20 Brilliant Teacher Hacks for the Classroom

 

Welcome to the last day of August.  Do you want some great ideas for the getting back to the classroom?  Your friends at Ditch That Textbook have some for you.  To see them click here hopefully after checking out my amazon.ca ads below.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first as I will get a small commission on anything you buy even if it is something else.   Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

Vision Boards: Start the Year with a Visual Goal Setting Exercise

 

What a great idea.  Stop and think about why.  Read this article by clicking here, hopefully after checking out my amazon.ca ads below.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first as I will get a small commission on anything you buy even if it is something else.   Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

No Act of Kindness is a Wasted Effort

 

From A Principals Reflection, Eric Sheninger writes 

Never miss an opportunity to show gratitude or bestow kindness on another person. Small, selfless acts like these don’t take much effort but can totally change the trajectory of other people and maybe even yours.

Whether you are a teacher or an administrator, the little time it takes to bestow kindness on a student, colleague, or parent could be the best few minutes of their day and possibly yours.  Even though texting and email are the convenient approaches, consider these options:

Handwritten note or Post It

Card with a personal message

Food, especially sweets

A small, inexpensive gift that has meaning

Phone or video call

Drop by a classroom, office, home, or anywhere else physically

Cover a class for a teacher or colleague

To read the article click here hopefully after checking out my amazon.ca ads below.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first as I will get a small commission on anything you buy.   Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

Making an Animated Map

 

From maps mania, "mult.dev is an incredibly easy to use tool for making animated journey maps. Using the tool you can create animated maps of a journey you have made (or plan to make) and then share the created map with your friends and family.  

You can create an animated journey map with mult.dev in a matter of seconds. It is that easy to do. All you need to do is add a list of locations (in the order of your journey) and mult-dev will automatically create your animated journey map visiting each of your chosen locations in turn. If you want you can also share your mode of transport between locations and mult-dev will add an icon to each stage of your journey showing how you traveled (or plan to travel). 

When you have finished adding destinations to your map you can either download your journey as a video or share a link to your created map (although when I tried saving an animated journey map in FireFox I kept getting a video corrupted link).

mult-dev journey maps are displayed using a 3D globe. One consequence of this is that mult-dev is really only useful for animating long journeys between countries. Because of the maps' global scale it really isn't very effective in mapping short journeys. Therefore you would probably only use multi-dev to visualize and share a long journey, which encompasses trips to a number of different countries. For example a multi-dev map would be perfect for sharing the itinerary of a planned round-the-world trip."  To read the article click here hopefully after checking out my amazon.ca ads below.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first as I will get a small commission on anything you buy.   Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

5 Tips for Talking to Social Media-Addicted Teens

Talking to social-media addicted teens requires meeting them where they communicate.  To read the article click here hopefully after checking out my amazon.ca ads below.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first as I will get a small commission on anything you buy.   Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

Ignite Inspiration Anywhere with Virtual Field Trips

 

Give students a virtual passport to explore new worlds, mind-blowing innovations, and inspiring real-life stories with Discovery Education’s wide variety of new and on-demand Virtual Field Trips.  To see the webpage click here hopefully after checking out my amazon.ca ads below.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first as I will get a small commission on anything you buy.   Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History

 

This is a librarian's blog so here are some books.  Not really trying to get political here about masks and anti-vaxxers, just historical.  I do believe your personal freedom ends when it can affect my personal well being though.  If  you want out of this hell hole we are in just do the right thing.  Anyways some of use went through this just over 100 years ago so take a look.  To see the books click below.

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first as I will get a small commission on anything you buy.   Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

Why people fall for misinformation?

 

How does a fact become a misconception? Dig into the world of misinformation to see how facts can become distorted and misleading.  To see the TED Ed click here, hopefully after checking out my amazon.ca ads below.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first as I will get a small commission on anything you buy.   Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

Incoming Freshmen Are Mentally Exhausted

 

Just read this article as my daughter is just entering University in September and they are going virtual AGAIN.  It says frosh are depressed, lonely and hopeless.  As secondary teachers it might be worth reading.  If you  want to read the article click here, hopefully after checking out my amazon.ca ads below.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first as I will get a small commission on anything you buy.   Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

Could Data Science Diversify the STEM Field?

 

According to Stanford professor Jo Boaler, “Something that's really important, particularly for adolescents and high school students, is that they feel a sense of belonging inside STEM”.   Researchers have found that a sense of belonging helps students succeed, in part because feeling like you’re a part of a community of learners is a powerful motivator to do well. “And unfortunately, a lot of students do not feel that they belong inside traditional high school maths classes,” said Boaler.  But there is one subject that students, including those who are math confident, enjoy learning: data science.  To read the article click here,  hopefully after checking out my amazon.ca ads below.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first as I will get a small commission on anything you buy.   Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

The Benefits Of Using Social Videos In The Classroom

 

Jorge Cauz, CEO of the Britannica Group states, "Teachers often report feeling pressured to compete for students’ attention, as short, snappy Tweets or TikToks that often distract them from participating in classroom tasks or focusing on homework. But some of these platforms provide a great opportunity to fuel curiosity and create need-to-know moments that increase the use of reliable supplemental materials such as Britannica’s. If supplemental material is to stand a chance against 15-second videos or constantly refreshing newsfeeds, it must be just as engaging, if not more so, to instill a true love of learning and spark curiosity in children.  Fortunately, short, fun videos can be used effectively to engage students for real learning, as we have found with our successful TikTok series."  To see the TikTok link click here,  hopefully after checking out my amazon.ca ads below.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first as I will get a small commission on anything you buy.   Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

14 Questions To Ask Yourself Before The First Day Of School

 

Welcome to Friday the 13th.  Michael Linsin writes about the 14 questions you must ask yourself before getting back to school.  What pray tell are these 14 questions?  To find out click here, hopefully after checking out my amazon.ca ads below.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first as I will get a small commission on anything you buy.   Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

One simple email can nurture parent-teacher relationships

 

Cindy Shapiro writes that "At the beginning of the year, I began composing weekly emails. Usually, I send them on Fridays. I was deliberate about the tone of each email: upbeat, warm, helpful, and friendly. With that, I decided that I should always have something personal in it — something where they could get to know me better, even if I might never really know them.  I also thought about what a student or parent might actually want to read — what would make them click on it and skim through it, rather than deleting or ignoring it?  I devised a plan for what I thought would be useful".  To read her plan click here.

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first.  Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

4 Keys to Engagement in Social Studies Class

 

Ron Litz writes, "My goal is to help Social Studies teachers intentionally plan for student engagement. The term “engagement” has many meanings, but here it essentially refers to the willingness of students to commit and put forth the effort to carry out a specific task.  Through trial, reflection and adaptation I have learned these four guiding principles of engagement produce the most success."  To see the article click here.

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first.  Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

10 Tips for Going Back to School Face-to-Face

 

Our friends at Ditch That Textbook have an article with 10 tips on getting ready for back to school face-to-face.  Going to be different for some of us that have been in virtual land.  To see the article click here.

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first.  Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

Gamify Your Class Syllabus

 

Free from John Meehan.  "Wake up any tired back to school routine by turning your day one rules, procedures, and consequences housekeeping items into an all-out gamified team-vs.-team race that blends icebreakers, getting to know you activities, and MEANINGFUL face-to-face dialogue that’s guaranteed to stand out from the parade of other sign and return forms and the usual back-to-school procedural grind. If you’re like me, I want my students talking about my class at the dinner table from *the very first night* — and this is a game-changing way to start your year off strong"  This will work very well for in person teaching or virtual.  To see the resource click here.

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first.  Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transform Your Google Calendar into a Digital Planner

 

From her blog, "Time management is a constant struggle for teachers since they spend most of their days working directly with students. That leaves a small window of time for all of the other tasks and responsibilities that teachers have to juggle, including planning and designing lessons. "  In this guest blog by Amy Tobener-Tally walks you through how to use your Google calendar as a digital planner or day book.  To see the article click here.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first.  Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

5 Ways to Build Strong Learning Relations

 In Eric Shenninger says "No one goes into the education profession for accolades or to make big bucks, although I wish the latter were a reality.  The choice one makes to teach and lead is almost always grounded in the innate desire to make a positive difference in a child's life.  On some days, this might seem like an impossible task as a myriad of challenges makes it difficult. While these may vary, the result can lead to questioning the chosen career path. However, when the dust settles, educators can take solace in the fact that the actions they do take to help kids learn do make a difference in both the short and long terms. "  In his book Disruptive Thinking In Our Classrooms he highlights 5 areas that make a difference.  To see his website click here.   

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first.  Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

9 Teaching Books

 

Ross Morrison McGill has selected that he has been reading throughout the pandemic to keep his mojo up.  You can see the selection by clicking here.

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first.  Thanks.  This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

Libraries as Community Anchors - mini conference

 

This mini conference is FREE.  That is a good price.  From Steve Hargadon's website, "Libraries are increasingly addressing challenges associated with digital equity, access, and inclusion, as well as issues of security and privacy."  If you would like more information about this conference click here.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first.  Thanks.

This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.

Learning strategies for the new normal

 

Chloe Baird states in her article in informED, "The COVID-19 pandemic taught us, if nothing else, that things are not as impossible as they seem. Teachers found ways to convert their lessons into an online format. Students grew used to learning online. While the ride has been far from smooth, and the rapid transition for many physical classrooms into an online environment has been difficult, the Australian education system was able to adapt and pivot in record time."  To read the full article click here.  

If you are Canadian and making any amazon.ca purchase please click on my links below first.  Thanks.

This post may contain affiliate links that earns me  a commission at no extra cost to you.