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Technology and Education in the 21st Century By Debbie Thoreson
Listen As a teacher, I have often thought, “Seriously, why does this student think I’ll believe this is hard for him?” After all, I begin with the same historical texts as I have for nearly a decade; yet I notice each year there are more...
Reformation: Embracing the Outdoors
Listen In this article, we’ll take a step away from our eleven leaders and reach a bit further out, because there are many schools around the world who have used the opportunity the pandemic has provided to be outdoors more. Pre-pandemic, many schools and districts in the U.S. added more...
Part 1: Reformation: Indoor Learning Environments
Listen We thought we were breaking boundaries with flexible seating. The reality is, though, we’re probably still doing everything the same. The only difference is just that we’ve offered our students “fun” chairs. Reforming education is no more about offering the same old, tired content to kids sitting on bouncy...
Answering "Why" in Professional Development
Listen Years ago, I was in a professional development meeting that tackled the topic of adding “essential questions” to each of our planned lessons. There was instruction on the language we should use, the structure of the questions themselves, and how to tie each question to state standards. Yet I...
Education Podcasts, Part 2: What We Have Learned from Them
Listen We wanted to share some of what we have learned recently from the education podcasts we have been listening to. Principal Center Radio Douglas Fisher - The Distance Learning Playbook (Jul 31) Douglas Fisher’s has some great, practical tips on distance learning! He suggests that teachers should integrate synchronous...
Your Most Marketable Skills, Part 1
Listen Communication, Instruction, and Complex Thinking Skills Educators in some parts of the U.S. have started seeing the economic repercussions of the pandemic. Some places have started to shed staff as budgets crumble and belts tighten.In other places, teachers are finding returning to teaching in the fall in either virtual...
How Do I Do a Science Lab Virtually?
Listen Doing a lab with a room full of kids can be unnerving in the best of conditions, whether they are 6, 12, or 16. You have balance explicit directions, chemicals, and scalpels with immaturity, ADHD, and power struggles (and that may just be your PLC). How in the world...
Teaching Culturally Responsive Literature: Part 3, Hispanic/Latinx Literature
Listen Students of Latin heritage cannot be placed into a box, though they are often stereotyped. While there are 20 countries in Central and South America, many teachers just assume that Hispanic students are of Mexican descent. Trouble with the English language is often quite incorrectly associated with an...
Teaching Culturally Responsive Literature: Part 2, African American Literature
Listen Many teachers and administrators are grappling with how to address the social concerns that the recent events in our country have brought up. The truth is that the protests and riots have only brought to the forefront issues that our students carry with them into our classrooms every day. ...
Adapted Physical Education
Listen For many, the Life Skills hallway on a school campus is a place of joy. Administrators can be found high-fiving and dancing with the students as a reprieve from their burdensome load. General education students often enjoy volunteering and assisting. Visitors can be greeted by peels of laughter and...
Be the Change
Listen If you’ve ever walked into a break room at lunchtime, you know that all of the educational experts are sitting in that room talking about the problems and solutions of day-to-day classroom life. And yet, it seems as though the experts are never the people making the decisions! Teachers...
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students - In the General Education Classroom
Listen Most students who are born with serious hearing impairments are identified as infants or when they are very young. By the time they enter the general education classroom, they’ve got an I.E.P with accommodations., assistance as needed, and a support system in place. However, if you’re teaching a student...