One Word to Rule Them All - Welcome to 2024 Student Activity

"History repeats itself, and that's one of the things that's wrong with history." - Clarence Darrow

Success and failure should never be an endpoint. The best learning happens when we build on what we know and reflect on what we need to know better. I always like to welcome my students back after the holiday break with a bit of reflection on the year that was. I also think it is important to revisit successes and failures to help reset goals for the new year. 

A few years ago, I read a post about most New Year's resolutions failing before we flip the calendars to February. For this reason, I decided to scrap the long list of resolutions I won’t remember a few weeks from now anyway! The focus is now on choosing just one word as a foundation for the new year.

One word you can focus on every day, all year long… One word that sums up who you want to be or how you want to live. It will take intentionality and commitment, but if you let it, your one word will shape not only your year, but also you. It will become the compass that directs your decisions and guides your steps. (OneWord365)

Today I wanted to share an activity template designed to help students set goals for the 2024 year with a focus on "one word". This activity is inspired by Mike Ashcraft's and Rachel Olsen's book My One Word: Change Your Life With Just One Word. 

Pear Deck - Halloween Puzzles and More

 

Have some fun this Halloween with some riddles, rebus puzzles, trivia, drawing challenges, and more using a free Google Slides Pear Deck Template. 

Halloween Puzzles and More (Pear Deck Google Slides Template)

(Answers to puzzles can be found in the slide notes.)

Special thanks to Pear Deck who got me started with this template and Liz Cowan for sharing some great activities on Twitter.

You can chop this into smaller pieces or also use it without the Pear Deck questions as a class presentation/discussion. Please feel free to copy/modify if this is something your students might enjoy!

If you have a Haloween resource or idea for the deck, please drop it in the comments below. #HappyLearning 

Get in the Game - Formative Assessments and Practice with Giant Steps by Pear Deck

“It's the not the Destination, It's the journey.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have been doing my best to convince my students that the process of learning matters more than the final product. The idea is that they should focus more on exploring and questioning than getting to the finish line so they just turn something in and be done.

It is not always easy to slow them down, but one thing I've learned is that frequent formative assessments are a great way to slow down and check our learning. I use a variety of formative assessment tools to get this accomplished.

Today I wanted to share a new favorite, Giant Steps by Pear Deck 

Pear Deck Partners and The Pear Deck Orchard

Spring is a great time to learn & explore something new! April 17th, 2023

If you’ve followed my blog over the last several years, you might remember that I occasionally create challenges for myself to explore, learn, and share what I discover. Last December, I challenged myself to explore 24 Days of Teaching and Learning Resources.

My challenge for April is to explore something new each day and share what I discover. Hopefully, I won't let you or myself down! (April Challenge Update Doc)

I've used Pear Deck for quite a few years, but I've primarily used or created my own slide decks. Today I am exploring the Pear Deck Content Orchard and some of the ready-to-use lessons supported by some amazing partners including, NASA, Boston Museum of Science, Adobe, Newsela, Canva, PBS Newshour Classroom, and more.

Earth Day 2023 Resources, Activities, and Ideas

 

Every day should be Earth Day, but the planet does get one special day to celebrate our fantastic planet every year. April 22nd is the day that we can hope that everyone is celebrating our incredible world. 

Today I wanted to share some resources my PLN has shared to engage students in explorations connected to Planet Earth and the Environment.

Earth Day 2023 - Exploring Our Planet Student Activity

I recently shared a collection of resources connected to Earth Day and I promised that I would share any lessons or ideas I created connected to the resources.

For one of my classes, I am planning to use Pear Deck and Google Slides to facilitate a student-centered HyperDoc connected to Earth Day. For another class, I am going to use one of the Google Applied Digital Skills Earth Day Activities.

Exploring Educational Badges and Certifications for Teachers

Refresh and renew. Spring is a great time to learn & explore something new!

April 6th, 2023

If you’ve followed my blog over the last several years, you might remember that I occasionally create challenges for myself to explore, learn, and share what I discover. Last December, I challenged myself to explore 24 Days of Teaching and Learning Resources. 

My challenge for April is to explore something new each day and share what I discover. Hopefully, I won't let you or myself down!

Today I am exploring the Learning Technology Center Website and the collection of Educational Badges and Certificates on the site. I explored many of these certifications in the past, but I am quickly learning that I need to up my game.

Student Engagement - Asking Questions and Being Curious About Images

I am always challenging my students to ask better questions and to be curious enough to explore new ideas. Unfortunately, this is not a skill many are able to or willing to practice without my constant encouragement. I do my best to always try to build the opportunity for students to ask in most of our daily activities.

Today I wanted to share one of our favorite activities connected to questions, curiosity, and visuals. "What's Going on with this Image?

Retro Report - Documentaries Connecting the Past and the Present

Retro Report has produced more than 250 short documentaries and video series in partnership with The New York Times, PBS, the New Yorker, VICE, Scientific American, NBC News, Politico, Time, The Guardian, Univision, and others.

Today I wanted to share another literacy resource connected to past and present events, Retro Reports.

Engaging Students in Reading and Literacy with Newsela

When it comes to literacy skills, students these days have a lot of potential for learning and growth. With the advent of technology, our students are more engaged than ever before in reading and writing activities that can help them improve their literacy levels. Whether they’re using text on the table, online sources, or interactive reading programs within the classroom, there’s plenty of opportunity to practice and hone their skills with guidance from teachers and peers. With a combination of quality instruction, stimulating lessons, and ample practice opportunities, students now have more tools then ever to become confident readers and writers.

Today I wanted to share Newsela. Newsela is an online news and literacy platform that features articles for a range of topics and subject areas.

Pear Deck Orchard - Partnerships to Support Student Engagement

If you've explored Pear Deck as a resource, you know that it is a great resource to engage students in interactive lectures and activities. You can take any existing presentation and use the Pear Deck features to increase student engagement as you gather formative feedback. 

Did you know that Pear Deck also has partnered partnered with Newsela, PBS NewsHour, ThinkCERCA, Canva, and more organizations to create and share a collection of templates, quick-start activities, and ready-to-teach lessons?

Adobe Express - Exploring Creative Lessons, Ideas, and Activities

 

Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark) has been one of my favorite resources to help my students engage in creating. We've used graphics, videos, and pages multiple times the last several years to engage in creating as part of our learning experience. 

This post will start with a brief overview of Adobe Express features. The rest of the post will focus on the creative resources connected to the Adobe Education Exchange, a great place to be inspired. 

Even if you choose not to or are unable to use the platform, there are some great ideas shared in the Adobe Education Exchange to get students creating as they learn with any resource. 

Adobe Express is free for teachers and students and this page has the details needed to get started, Adobe Express for Education. There is also a free plan for non- educational accounts and several paid options. 

Using Google Slides to Create Stunning Images for Teaching and Learning

Created with Google Slides and Unsplash Photo Add-on.

I am always looking for quick and easy ways to create visuals for teaching, learning, and sharing. I also believe the more my students create the more learning sticks. 

Did you know that you can create a graphic using Google Slides and then download it as a high-quality image? Sometimes the simplest tool is the best. 

24 Days of Teaching and Learning Resources to Explore in 2023

 

Once upon a time, there was a teacher and learner who wanted to explore and share resources with his PLN. He decided to try an advent-style 24 days of teaching and learning in 2022. Starting on December 1st, I will add a new resource link on the calendar for each day.

24 Days of Teaching and Learning Resources - December 2022

I will be sharing a lot of tools, but where I can I will also focus on the ideas that lessons that work with or without the resource. I use most of the resources with my students, but some are more for my growth as a teacher and a learner. 

Bonus: I will also update this post with additional winter/holiday-themed resources that I discover as learn with my PLN. 

I will also update a list at the end of this post for each day. 

Brain Breaks and Bell Ringers - Engage Students with Local Trivia and More

I have always been a proponent of the power of brain breaks for students. These can be connected to a curricular area or just plain fun. Brain breaks should be part of every teacher and student's toolbox. 

One of my favorite brain-break ideas is to share and explore local trivia. Today I wanted to share a few trivia resources and a Midwest Trivia Set created with Gimkit. I am also a big fan of using trivia as a bell ringer question posted in Google Classroom or in a Slide Deck. 

Planners, Calendars, and Agenda Templates for the 2022 - 23 School Year

Many educators have upped their digital agenda game over the last few years. I personally keep a general unit overview in a Google Doc. Daily, I display an agenda slide at the start and end of class. I also use Google Classroom to post assignments and due dates. 

Today I wanted to share some agenda resources that we can use to continue to support students as we get ready to head back to our classrooms with our students in 2022. 

Flashcard Engagement with Digital Flashcard Creation Tools

How do you engage students in exploring concepts and vocabulary?

When you need to focus on learning and esploring vocabulary, one of the best methods for many learners is to create and explore a set of flashcards. These flashcards can be created on paper, digitally, or sometimes even purchased.

Today I wanted to share some digital resources to help create everyone create and engage in learning with flashcards.

Earth Day 2022 - Exploring Our Planet Student Activity

Last week I shared a collection of resources connected to Earth Day and I promised that I would share any lessons or ideas I created connected the resources.

For one of my classes, I am planning to use Pear Deck and Google Slides to facilitate a student centered HyperDoc connected to Earth Day. For another class, I am going to use one of the Google Applied Digital Skills Earth Day Activities.

Earth Day Resources, Activities, and Lessons for Classrooms

Every day should be Earth Day, but we do get one special day to celebrate our amazing planet every year. April 22nd is the day that we can believe that everyone in the world is celebrating our incredible world. 

Today I wanted to share some resources my PLN has shared to engage students in explorations connected to Planet Earth and the Environment. 

My Top EdTech Tools to Engage Students in 2022 and Beyond

Sometimes great moments of learning happen in unexpected ways. In my classroom, this often happens when my students are using a favorite or new EdTech resource to explore and create as part of the learning process. 

I've been seeing quite a few #EdTech Top Ten Lists on Twitter recently and I realized it's been a while since I thought about the resources we use most often now that we are back together. Today I wanted to share some of our favorite tools that help my students and me grow as learners.