thinking Skills?

Because higher level thinking skills are what our kids need to thrive in this world that has exploded with technology, information, and a seemingly overwhelming, tangled knot of environmental, social, and economic challenges.

Because they work. Connections are made, synapses fire, and kids (and adults) learn to think in new ways. Brains grow. Problems can be solved, ideas can be generated, grades and test scores can improve.

Also, higher level thinking is fun!

I won't be covering much theory on this site. If you want to know exactly what these skills are, how they are studied and why they work, there are many excellent sites to help you. This one is a great place to start Creative and Critical Thinking Skills - Bloom's Taxonomy .

Instead, I am going to focus on giving parents and teachers practical, easy-to-implement strategies and activities. Here you will find ideas for games to play, projects to do, puzzles and brainteasers to try, questions to ask, strategies to implement, as well as, book, website, and game reviews, and of course plenty of interesting links to explore.

One more fun thing - The logo for this site is a double play on words. I wonder how many readers will get both of them.