October, 2023

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Inclusion and Co-Teaching in the Personalized Classroom

A Principal's Reflections

Inclusion is essential for special education (SPED) because it promotes the social and academic development of students with disabilities, fosters a sense of belonging, and prepares them for life outside of school. It aligns with legal and ethical imperatives, is often cost-effective, and encourages teacher development. Inclusive education also positively impacts school culture, reduces stigma, and advocates for equity and civil rights, ensuring all students have equal opportunities and contribu

Teaching 475
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Station Rotation Tip #5: What Does Each Station Look Like and Sound Like?

Catlin Tucker

I was recently facilitating a training session on the station rotation model when several educators expressed concern about the noise level of the classroom during a station rotation lesson. They asked how I keep the noise level down at the stations that are not teacher-led. Like most classroom expectations, I spend time directly teaching what each type of station should look and sound like.

educators

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PROOF POINTS: Flashcards prevail over repetition in memorizing multiplication tables

The Hechinger Report

A study published in 2023 in the journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology documented that second graders memorized more multiplication facts when they practiced using flashcards rather than by repeating their times tables aloud. Credit: Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images Young students around the world struggle to memorize multiplication tables, but the effort pays off.

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As AI Chatbots Rise, More Educators Look to Oral Exams — With High-Tech Twist

ED Surge

Since the release of ChatGPT late last year, the essay has been declared dead as an effective way to measure learning. After all, students can now enter any assigned question into an AI chatbot and get a perfectly formatted, five-paragraph essay back ready to turn in (well, after a little massaging to take out any AI “hallucinations”). As educators have looked to alternatives to assigning essays, one idea that has bubbled up is to bring back oral exams.

Education 143
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Book Review: Lovely War

HistoryRewriter

This multiple award-winning book sat in my teenage daughter’s room for a couple of years before I got around to it. I remember skimming it in Barnes and Noble and putting it down because it starts off with a romantic triangle between Aphrodite, Ares, and Hephaestus in a New York City hotel suite in 1942. I thought it would be too slow and boring for my 10th-grade World History students.

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Your Teachers Need a Win

Cult of Pedagogy

Listen to this post as a podcast: Sponsored by NoRedInk and The Modern Classrooms Project I was having a conversation this morning with a teacher I’m very close to, someone who trusts me enough to be honest with me, and who does it in a way that is loving and generous. She was talking about how my website and podcast sometimes make her feel like she’s not doing enough, she’s doing it all wrong, her teaching is never quite good enough.

Pedagogy 130
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Tips for Creating Must-Do/May-Do Tasks

A Principal's Reflections

A s readers of my blog know, I am incredibly passionate about pedagogically-sound personalized learning. Who wouldn’t be excited about implementing strategies that support ALL learners getting what they need when and where they need it to succeed? What is even more intriguing is that there is no one best way to personalize, something I wrote extensively about in Disruptive Thinking in Our Classrooms and this recent blog post.

Education 444

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Lost in translation: Parents of special ed students who don’t speak English often left in the dark

The Hechinger Report

SEATTLE — Mireya Barrera didn’t want a fight. This story also appeared in The Seattle Times For years, she sat through meetings with her son’s special education teachers, struggling to maintain a smile as she understood little of what they said. On the rare occasions when other teachers who spoke Barrera’s language, Spanish, were asked to help, the conversations still faltered because they weren’t trained interpreters.

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What's Really Getting in the Way of Teachers Embracing Edtech?

ED Surge

Amy Ballard, Ph.D., a math teacher and instructional coach at Brashier Middle College Charter High School in Simpsonville, South Carolina, has more than two decades of experience and spends a lot of time thinking about edtech. Yet Ballard’s main focus is not the tools themselves, but rather, how to support teachers leveraging edtech to help improve student learning.

EdTech 142
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Middle East Podcasts

Geography Education

I love the podcast “Everything Everywhere Daily” Podcast. As the title implies it’s an omnivorous exploration of fascinating topics, often focusing on interesting places or pivotal moments in history. Most are approximately 10-minute summaries and for exploring more about the middle East, these podcasts would be a great place to explore further.

History 130
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4 AI Tools for Any Classroom

HistoryRewriter

I am by no means an AI expert, but I do like to tinker and try new ed tech tools in my classroom. This post will describe four tools I have been experimenting with recently. I hope to inspire you to come up with new ways to help students engage in deeper learning. Story File. This video technology uses artificial intelligence to match video responses to student questions.

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Unlocking Personalized Learning with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

A Principal's Reflections

In today's fast-paced world, traditional one-size-fits-all educational approaches need to be updated. Students have diverse needs, preferences, and learning paces, making it crucial for schools to adapt to this variability. Enter artificial intelligence (AI), a powerful tool that has the potential to revolutionize education by personalizing learning experiences for every student.

Tradition 430
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Great Depression Lessons

Passion for Social Studies

The United States has undergone many changes through its rich history. While some are positive improvements, such as the creation of the lightbulb, others are not. For instance, there have been wars, conflicts, and times when citizens had no food. Citizens who lived through the Great Depression witnessed loss, hardships, and hurt on unprecedented levels.

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‘We’re being attacked’: Florida teachers speak out

The Hechinger Report

Editor’s note: This story led off this week’s Future of Learning newsletter, which is delivered free to subscribers’ inboxes every other Wednesday with trends and top stories about education innovation. Subscribe today! On May 31, a school board meeting in Hernando County, Florida, made national news when more than 600 hundred people showed up and the meeting lasted until 2:30 a.m.

Civics 143
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How to Help Students Avoid Getting Duped Online — and by AI Chatbots

ED Surge

Students these days are terrible at sorting true facts from misinformation online and on social media, many studies show. But it’s not because students aren’t good at critical thinking, argues Mike Caulfield, a research scientist at University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public. Instead, they just need a little bit of guidance on how to approach the flood of text, images and websites they encounter on a daily basis.

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Armenians in Azerbaijan

Geography Education

The region of Nagorno-Karabakh has had ethnic, political, and cultural strife ever since the fall of the Soviet Union. In October 2023, Azerbaijan militarily took over the region prompting many ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Since 1994, this was the event that Armenia was trying to prevent, but couldn’t.

Cultures 130
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Book Review: The All-American

HistoryRewriter

Continuing to develop my Ethnic Studies-themed book list, this week I read The All-American by Joe Milan Jr. It was a fast-moving story about a young Korean boy who gets into a legal mishap and has his whole world unravel. Bucky Yi is a seventeen-year-old running back in the small town of Tibicut. Shades of Squid Game keep the pages turning. Things can’t get worse, but then they always do.

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Using Feedback to Drive Professional Learning

A Principal's Reflections

During this school year, I have been working with Stryker Local Schools in Ohio. Like all my implementations where the work is job-embedded and ongoing, learning walks are a core component. In September, the leaders and I conducted walks in every classroom over two days. As a result, I provided them with close to 5000 words of feedback. With the suggestions in hand, the leaders were empowered to review what we had seen and my recommendations to determine the focus for an upcoming professional de

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17 Tweaks That Make a Big Difference in Group Work

Cult of Pedagogy

Listen to the interview with Connie Hamilton: Sponsored by EVERFI and Verizon Innovative Learning HQ This page contains Amazon Affiliate and Bookshop.org links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. What’s the difference between Amazon and Bookshop.org? It’s pretty well known in educational circles that cooperative learning is supported by research, but so many teachers still struggle with it, so wh

Pedagogy 130
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Canada treats its adjunct professors better than the U.S. does – and it pays off for students 

The Hechinger Report

MONTREAL — Raad Jassim really likes his job. This story also appeared in The Washington Post As an adjunct faculty member at a Canadian university, Jassim has four teaching assistants to help him grade assignments and answer questions. He makes the equivalent of about $7,000 per course, per term. He has a multiyear contract and can typically pick the subjects that he teaches.

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Why Schools Should Focus on Social Capital Development — Not Just Skills

ED Surge

The word “meritocracy” has reached new heights, becoming ubiquitous in everyday conversation and in debates about identity politics. The concept is seemingly simple: Strong ability yields well-earned roles in the workforce. And yet, in the tech sector where I work, I bear witness to a world of gender and racial homogeneity that fails to represent the gender and racial heterogeneity of the United States.

Sociology 141
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This Cross-Sector Group Will Support the Future of Maker Learning in Southwestern Pennsylvania

Digital Promise

The post This Cross-Sector Group Will Support the Future of Maker Learning in Southwestern Pennsylvania appeared first on Digital Promise.

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Book Review: The Wind Knows My Name

HistoryRewriter

This year I have been reading a variety of new titles for my Intro to Ethnic Studies course. I want the books to be different from a traditional History or ELA class reading so that students understand the purpose of Ethnic studies is supposed to bring students and communities together. Per California’s Ethnic Studies Framework , these stories should address racialized experiences and ethnic differences as real and unique, build greater understanding and communication across ethnic differe

History 130
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What We’re Reading: 4 Resources for Improving School Culture

Edthena

Improving school culture is high on many school leaders’ lists of building priorities. When teachers feel valued and supported within their school community and environment, student learning is also better supported. But cultivating a strong school culture doesn’t happen without intentional thought and planning. We’ve rounded up four resources that provide best practices for improving school culture, including how psychological safety is crucial for educators and strategies for valuing and suppo

Cultures 106
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The Equity Advantage of Small Groups

Catlin Tucker

Part III: Transitioning from Whole Group to Small Group to Achieve Equity in Education In the first blog post in this series, Time Efficiency vs. Equity in Education , I wrote about the tension between the demands on teachers’ time and the desire to provide equitable learning experiences. In the second blog, Leveraging AI to Save Time Architecting Equitable, Student-centered Learning Experiences , I highlight how teachers can use AI technology to significantly decrease the time required to

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Disabilities in math affect many students — but get little attention

The Hechinger Report

Laura Jackson became seriously concerned about her daughter and math when the girl was in third grade. While many of her classmates flew through multiplication tests, Jackson’s daughter struggled to complete her 1 times table. She relied on her fingers to count, had difficulty reading clocks and frequently burst into tears when asked at home to practice math flashcards.

Tutoring 135
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Why Educators Should Lean in to AI to Better Support Students

ED Surge

Plato once quoted Socrates lamenting that, “If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written.”1 The ancient philosopher was speaking, of course, of the latest technology in the B.C. era: hand-written scrolls. As humans, we’ve always had a somewhat complicated history with invention.

Education 139
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Supporting Students In Being the Protagonists of Their Own Learning

Digital Promise

The post Supporting Students In Being the Protagonists of Their Own Learning appeared first on Digital Promise.

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Improving teaching: getting over the knowing-doing hump

A Psychology Teacher Writes

I love visualisers. They’re a great bit of kit that can let you do lots of really useful things in your teaching. Some schools love them so much they’ve got one in every classroom. I champion them in CPD sessions, when I’m giving lesson feedback, and I’ve certainly mentioned them in a blog or two. But I’ve got a guilty secret. I never use one. I do have one, but haven’t touched it for about 2 years.

Teaching 100
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Well-being of School Leaders Matters

Education Elements

Burnout rates are high among principals. How can we promote self-care? The past few years have been tough on school leaders. Principals have been putting out fires and coping with unexpected situations. Many principals admit that their careers have become very stressful with work overload, breakdown with communication, and values conflicts. Principals are challenged to handle pressure, student achievement, and working harmoniously with diverse stakeholders.

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Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom: Sparking Higher Ordered Thinking!

Dr. Shannon Doak

The modern classroom is rapidly changing, and it’s not just the use of tablets and online assignments that are making a difference. The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the educational landscape is opening doors to a wealth of possibilities that were once the stuff of science fiction. While attending the ACAMIS Technology Conference , a plethora of cutting-edge technological applications in education were showcased.

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How AI can teach kids to write – not just cheat

The Hechinger Report

Editor’s note: This story led off this week’s Future of Learning newsletter, which is delivered free to subscribers’ inboxes every other Wednesday with trends and top stories about education innovation. Email Address Choose from our newsletters Weekly Update Future of Learning Higher Education Early Childhood Proof Points Leave this field empty if you’re human: While the reading and math “wars” have gotten a lot of attention in education in recent years, writing instruction has

Teaching 134
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‘Gen Z Teaches History’ Is a Viral TikTok Series That Mixes Learning and Humor

ED Surge

If you’re a history buff, you may already know that Cleopatra had a substantial amount of rizz. King Henry VIII, on the other hand, could be considered the Tom Sandoval of his time. Meanwhile, Czar Nicholas II struggled to, well, pick a struggle. History teacher Lauren Cella's "Gen Z Teaches History" series has earned about 30 million views on Instagram and TikTok combined.

History 27
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How Verizon Innovative Learning Schools Transformed My School

Digital Promise

Ten years ago, I thought tests were the only way to assess a student’s knowledge, but now I understand that they can demonstrate their mastery in so many different ways. I am a critical and creative thinker. Ten years ago, I prepared my lessons with fixed steps and an end assessment in mind. Now, I design learning with an ultimate learning objective, but I let the students lead me down their path of learning.

Artifacts 123
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There’s nothing new in this CPD…and that’s a good thing

A Psychology Teacher Writes

Photo by Artem Podrez on Pexels.com “There’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back.” How many times have we heard or said that after attending a PD session? And yes, some of those sessions may well have been truly awful for all kinds of reasons. But one of the things people sometimes grumble about is that there was nothing new : “I know all this, I’ve been teaching for years” “I didn’t take any new ideas from that” “Nothing new but it was nice to hear that I’m doing everything right” The last o

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Embracing Wellness: Starting the School Year with a Focus on Well-Being

Education Elements

As schools and school districts strive to foster academic excellence and student achievement, teachers and school leaders often set aside their personal care. However, educator well-being is vital to the health and success of any educational environment. Educators who are well-supported can focus on what they do best – inspiring and guiding students.

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Leveraging AI for Education (via SmartBrief)

Edthena

In the News AI has exploded in popularity over the past few months. Education is certainly not exempt from its impact. For many school district leaders, the prospect of leveraging AI might seem scary at first. However, with proactive and careful planning, school district leaders can harness the power of AI while maintaining a secure, structured learning environment.