The Great Virtual Teacher Adventure!

Spoiler Alert: I am a talker... and thus a writer.  You're not a big reader... d on't worry.  I've been teaching 22 years, I got you and your different learning styles (no matter how debunked those are, lol).   If you prefer visuals, scroll down to the bottom for video directions!  Okay, so I know AI is the educational buzzword of the moment.  I also know that some of you probably want to run from this post screaming at the very mention of the term; but don't.  I'm not going to overwhelm or scare you.  I promise. Instead, what I'd like to do is show you in one teeny, tiny way, how AI can make your teacher life so much easier.  Now, I'm not saying fire up ChatGPT for your next lesson; this is a baby step, folks. You're going to love this!  Promise!   So let's get down to it. Last month I asked that you go ahead and set up your schoolytics account so that you were ready to roll with me this month.  I know.  Teaching is ...

Is your inbox cluttered with emails you haven't had the time to read?  Do you dread opening your inbox because the amount of mail is overwhelming and stressful?  Can you even fathom achieving "Inbox Zero" - when your inbox is completely empty, and your mail is dealt with as soon as it comes in? Watch this video for a couple of quick and easy tips for organizing your inbox and preventing it from getting overloaded on a regular basis.  Directions for creating an email filter: Create a label for the person you are creating a filter for. Click on “More.” Click on “Manage labels.” Click on “Filters and Blocked Addresses.” Click on “Create a new filter.” “From:” Type in the email of the person you are creating the filter for. Click on “Create filter.” (middle bottom) Choose “Skip the Inbox (Archive it).” Choose “Apply the label: Choose label dropdown.” Choose “Also apply filter to _ matching conversations.” Click on “Create filter.”

 Nearpod is a very engaging tool that I love my students to use for every subject area and every topic!! It's always an extension of our lesson, and sometimes it serves as an introduction. Nearpod provides real-time insights into student understanding through interactive lessons, videos, and gamification (all in one single platform). Students can work in several formats: live participation, student-paced, and front of the class support blending learning across any and all learning environments. They're at least 22,000 plus premade standards-aligned lessons, videos, and activities. I also make Nearpods to accentuate specific lessons or novels that I teach more closely. At times, when I want to administer a quick formative assessment; I will change the Google Slides to a Nearpod and the students aren't even aware that their testing. It definitely lowers their testing anxiety when I do this! Try Nearpod it's a game changer for teachers and students! 

  Desmos- Looking for a fun way to practice vocabulary in math? Try Desmos Polygraph activities. This is a "partner guessing game, designed to foster the pleasure and power of words, and develop informal language into formal vocabulary.” Click on the link for an example of how it works!