Check out these great blog posts from last week:
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Dear Governor Murphy: A Day in My Classroom | by Sarah Gross | Jul, 2020 | Medium
Last week I wrote to you about the many concerns NJ teachers have when it comes to reopening schools. I have not heard from you, but I have heard from hundreds of teachers and parents who share my concerns.
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How to Create a Fantasy Map of Your Own Fictional World
Follow along with today’s Photoshop tutorial to create your own fantasy world, just like the fictional story settings of Neverland, Middle-Earth or Westeros.
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Explore 5,300 datapoints in the U.S. collected by hundreds of researchers. (Methodology) TOGGLE the Legend to reveal how each technology is spreading.
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Hit the ground running. Send a message to your new class about what’s expected right from the get-go.
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A conversation with Katie Martin | @mcleod | Dangerously Irrelevant
As always, Katie Martin has been doing a lot of wonderful work this summer around deeper learning and student engagement. I thought it might be fun for the two of us to just get together and chat. I tweeted an invitation to her and she kindly took m…
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A Flipped Learning Flow for Blended or Online Classes |
As teachers prepare for a new school year, many are brushing up on their video production skills. Teachers know there will be times when they will need to lean on videos to allow students to access information asynchronously. Video has several benef…
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Why Rebranding Teachers Will Save Lives by Christine Vaccaro — Badass Teachers
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We can be both devoted to our students, and not want to die.
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The idea of routine is fantasy; all it will take is a positive Covid case to throw the tenuous hybrid arrangements into chaos.
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“We need schools as daycare to return to work.”
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Education is not customer service.
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We all know being back in our classrooms is better for students, educationally and psychologically. But the majority of us are fully aware of the unstable, unsafe and unfeasible reality this is, and how its inevitable inconsistency would actually do more harm than good.
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7 ways video games fulfill student needs in education – Classcraft Blog
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Free Technology for Teachers: Three Time-saving G Suite Features for Teachers
This afternoon I hosted a webinar in which I shared some time-saving tips for teachers using G Suite for Education. I shared them in the context of talking about providing feedback to students as quickly as possible in asynchronous online learning e…
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Today, Google unveiled “It’s A Wonderful World,” a Google Arts and Culture selection of the most iconic places to visit around the world. You can read more about it here.
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The federal moratorium on eviction expires today (see A federal eviction moratorium ends this week, putting 12 million tenants at risk). California’s state moratorium ends in September (see Coronavirus CA: Gov. Newsom extends state eviction moratori…
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Free Technology for Teachers: 5 Alternatives to Traditional Book Report Projects
I’ve been revisiting some of my favorite books this summer. Doing that has reminded me of some ideas that I’ve shared in the past and also sparked some new ideas. One of those ideas is using multimedia creation tools to create alternatives to tradit…
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4 Shifts Video Series – Overview | @mcleod
The 4 Shifts Video Series is for teachers, instructional coaches, technology integrationists, principals, and other instructional leaders who want to build their capacity to move learning and teaching toward deeper learning, greater student agency, …
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when-it-comes-to-screens-kids-need-a-guide-not-a-disciplinarian
There’s an experiment Sonia Livingstone had always dreamed of doing. She’s a social psychologist at the London School of Economics who researches children and media. And her dream experiment was this: “Let’s turn off the outside world and see how it…
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Schools Beat Earlier Plagues With Outdoor Classes. We Should, Too. – The New York Times
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How the Never Trumpers Got into Trump’s Head | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Several groups of Never Trumpers have created a media campaign that has gotten under Trump’s skin. He responds to them on Twitter, enlarging their audience.
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Wooclap – An interactive platform that makes learning awesome
Want to participate in an event? The enthusiasm generated by Wooclap among teachers is exceptional; the interface is very intuitive and does not require any special training.
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A couple months ago posts like this one helped make virtual classrooms all the rage. Teachers in my district discovered these, loved them, but have also asked for ways to share the final result with students. I’ll share my suggestions below.
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Free Technology for Teachers: Dave Grohl Comes to the Defense of Teachers
On the surface Dave Grohl, the drummer for Nirvana and front man of Foo Fighters, doesn’t seem like the celebrity who would come to the defense of teachers amid controversy over school re-opening plans.
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Why Your Students Forgot Everything On Your PowerPoint Slides | EdSurge News
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how-designing-accessible-curriculum-for-all-can-help-make-online-learning-more-equitable
As the dust settles from emergency distance learning, schools now have the summer to reckon with what worked and what must change as they grapple with the uncertainty of the next academic year.
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Free Technology for Teachers: Convert Handwritten Notes Into Google Documents
This week my Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week newsletter was about tools for digitizing physical notes. There are tools like CamScanner and Office Lens specifically made for that task. There are also tools that have the “hidden” capability to digit…
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Teacher: This Is How I Will Teach when School Reopens | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Mamie Krupczak Allegretti teaches French. She described how her teaching will change when school reopens during the pandemic.
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Leonie Haimson: Obstacles to a Safe Reopening | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters, wrote an open letter about the steps required before schools can begin to reopen.
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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?
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It’s not often that you get the chance to meet and chat with any actual, real life hero. To make sure I didn’t miss my opportunity, I camped out on the floor right by the exit giving me a better chance to grab a spot at the front of the line.
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50 back to school activities for the remote learning classroom – Ditch That Textbook
It’s back to school time again and this year looks NOTHING like we have ever seen before. As summer comes to a close teachers are preparing for that big first day of school. Only this year, for many of us, it’s going to be in a virtual classroom.
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Covid school closures: what happens in the fall? – Vox
The shift to remote learning this spring in response to the coronavirus pandemic was a disaster for many students and families — so much so that in recent weeks, many public health experts have called for schools to reopen if possible.
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Last month, I wrote an article pushing for schools to use the AM/PM model. Based on what I knew at the time, and how I hoped the cases would go, it seemed like the best option. Back then, things were opening in my state of California, including gyms…
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NEW: Add Forms and Jams to Google Classroom – Teacher Tech
Google has fixed the glitch where when you try to add a Google Form to a Google Classroom assignment there was no filter option for Google Forms. Not only have they added Google Forms to the filter, you can now easily add your Jams from Jamboard.
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Editor’s Note: Yesterday, Kara Synhorst wrote a guest post titled GUEST POST TUTORIAL: CONNECTING GOOGLE CLASSROOM TO YOUR CALENDAR SO STUDENTS CAN MAKE APPOINTMENTS. Here, today, she presents Part Two, where she discusses ways to use the Google Cla…
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Distance Learning Movement and Fun with Brain Breaks and Gifs – Teacher Reboot Camp
Like many teachers, I’ve been busy planning for the upcoming school year. I want to make sure that the virtual learning is engaging and effective and all about connections and wellness.
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The Power of Making Thinking Visible Online | Mike Kaechele
This month I have had the pleasure of participating in a virtual book club hosted by Myla Lee and Telannia Norfar. They did a great job modeling some of the routines in the book The Power of Making Thinking Visible by Ron Ritchhart and Mark Church.
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Design for high engagement this fall | @mcleod | Dangerously Irrelevant
One of the biggest challenges of ‘remote learning’ over the past few months has been that most of the motivators been pared away. For many students, all that has been left is the uninspiring learning. Little to no interaction with classmates. Little…
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Rethinking Pre-assessment: A Pathway to Supporting Learning in the Fall | All Things Assessment
As we brace for the uncertainties of the fall, it will be important to be as prepared as possible—both for our sanity and our ultimate success. We must adopt a learning stance to find our way through the COVID-19 upheaval. We must find answers to th…
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Editor’s note: This is a guest post by my superteacher colleague Kara Synhorst. I’m adding it to THE BEST ONLINE TOOLS FOR REMOTE TEACHING – SHARE YOUR OWN. Kara Synhorst teaches IB English and Theory of Knowledge at Luther Burbank High School in S…
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TypeTastic! – Take Your Student into Typing Adventure!
Are you ready to set your students into a thrilling typing adventure? Look no further, since TypeTastic! will get their typing going with a series of fun and engaging games.
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how-giving-all-stakeholders-a-voice-can-improve-school-reopening-plans
The new school year is around the corner, but many families and educators remain in the dark about what back-to-school will look like. Leaders have no playbook to contend with a developing pandemic that is as unprecedented as it is unpredictable.
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With the decision to have most California schools going to full time distancing learning in the fall, we have received the gift of clarity.
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Dear Governor Murphy: A Letter About NJ Schools Reopening | by Sarah Gross | Jul, 2020 | Medium
I am dismayed to learn that many New Jersey school districts plan to open at full capacity in September. A recently released report meant for federal public health response teams said fully reopening schools and universities remained the “highest ri…
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LOOPY: a tool for thinking in systems
play with simulations It’s the ancient, time-honored way of learning: messing around and seeing what happens. Play with simulations to ask “what if” questions, and get an intuition for how the system works! programming by drawing Raw code is too ina…
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These Are Some of the Best Citizen Science Projects You Can Join With Just Your Phone or Laptop
Maybe you’ve never noticed, because they don’t get a lot of hype but there are hundreds and hundreds of citizen science projects that you can get involved in. These projects range from tagging space observatory photos to transcribing documents that …
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Maintaining Connections, Reducing Anxiety While School Is Closed – Educational Leadership
Teachers can play a huge role in helping students with anxiety or trauma histories feel safe right now—even from a distance. Seemingly overnight, the world changed. Teachers and school leaders have had to revamp their entire instructional systems wi…
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Josh Bell is a New York City public schools parent. He wrote this article for the New York Daily News. The article reminded me that New York City public school officials in the early 20th century conducted outdoor classes for students with tuberculo…
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Teachers: Why Not Shift to Outdoor Learning? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
A group of New York City teachers argue in The New York Daily News that the best way to restart the schools, especially for young children, is to hold classes outdoors. They do not address the problems of rain and freezing weather.
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A Principal’s Reflections: Tracking COVID Cases to Better Safeguard Students and Educators
Safety is at the top of the minds of all educational stakeholders, especially teachers and parents. News outlets are flooding all channels with advice on what schools should and should not do.
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Online School Registration | Student Health Forms | ZippSlip
Hi! First thing to know about ZippSlip? It’s 100% free to schools and families! And, we’ve made using ZippSlip as simple as our price. Watch the board for the whole story.
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A Few Creative Ways to Use Student Blogs | Cult of Pedagogy
When you hear the word “blog,” what do you think of? When blogs first started showing up on the internet, most were basically diaries, individual people’s personal musings on life.
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And Then You Say We Failed… – Pernille Ripp
Go on any social media platform and inevitably you see the discussions cropping up about how the teaching during the shutdown was not enough. How educators failed their students. How kids are now so far behind. How removing grades meant that kids di…
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Preparing for Fall 2020: Blended and Online Learning |
2020-2021 promises to be an unpredictable school year. Most of the teachers I know, including my husband and most of my friends, are not sure whether they will be returning to school on a hybrid schedule or teaching entirely online. That is making i…
