January, 2021

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Why most schools won’t ‘reinvent’ themselves after the pandemic

Dangerously Irrelevant

A number of folks have been eagerly encouraging schools to ‘reinvent’ themselves after the pandemic. Here is a smattering of such articles: A time for disruptive innovation in education. COVID-19 as a catalyst for educational change. Restarting and reinventing school: Learning in the time of COVID and beyond. What if we… don’t return to school as usual.

System 363
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A Message to School Leaders

A Principal's Reflections

A great deal has been written on the heroic efforts of teachers during the pandemic. I, for one, have penned my fair share of posts that highlight the exceptional work they have and continue to do under extraordinarily challenging conditions. They continue to overcome daily obstacles as every day feels like a trial by fire ordeal. It’s tough to understand the challenges they are going through unless you walk in their shoes for a day.

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How K–12 Schools Map Paths to Effective Hybrid Learning

EdTech Magazine

It’s a question every K–12 school district leader in the country had to ask last spring and fall, and each came up with a slightly different answer: How could they support remote and hybrid instruction in a way that engages families, inspires students and keeps everybody as sane as possible? For most, the answer has included a thoughtful mix of training and technology.

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Teaching in the Concurrent Classroom: Four Strategies to Make it Work

Catlin Tucker

On Thursday night, I presented a 30-minute webinar with AJ Juliani for educators focused on the concurrent classroom. If the phrase “concurrent classroom” is unfamiliar, it’s when teachers have a group of students in the physical classroom and a group joining simultaneously online via video conferencing. An increasing number of educators are teaching in concurrent classrooms as schools attempt to accommodate families who want their kids back in classrooms and others who prefer

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Can Brain Science Actually Help Make Your Training & Teaching Stick?

Speaker: Andrew Cohen, Founder & CEO of Brainscape

The instructor’s PPT slides are brilliant. You’ve splurged on the expensive interactive courseware. Student engagement is stellar. So… why are half of your students still forgetting everything they learned in just a matter of weeks? It's likely a matter of cognitive science! With so much material to "teach" these days, we often forget to incorporate key proven principles into our curricula — namely active recall, metacognition, spaced repetition, and interleaving practice.

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A Look Back at 2020 Teaching What It Means for 2021

The CoolCatTeacher

Researcher Pamela Livingston Gaudet shares her findings From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter. Yes, 2020 has been a year like no other, and today’s guest, Pamela Livingston Guadet, interviewed a wide variety of school tech directors to hear their stories of triage teaching during the COVID-19 emergency.

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Tech Tip #161: Ten Most Important Keyboard Keys

Ask a Tech Teacher

In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education. Today’s tip: 10 Most Important Keyboard Keys. Category: Keyboarding.

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Making Headway with Remote and Hybrid Learning

A Principal's Reflections

With 2020 in the rearview mirror, it is now time to focus on the present with an eye to the future. Many difficult lessons were learned during the pandemic, and a few more are sure to materialize over the next couple of months. Even though educators have been challenged like never before, they faced adversity and stepped up to the plate admirably for their learners.

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5 Tips for an Effective Hybrid Instruction Experience

EdTech Magazine

With the rise in hybrid learning, it’s crucial to adopt a comprehensive and proactive approach to optimize student engagement. Many K–12 school districts across the United States have found their footing and are now able to provide rigorous remote instruction and seamless classroom management for all. Common Sense Education, an educational nonprofit that provides resources for tech use in the classroom, suggests that educators focus on these key considerations when planning for hybrid teaching a

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3 Tips for Building Community Online

Catlin Tucker

Last week, my class of teacher candidates explored the topic of building an online learning community. We talked about the importance of nurturing a learning community over time and providing regular opportunities for students to engage with each other to build relationships. We also discussed the challenges of building community when learning is happening in part, or exclusively, online.

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Save Time with The 5 Minute Lesson Plan with Ross McGill

The CoolCatTeacher

Learn about resources and methods you can use to save time! From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter. In today’s episode, Ross McGill, shares his powerful 5 minute lesson plan format that the UK Department of Education has listed as a best practice for teacher effectiveness and time savings. His tips will save you some valuable time.

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Reimagining Chickering & Gamson's Principles Post-Pandemic: Technology's Central Role in Modern Edu

This white paper examines and proposes revisions to the "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" introduced by Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson in 1987 for today's technology-driven world.

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Here’s a Preview of February

Ask a Tech Teacher

Here’s a preview of what’s coming up on Ask a Tech Teacher in February: Subscriber Special. 100th Day of School Activities. World Read Aloud Day. Free Posters. Why Kindergartners Must Learn Tech. Math Word Problems. Shortkeys. Great Websites for Remote Teaching. Websites to Enhance Social Studies. How Fast Schould Kids Type. Keyboarding Hints.

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20+ tips for using Canvas LMS

Ditch That Textbook

Canvas is a full-featured learning management system, and when I say "full featured", I really mean FULL featured. In fact, to illustrate the point. I like to compare Google Classroom to an airport. It's the way to get to the destinations of your dreams. Like hopping a plane, you hop on a link to a third-party […]. The post 20+ tips for using Canvas LMS appeared first on Ditch That Textbook.

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Strategies to Accelerate Family Engagement

A Principal's Reflections

With all its challenges, the pandemic brought to light the need to either rethink or improve various aspects of practice. When it comes to leadership, the importance of effective communication skills to engage and empower families moved to the forefront. There are many reasons for this, but the most pressing was the need for information related to COVID-19, especially during the early months of the outbreak.

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5 Tips for Better Cybersecurity

EdTech Magazine

With remote learning now the norm in many school districts, K–12 cyberattacks are at an all-time high, and IT staff are working around the clock to strengthen their defenses. Eastern Carver County Schools in Minnesota has a more comprehensive approach to cybersecurity than most school districts.

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Behind the Bell: The Underlying Impact of Tardiness in K-12 Schools

Managing a K-12 campus with constant pressure to meet performance metrics is challenging. And tardiness can significantly limit a school from reaching these goals. Learn more about why chronic lateness matters, and key strategies to address the following impacts: Data errors caused by manual processes Low attendance and graduation rates that affect a school’s reputation Classroom disruption, which leads to poor academic performance High staff attrition and “The Teacher Exodus” Unmet LCAP goals t

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Need Inspiration Designing Station Rotation Lessons for your Math, English, History, or Science Class?

Catlin Tucker

As teachers navigate online learning, hybrid schedules, or the demands of the concurrent classroom, I’ve recommended the station rotation model. I know this recommendation may seem odd given that most teachers are not in classrooms daily with students, or if they are, there are strict social distancing protocols in place. In our current situation, it is necessary to emphasize that a “station” does not need to be a physical location in a classroom, but rather it is a learning ac

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The importance of social studies and information literacy

Dangerously Irrelevant

As someone who grew up in the Washington, D.C. suburbs and whose parents worked for the federal government, today’s events have been… challenging. I think that what I will say here is: Policymakers, you know how you’ve minimized the importance of history, government, and civics in all of your education reform efforts over the past couple of decades?

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Slow Pivots — What’s Driving the Change to Reimagine School Schedules?

Education Elements

School schedules and use of time are one of the few remaining relics of the industrialized learning model. Even when most schools moved to virtual learning in March 2020, many organizations replicated the existing bell schedule and instructed teachers to move their onsite instruction online. The school leaders believed it would hold teachers and students more accountable and create more predictability to help families plan their own schedules.

Industry 360
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10 green screen project ideas for the classroom

Ditch That Textbook

This post is written by Megan Diede and Kara Risby. Megan and Kara both currently teach primary at Prairie Wind Elementary in Gillette, Wyoming. They are also the founders of IntegratED LLC a framework that challenges teachers to find a new norm and their teaching. Blockbuster Hollywood movies use green screen to create all sorts […]. The post 10 green screen project ideas for the classroom appeared first on Ditch That Textbook.

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The Battle of the Authoring Tools: A 10-Point Comparison for Picking the Right One

Speaker: Chris Paxton McMillin, President of D3 Training Solutions

There are plenty of great authoring tools for developing eLearning, but the one you select could directly impact your course's outcomes. Depending upon your learners’ needs and your organization’s performance goals, you could be overlooking considerations that impact the both effectiveness of your courses and how long it takes to finish them. From general capabilities to specific workflow structures, some aspects are critical when it comes to learning objectives and deadlines.

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Every Instructional Coach Deserves an Effective Coach

Digital Promise

What are the key ingredients for a beneficial professional learning experience? At the top of the list, you will probably find that successful professional learning is ongoing, personalized, and of high quality. These components are naturally embedded within effective coaching and/or mentoring. Many school districts offer a coach or mentor to new teachers, and some even offer support to veteran teachers; however, most do not offer similar services to the coaches themselves.

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3 Tech Initiatives to Prioritize in the Virtual Classroom

EdTech Magazine

Finding technology tools and solutions amid the challenging year that was 2020 often felt like Mission: Impossible at times for many school districts. There aren’t necessarily “wrong answers” when it comes to adding technology to the educational experience, but there are some initiatives that you should prioritize over others to achieve the most important outcomes for your students and educators.

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Innovating Beyond Avoidable K-12 Crises

EdNews Daily

By Amy Valentine There’s always a crisis in education. Covid-19 is the most recent and most significant, and it has challenged our education system in innumerable ways. But before the pandemic, there were already various challenges, both urgent and ongoing?the digital divide, lack of access in rural areas, weather-related disruptions, overcrowded classrooms, understaffed school buildings, bullying, and many more.

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Women in school leadership: A few awesome initiatives

Dangerously Irrelevant

There is some incredible work happening right now related to women in P-12 educational leadership. Below are four initiatives that have caught my attention over the past few months… Women Who Lead. The first initiative is Women Who Lead , which is led by the always awesome Kim Cofino and her team at Eduro Learning. Women Who Lead has more than 500 curated video conversations with over 70 women who hold leadership positions in education.

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The Roses and Thorns of an LMS Strategy: How to Flourish with the Right LMS

Speaker: Amanda Davis, Chief Experience Officer and Liam O'Malley, VP of Association Solutions

The "new normal" is now a little less new, a little more normal. Does that mean your current LMS strategy is in need of a refresh? Is your organization or association leaning into the always-evolving eLearning environment to ensure you have the tools and content to remain relevant through all this change? There are many complex decision-making processes within your learning & development strategy and LMS lifecycle management, including: Selection.

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Virtual Schooling Is Here to Stay: Reimagining Post-Pandemic Virtual Learning in Public Schools

Education Elements

From North Carolina to California to Alaska, public schools around the United States are planning to preserve a virtual school option for students after the pandemic is over. The constant drumbeat of getting all students back to school as quickly as possible does not tell the whole story of learning in the pandemic. Singing the praises of virtual learning was not something many students, educators, and families would see themselves humming along to twelve months ago.

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20 Schoology tips to save you time

Ditch That Textbook

With all of the features that Schoology boasts as a learning management system (LMS), you can be well on your way to creating some exciting learning opportunities. You can also be well on your way to something else. Overwhelm. With all the bells and whistles and features, it's easy not to know where to start -- and […]. The post 20 Schoology tips to save you time appeared first on Ditch That Textbook.

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7 Must-Have Features for Online Learning Platforms

EdTech4Beginners

You can find a wide variety of learning platforms on the internet. Online learning complements and sometimes even replaces traditional classrooms. It serves multiple needs of teachers and learners due to its flexibility. Yet, to make the most of online learning, you need to check the features that a platform has to offer and decide whether it provides a supportive environment for your studies.

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The Pros, Cons and Lessons Learned from Schools that Do Virtual Snow Days

EdTech Magazine

Traditional snow days — and the excitement they evoke as kids wait for that early morning call — could be going the way of the overhead slide projector once commonplace in school districts across the U.S. A growing number of districts are shifting toward “e-learning” or virtual learning days rather than cancelling classes in the face of inclement weather.

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Building the Foundation for a Modern K-12 Classroom

K-12 looks different these days. But one thing remains the same: you need a reliable learning platform that serves as the foundation for teaching and learning––for all students, in a variety of learning experiences. Discover how the Instructure Learning Platform supports today's K-12 classroom through: A central, consistent, connected hub of the digital learning environment.

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A Shockingly Simple Way to Improve Online School

Edsurge

When Nettie Johnson fired up her first online class for her fifth graders in Topeka, Kansas last March, she knew they were flying by the seat of their pants. She had her laptop and Wi-Fi “but it was really difficult because if I was sharing my screen, I couldn’t really see the kids. So it was hard to interact or see if they were engaged.” Her fellow teachers commiserated.

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How much time are we already wasting?

Dangerously Irrelevant

In one of my favorite sections of The Passionate Learner , Robert Fried says: If we are to act boldly on behalf of passionate learners, we will have to stop wasting so much time in school. Most teachers and students waste 50 percent or more of their time in school. I say this with no disrespect. There are, of course, various ways of wasting time we all acknowledge as such: Teachers trying to get the class to settle down so the lesson can begin.

Outcomes 349
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Google Meet: When Presenting See More People

Teacher Tech

When presenting your screen in a Google Meet, annoyingly, the majority of the Meet screen is taken up by “You’re presenting to everyone.” Control Minus A common trick when using any program is to use Control Minus to zoom out. Oftentimes it is surprising how this works. In Google Drawings using Control Minus actually helps […].

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How to use anything on the web as an LMS assignment

Ditch That Textbook

Canvas. Blackboard. Schoology. Google Classroom. No matter your LMS, you have LOTS of power to create great assignments! We educators often see digital learning through the lens of our learning management system (LMS). Many times, because we're looking for our LMS, it keeps us from seeing what's possible. Some examples:"I could really use some examples of […].

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Transform Your Classroom with Apple

Speaker: Aaron Webb, Jamf

Apple empowers educators and students by design. Whether using Macs, iPads, or Apple TV, Apple devices encourage creativity and can simplify teaching with apps to make the classroom more flexible, collaborative and personalized for each student. To unleash the full potential of the technology and create the best learning environment, you need to understand the tools and resources available, and develop an education-focused, comprehensive plan, from equipment purchase to deployment, management an