2020

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10 Strategies Designed to Engage Elementary Students Online

Catlin Tucker

A few weeks ago, I published a blog titled “ 8 Ideas Designed to Engage Students In Active Learning Online.” I had several elementary teachers request that I work on a similar blog focused on younger learners. Below are ten strategies I hope will help elementary teachers to engage their young learners online. #1 Create Virtual Word Wall with a Bitmoji Classroom or Padlet.

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Important Lessons Learned During the Pandemic and How They Can Drive Needed Change

A Principal's Reflections

There is no shortage of challenges that have been leveled on schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. After some time, we have seen an initial move to all remote learning, depending on where you live, a shift to some sort of hybrid model. A spike in cases has led to buildings being closed again and a resumption of remote learning in some locations. Uncertainty and a lack of continuity have had a heavy toll on teachers, administrators, students, and parents.

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Gauging the Reality of Emerging Tech in Classrooms

EdTech Magazine

As virtual reality becomes more prevalent in K–12 educational spaces, developers continue to create content that enables students to partake in a host of realistic and fantastical simulations. Students can visit new places, create 3D artwork and conduct science experiments in ways that might not otherwise be possible. We have seen classroom applications of VR that fully utilize the technology to engage students in rich and novel immersive learning experiences.

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Successful Distance Learning for Young Kids

The CoolCatTeacher

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter You may be worried that the youngest kids can’t learn at a distance, but Dr. Nancy Frey, co-author of the Distance Learning Playbook comes along side us to help us understand how it can be done. From successful online meetings to screentime and essential things to include, Nancy encourages us to do what seems impossible.

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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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Show Me the Money: How to Ace Your VC Meeting

Ed Tech from the Ground Up

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Virtual Team Building Activities

User Generated Education

I, like many others, was forced to move a face-to-face college class to virtual synchronous meetings in Zoom. This term I am teaching a group dynamics course. One of my goals is to have my students experience similar dynamics and processes as they would face-to-face. Typically, I do this through experiential group activities. My task has become converting these experiences to a virtual environment.

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4 Focus Areas For Successful Remote Leading

The Web20Classroom

The whole reason we are even talking about remote learning is because science tells us the way we stay safe is to stay home. Some will disagree with that decision but ultimately it can (and will) save the lives of students and the passionate educators who have been working tirelessly to provide them an education in the middle of a pandemic. Sure the word of the year in education has been "remote learning.

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Avoid magical thinking: ‘Design for online’ this fall

Dangerously Irrelevant

As coronavirus cases continue to increase across the country, numerous school districts are reluctantly announcing that they will be doing ‘remote learning’ again this fall. Although we had the summer to prepare for this eventuality, unfortunately we have instead seen a lot of magical thinking from educational leaders and policy makers. . As much as we want our children to go back to school in person, we can’t underestimate how harmful this magical thinking can be.

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Thanks to Teachers, Learning Loss This Year Was Not As Bad As Projected, NWEA Finds

Edsurge

When it comes to learning loss during COVID-19, the question is not whether it has happened, but how much. A new report out from NWEA, a non-profit assessment organization, offers insight into just how steep the so-called COVID slide has been so far. The good news is that students learned a lot more doing remote learning than education groups projected they would.

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Black Math Teachers Are Good For More Than Race Stuff

The Jose Vilson

This #Blackout era has provided some of us with a quixotic yet prosperous platform to center our experiences without apology. The recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery at the hands of police, plus the ensuing uprisings across the world have created a level of urgency among white educators to become more aware of their complicity.

Education 218
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The Art of Making Engaging and Effective Learning Videos

Speaker: Joseph Suarez - Learning Experience Designer at Suarez Media Production

What makes an instructional video engaging and effective? Why do Learning and Development professionals often struggle to produce quality videos? What can we do to change that? In this webinar, Joseph Suarez will break down the craft, the art, and the science of video production and reveal how to leverage the production process to create great videos of all types and sizes.

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Using a Flip Flop Design for the Concurrent Classroom

Catlin Tucker

“I wish I could just focus on one group of students at a time.” This is a sentiment I’ve heard repeatedly from teachers navigating the demands of the concurrent classroom. As I’ve said in previous blog posts, teaching in a concurrent classroom is the most challenging teaching assignment I can imagine. Many of the teachers in my life who are teaching two groups of students simultaneously–one group in the classroom and one group online–are exhausted, frustrated, and not fee

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Finding Balance in Today's Classroom

A Principal's Reflections

Balance has always been a challenge for teachers. I vividly remember this during my early years as a teacher. Each night I came home exhausted. Maybe the 45-minute commute had a little to do with it, but the main culprit was how I used available time in the classroom. Since I was not very open to risks and convinced that the most critical aspect of my job was to get through the curriculum, my sole focus was on direct instruction.

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5 Best Practices for Managing Virtual Breakout Rooms

EdTech Magazine

Small group learning is absolutely essential today. In a virtual classroom, the instructor typically does most of the talking when leading a synchronous lesson. Students may find it more difficult to participate or think out loud in this environment. But with breakout rooms, educators can improve student engagement, differentiate instruction and give students more voice and choice in their learning outside of a traditional classroom.

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Station Rotation Virtually with @MsBDuncan

Teacher Tech

I created this virtual station rotation after completing #DitchSummit20 over Christmas break. Many wonderful eduleaders shared keen advice on student engagement tools, strategies and pedagogy that can work in a hybrid, concurrent, or full virtual classroom. The post Station Rotation Virtually with @MsBDuncan appeared first on Teacher Tech.

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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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Two Good Sources of Virtual Manipulatives to Use in Your Teaching

Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

Below are two of our favourite sources where you can access virtual manipulatives to use with your students in class. The sites also offer other educational math resources that you can easily.

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Engaging Students Right From the Start

User Generated Education

I, like many of you, have been doing remote teaching since March, 2020. I am a student-centric, hands on/minds on teacher. In normal times when students come to my classroom (I provide pull-out services for gifted elementary level kids), I get them doing hands-on activities within minutes of entering into my classroom. As many of you know, remote teaching is very different than face-to-face learning.

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20 virtual field trips for your classroom

Ditch That Textbook

Virtual field trips allow us to take our students where the bus can’t. Students can make connections with locations, concepts or people through the power of virtual field trips. What are the best virtual field trips out there? And how can we take the learning even further? Here are 20 field trips and 10 activities […]. The post 20 virtual field trips for your classroom appeared first on Ditch That Textbook.

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Reading is Self-Care

NeverEndingSearch

I supppose it’s something we simple know. But I suspect it’s something we don’t explicitly teach. Reading is more than an enjoyable and enriching experience. Reading is self care. At a time when they don’t see their friends. At a time when some are reluctant to turn their cameras on and share their faces. At a time we really can’t tell how they’re doing.perhaps it’s the right time to recognize the power we help kids help themselves.

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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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Welcome back for the 2020 school year! [a letter from your local superintendent and school board]

Dangerously Irrelevant

Dear students, educators, and families, Welcome back for the 2020 school year! We are incredibly delighted to have our children and educators back in school again, particularly after such a challenging spring and summer. We couldn’t be more excited to see your kids’ smiling faces back in our classrooms! As you know, some things will be different this fall.

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Remote Learning Is Not Going Away Soon. This Is How to Make It Better.

Edsurge

With this latest—and largest—surge of coronavirus infections in the United States, K-12 schools that hadn’t yet reopened for in-person learning now see few paths to do so in the near term, and many of the schools that were offering some face-to-face instruction are now pulling back into full-time remote learning. Clearly, remote learning is here to stay, at least for the next few months.

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God’s Plan (A Requiem for Wendy Menard)

The Jose Vilson

On November 29, 2016, we had a Single Session workshop for the entire Math for America community entitled “A Continuing Conversation: Race, Equity, and STEM Education.” A few weeks prior, you witnessed the country that once felt so full of promise reject its stated values in favor of a man and an administration that outwardly espouses white supremacy and all of its branches.

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Synchronous Online Discussions: Preparation, Facilitation & Wrap Up

Catlin Tucker

Discussion is a cornerstone of any learning community. Students construct and confirm meaning, in part, through dialogue with their peers. Online discussions offer an avenue to connect students online and facilitate knowledge construction; however, many teachers are frustrated by a lack of student engagement online. Too often, a teacher’s questions in a video conferencing session are met with long silences.

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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

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Developing SEL Competencies Through Technology

A Principal's Reflections

The COVID-19 unleashed an array of challenges that resulted in schools being closed for in-person instruction for many months. As I write this post, many have begun the year with remote learning, while others have opted for a hybrid model where a certain amount of kids are still learning at home. There are growing concerns about students' mental well-being as well as inter- and intra-personal skills, which have only been magnified by not only the pandemic but also advances in technology as a res

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Number of rural students planning on going to college plummets

The Hechinger Report

BUCKSPORT, Maine — Its roof frosted with a covering of the previous night’s snow, a yellow school bus chugs up to the front door of Bucksport High School, where Principal Josh Tripp greets the handful of late-arriving students as they drag themselves inside. This story also appeared in Maine Public Radio and National Public Radio. Tripp is just glad they’ve shown up, in a year when school is half online, sports and clubs have been curtailed and the world can seem as cold and gray as a winter mor

Education 145
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How to teach critical thinking skills online

eSchool News

This story on how teaching critical thinking skills online during the COVID pandemic, originally published on April 29, was eSN’s No. 8 most popular story of 2020. Check back each day for the next story in our countdown. As educators, we often hear about the importance of teaching critical thinking skills to our students. What we hear about less, however, are the most effective techniques for teaching those skills and how teachers can implement them in the classroom—especially now that sch

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???? Jamboard – Version History and Sticky Note Shortcuts

Teacher Tech

I was playing around in Google Jamboard (jam.new) trying out random keyboard combinations to see what keyboard shortcuts exist besides Control V for paste. I found the ability to add a new sticky note and to view the version history. New Sticky Note Control Alt Shift P Start a new sticky note in Jamboard with […]. The post ???? Jamboard – Version History and Sticky Note Shortcuts appeared first on Teacher Tech.

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How Formative Assessment Supports the Learning Journey

Speaker: Todd Theobald, Noel Gomez, Marcus Painter

Join educators and assessment experts as they discuss the role of formative assessment in student learning, how formative practices can guide the teaching and learning cycle, and the positive impact assessment can make on your classroom. We’ll cover topics including: Reframing the value of assessments and focusing on learning opportunities. Using assessment data to make informed decisions about instructional strategies.

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30 Of The Best Google Classroom Tools For Teachers

TeachThought - Learn better.

30 Of The Best Google Classroom Tools For Teachers by TeachThought Staff Google Classroom has been one of the most popular tools in the modern classroom since its launch in 2014. In the years since, countless tools have either been designed to extend its use or have been redesigned themselves to integrate with it. So, […]. The post 30 Of The Best Google Classroom Tools For Teachers appeared first on TeachThought.

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How to create Google Meet breakout rooms for differentiated learning

Ditch That Textbook

This post is written by Esther Park. Esther is a high school English as a New Language teacher in Northern Virginia. You can connect with her on Twitter @MrsParkShine or on her website: mrspark.org Using breakout rooms completely changed the way I teach remotely. But one day, one of my quiet students privately messaged me […]. The post How to create Google Meet breakout rooms for differentiated learning appeared first on Ditch That Textbook.

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English Learners: Four Principles for Principals

MiddleWeb

Principals are the creators of school culture. Through their words, actions, and policies they can assure ELLs’ success. The work teachers need to do with language learners can’t be done without principal support. Tan Huynh offers 4 principles for school leaders to adopt.

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What are your school’s decision triggers for closing back down again?

Dangerously Irrelevant

You’ve opened up school again and at least some students and teachers are attending in person. Unsurprisingly, some students, families, or educators begin to identify as positive for COVID-19. Now what? How many kids have to get sick before you shut down again? What are your decision-making criteria? [practice saying these out loud and see how they sit with you].

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The LMS Workbook for K-12 Leaders

The integration of technological tools to support learning has created a new personalized experience for students. Download this workbook and discover what you need to build an ecosystem that saves teachers time and improves student outcomes. Download the workbook today!