AI in Education: Crucial Conversations (part 3) In a previous post, we highlighted 5 innovative and thoughtful ways educators are using AI-generative technologies to increase student engagement and critical thinking. If you missed it, click here! Once we have helped students understand the essentials of these applications, educators can incorporate new technologies in classrooms…
Words Matter! Vocabulary Instruction that Sticks “Mom! My brother knocked over my magnatiles and that’s not constructive!” My four year old cries at me from her room. After mitigating the disaster that is inevitable between siblings, especially when one is four and the other not quite 2 years old, I reflected with pride on…
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year” the song declares triumphantly through speakers, yet here I am, probably like you with a long list of to-do’s not yet completed feeling more pressure than purpose as the year rapidly comes to a close. The wonder of this season and the wonder of the school…
AI-generative tools have been both a source of inspiration and a source of headaches for educators. The concern over cheating using bots like ChatGPT is real. However, there are colleagues of ours who are innovating ways to incorporate these technologies into their existing curriculum that still demand students to think critically and analytically. Here…
What Matters Right Now: You and your students are back in school. Routines are being rehearsed. Lessons are lively as kids continue to acclimate to the classroom culture. The initial burst of energy from the first few days may be giving way to questions: Are my students experiencing a sense of belonging in…
Robots are taking over?! It seems like the stuff in a Will Smith movie, but here we are facing very real implications of artificial intelligence in every aspect of our life, from the self check out at the grocery store to chatbot that helps when we are trying to get in touch with our cell…
Preparing your Hearts, Minds & Classrooms for Back to School By Rebecca Ward, Project Manager & Staff Developer (This blog was originally posted in August 2021, but we believe this message is just as timely for this year!) Chirp, chirp, chirp. The cicadas outside my window are singing their summer song, reminding me that this…
Have you noticed all of the Back to School advertising and displays in your local store? While we are still in the middle of a hot summer, we are turning our thoughts towards the fall and the launch of school. With so many competing narratives in literacy instruction, we wanted to share a few messages…
We all want our students to make meaningful growth in their reading and writing. But too often we get stuck with supporting our students and our feedback is generic rather than specific. By using a student facing tool like a microprogression we can show our students exactly what we hope they will apply in their…
Keep Collaborating: Looking at student work to support teacher teams in their writing instruction While the pandemic created a lot of challenges for our teaching and learning, one opportunity that came out of the work was the urgency for teachers to collaborate. We heard more than ever that teachers were planning and working together…