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The Stay-at-Home Gratitude Scavenger Hunt by Laura McDonell
Listen Re-Discovering the Blessings that Surround Us “No duty is more urgent than giving thanks.” (James Allen) Being grateful is not automatic. Practicing gratitude is one of the quickest ways to lift your spirits and lift the spirits of people around you. How do People Respond? When asked what they...
Blended Learning in the Secondary Classroom
Listen Secondary teachers have been experimenting with blended learning for a while now. “Flipped Classroom” has definitely been on buzzword lists for several years, but for most teachers, it is just another experimental, trendy practice that will hopefully go away soon like so many other fads that have come through...
Using Epic! for Remote Elementary Reading
Listen Many of us already use Epic! with our students, but we went behind the scenes to see if there were any new or interesting parts of the site that aren’t commonly known amongst educators. If you’ve used it, you probably already know all the most exciting aspects, like the...
Time Management for Online Classes
Listen It’s difficult to manage new technology while you’re also trying to manage your class and teach content. In order to make it easier, create an outline template that you can follow to stay on track. 45-Minute Lesson Example Greet and Hello, -00:10 to 00:00 If it’s possible, open the...
Remote Teaching Idea #5: Professional Development with Movies
Listen “Cal-COO-lus? What is Cal-COO-lus?” I’m pretty sure that I watched Stand and Deliver every year in at least one class throughout high school and possibly even junior high. By the time I became a teacher, it was Freedom Writers that we kept showing our students. And the teachers not...
Helping Parents Teach Their Children
Listen Parents are struggling. They are not okay right now. They may be reaching out to you for help, and you may be thinking to yourself, “I didn’t sign up to teach parents how to teach.” However, this is where we’re at. Parents have been tasked with becoming their child’s...
Resource Roundup: Engaging Activities for Online Ed
Listen Things are stressful right now. That’s probably an understatement, but it’s a statement in the right direction. It’s also really difficult to get some of our students to show up for online education and subsequently keep them engaged. One of the most requested discussion focuses on many of the...
Remote Learning Idea #4: Teaching with Movies
Listen Alright class, today we are going to study the historical and cultural context of England during the Neoclassical Period which spanned from roughly 1600 to wah-waah wah-waah wah-waah-waah-waaaaaaaaaaaaah... This is bad enough during a “normal” school year (whatever that means) in a traditional classroom. It can be so frustrating...
Equipment and Setup Recommendations for Online Teaching
Listen There’s a lot of advice out there for teachers who’ve recently had to start teaching online. You can find a lot of information about platforms, how to upload work, and ways to get started. We wanted to offer some advice that we weren’t finding in other places that established...
5 Pro Tips for Working From Home
Listen Many teachers have suddenly found themselves teaching from the most unexpected place: home. Although you may have lots of new colleagues (your family members and pets), access to a refrigerator and pantry, and plenty of comfortable places to work from, the challenge to adjust to working in that environment...
Remote Learning Idea #2: Using Quotes to Inspire and Guide Writing
Listen This is the second in our series that is attempting to provide ideas to use for remote learning during the current pandemic and beyond. These are simple activities that can be used in a variety of ways, and our goal is to provide everything you need to take and...
Remote Learning Idea #1: Novel Studies for Secondary Students
Listen For most of us, the notion of remote learning is a totally foreign experience, but many of the things we have been doing in class can be translated to fit into this new platform. The reality is that not all parents are properly equipped to teach heavy content, and...