Creating Responsible Digital Citizens Through Digital Source Evaluation

Digital citizenship has come into greater focus for educators over the years as misinformation has begun to dominate social media news feeds. According to a 2024 fact sheet from Pew Research Center, more than 54% of American adults receive their news from social media outlets, and we know this number is much higher for younger … read more »

The Power of Parent Partnership in Virtual Learning

Interest in virtual school settings grew exponentially due to the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to influence educational models today. Recent statistics indicate that more than 562,659 students were enrolled in virtual schools in the United States during the 2022-2023 school year. This viable learning option offers unique opportunities, such as greater flexibility to address the specific needs … 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 »

Top Tips for Reimagining Virtual Learning Days 

Whether planned or unexpected, virtual learning days often fill teachers with anxiety or dread. At the same time, students may discount virtual learning and not view it as a “real” school day. But if we can think of virtual days as opportunities, they have tremendous potential to offer powerful learning experiences for students. The key … read more »

Differentiate Your Iditarod Lessons with These Free AI Tools

The Iditarod, known as the Last Great Race, is an annual reconstruction of the 1925 sled dog relay to get diphtheria medicine from Nenana, Alaska, to Nome during hazardous blizzard conditions. It took five and a half days for twenty teams and approximately 150 dogs to travel 674 miles with the valuable package containing diphtheria … read more »

Boost Critical Thinking This Presidents Day with 10 Dynamic Thinking Routines

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Project Zero, part of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, started publishing innovative Thinking Routines designed to enhance and expand critical thinking skills for students of all ages. These powerful routines have evolved into ten categories, such as Core Thinking Routines and Global Thinking activities, promoting understanding from … read more »

Building Skills, Exploring Careers: Edtech Resources for CTE Month

February is Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month®, a celebration of the importance of CTE for all students hosted by the Association of Career and Technical Education (ACTE). But what does high-quality CTE look like? ACTE’s Program of Study Framework outlines elements and more than ninety supporting criteria to answer this question for all grade … read more »

Crucial Collaboration: Teaching and Learning with Phenomena

In the constantly evolving educational landscape, the traditional model of instruction is transforming into a dynamic, collaborative, and hands-on experience for both teachers and students. The integration of phenomena-based learning has taken science instruction by storm and is the new expectation for the modern classroom. We’ve discussed this approach in several recent posts that emphasize … read more »

Thinking Routines: A Universal Tool for Deeper Learning Across All Subjects

Finding a resource that works for all grade levels and subjects to promote student learning is rare. Project Zero’s Thinking Routines Toolbox (reviewed here) is one of those unicorns. It offers strategies that enhance critical thinking skills in many ways that apply to real-world situations, using research-based strategies that scaffold and support student thinking. Why … read more »

Remembering Pearl Harbor Using Choice Boards for Meaningful Learning

A date which will live in infamy Franklin D. Roosevelt Each year, we commemorate Pearl Harbor Day to remember and honor the 2,403 Americans killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This significant event led to the United States’s consequential decision to declare war on Japan and enter World War … read more »