Test Prep Reimagined: Brain-Based Strategies That Improve Student Performance

Sometimes, the challenge of taking a high-stakes test is less about the content itself and more about a student’s ability to access the content and manage the cognitive demands while doing so. Today, we will explore three research-supported strategies that help students strengthen and organize their long-term memory during test preparation and focus their limited … read more »

Teacher Appreciation Week: Reclaiming Time for What Matters Most

Teacher Appreciation Week is a chance to recognize the work you do every day. You plan, adjust, support, and respond—often with limited time and increasing demands. We know that true appreciation is more than a card in a mailbox; it’s about having the resources and the mental space to do what you love most: teaching. … read more »

AI Literacy Starts Here: Practical Classroom Approaches for Middle School

Middle school students are shifting from passive consumers of technology to active, engaged digital citizens. They’re building their perspectives, experimenting with social media, and discovering the power of their voices. Teaching AI literacy means more than showing them how to write prompts — it means demystifying the technology and pulling back the curtain so students … read more »

Fairy Tales, Fables, and Myths, Oh My!

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”—Albert Einstein February is full of love, pride, historical connection, celebration, and the annual observation of a precognitive weather-forecasting rodent—but it’s also the birth month of a storytelling legend. Whilem Carl … read more »

Building Daily Routines That Make Executive Function Skills Stick

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we introduced and defined core executive function (EF) skills and highlighted Chrome browser tools that support students in developing these skills. We are now ready to focus on the critical step of implementation. We’ve established that executive function skills are teachable – not fixed traits; the … read more »

Understanding Executive Functioning Skills: Your Students’ Brain Command Center 

Imagine a teacher starts a lesson with this prompt: You have 10 minutes for your warm-up. The instructions are in Google Classroom. You’re going to open the link to the primary source article, read the first two sections, and then, in a new Google Doc, please write a three-sentence summary of the author’s main argument. … read more »

History Comes Alive: Using AI and Thinking Routines to Build Student Empathy

I’ve been reflecting on our OK2Ask session about Thinking Routines and SEL skills. Specifically, with increasing student needs around social-emotional learning, I’ve been thinking about how we can make these routines even more powerful in our classrooms when it comes to learning history. I love using thinking routines because they serve multiple purposes in the … read more »

AI-Powered Interactive Activity Creation with Canva Code

You probably already know that Canva (reviewed here) can create stunning visuals in minutes, but what if it could also generate interactive activities without you having to learn how to code? It’s now possible with their AI code generator, Canva Code.  Canva Code makes it easy to transform your content into custom games, activities, and … read more »

What’s New (and Awesome) in AI for the Classroom

Educators using digital resources for classroom needs know that AI continues to evolve in exciting and unexpected ways. As we’ve passed the halfway point of 2025, it’s time to examine some of the latest and updated AI resources available. Interestingly, some longtime favorites have steadily and quietly transformed⁠–⁠adding powerful new features that deserve a fresh … read more »

Magnifying Metacognition: Reclaiming the “Messy Middle” in Math Instruction

In today’s fast-paced age of technology, students often prioritize finding immediate answers rather than focusing on thinking to grow their understanding. With ever-growing access to AI, students can turn to chatbots as personal assistants who can even give them the “work” their teacher requested to support their answers. But math teachers will tell you that … read more »