About
I am currently a full-time, classroom teacher. I started teaching in 1993 and have had rewarding experiences in a wide variety of roles including exchange teacher (Australia), resource teacher (educational technology) and vice-principal. But it is as a classroom teacher that I have learned and continue to learn the most.
I am interested in educational issues that often involve competing tensions or issues such as instructionism vs. constructivism/onism, learning vs. education, oppression vs. empowerment, learner centered vs. teacher centered, play vs. work, learning to code vs. coding to learn, using technology vs. integrating technology. Sometimes, I write about false dilemma fallacies such as iPad vs. Chromebook, block vs. text coding, and so forth. Actually, I hesitate to characterize any issue using an X vs. Y structure because no debate is ever that simple. Reality is almost always located somewhere on a continuum between extremes. Nevertheless, I find X vs. Y and handy way to summarize and simplify as long as the caveats are noted, too. All thoughts and ideas expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect my employer
I have been a maker for my whole life. As a kid I took apart almost every gift I ever received and then built other things from the parts… such audio mixing-boards, loudspeakers, robots, and radios. I spent endless of hours building with cardboard, string, tape, paper, and Lego. I also loved to write stories, create photographs and videos, draw, and write music. Creating and building things were/are the only times in my life when I experience flow so that idea has also become a significant line of professional inquiry for me:
- How can educators support a maker learning culture in the youth of today?
- How do we foster both creativity and critical analysis as equal players in the educational endeavours of teachers and students alike?
A sample of things I have written:
- 5 ways to turn the ‘hour of code’ into the ‘year of learning’ (November 2017, Code Like a Girl)
- Learning Design by Making Games (in Scratch) (October 2017, Code Like a Girl)
- Finding the Math: 2D Figures in Scratch (September 2017, Code Like a Girl)
- Star Wars and the Micro:bit (June 2017, Code Like a Girl)
- Scratch is the Right Place for Coding (May 2017, Code Like a Girl)
- Dear Apple, Google & Microsoft (May 2017, Code Like a Girl)
- Coding, Thinking, Reflection & Transfer (April 2017, Code Like a Girl)
- Turn the “Hour of Code” into the “Year of Learning” (December 2016, Code Like a Girl)
- Should Students Use the Internet while Taking Tests? (February 2013, Learning & Leading with Technology)
Places where I share:
I try to post resources and share ideas in various places. Here are a few:
- Twitter: @cashjim
- Twitter: scratchmathland
- Blog: makelearn.org
- Prezi: Jim Cash
- Medium: @cashjim
- Scratch: JimmyC
- website: Scratch Mathland
Making things... Learning Things 
Thank you for creating this blog. I am reviewing this blog for an assignment for my course, Integrating Technology and Information in the Classroom. I can send you a copy when my reflection is complete.