How I use digital curriculum in my math classroom

Prior to the COVID pandemic, technology integration in my high school math classroom was mainly used in two ways: discovery-based activities and homework assignments. Finding applicable resources for discovery-based learning that would fit into existing lesson plans was not always easy.

Along with that, the curriculum supplement that came with our new textbooks was starting to replace some of the traditional paper-and-pencil work that we had been doing. Being suddenly thrust into distance and hybrid learning situations for the next year and a half pushed me to find additional, more efficient ways to blend technology integration into my teaching.

In this article, I am going to briefly cover some of the tools and practices that I found to be most useful, in all classroom settings, as I continue to try to move toward an effective blended learning style.…Read More

Jamf Introduces Jamf Safe Internet to Power Online Safety Anywhere Students Learn

MINNEAPOLIS, July 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, Jamf (NASDAQ: JAMF), the standard in Apple Enterprise Management, rolled out  Jamf Safe Internet to K-12 education customers across the globe. Designed to help schools protect minors from harmful content on the internet, Jamf Safe Internet allows customer admins to enforce acceptable-use policies without sacrificing the unmatched learning experience Apple devices provide.

Apple has already established a  strong presence in the education market as students spend more time learning online. This creates a growing need for digital safety to prevent students from accessing unsafe content and eliminate cyberattacks. Incorporating filtering technology and network threat prevention features currently available to commercial customers through Jamf’s security solutions, Jamf Safe Internet is the only Apple-first, education-focused cybersecurity solution that ensures students can navigate the internet safely. Jamf Safe Internet values student privacy by applying prevention over inspection principles.

“With technology now firmly embedded in the student experience, there is a growing need for digital safety to eliminate cyberattacks and prevent students from accessing unsafe content. Jamf combines best-in-class network threat prevention and a vast content-filtering database to block unsafe and malicious content so that students can safely learn online from anywhere,” said Suraj Mohandas, Senior Director of Education Strategy, Jamf.…Read More

3 things that will improve your teachers’ school experience

With growing concerns over health and safety, staff shortages and more, teachers are feeling the pressure. As a matter of fact, 90 percent of the educator-members of the National Education Association say that feeling burnt out is a serious problem–which in turn, is putting student learning at risk.

In order to overcome these challenges, K-12 leaders need to identify the drivers behind them. By gaining a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the end-to-end K-12 teacher experience, school leaders can take steps to better support teachers.

A recent study of 1,000 U.S. teachers highlighted that key performance indicators such as engagement (the feeling of accomplishment), inclusion (the ability to reach full potential) and well-being (relationships and motivation) show room for improvement across K-12 grade levels.…Read More

5 insights about post-pandemic education

This school year marked the first “almost normal” school year since the 2018-19 school year. Most began the school year with mask mandates, and many quarantined entire classes or grades due to COVID-19 outbreaks, but schools remained open and students filled classrooms.

The fact remains that learning is forever changed. The pandemic highlighted vast inequities in communities across the nation, teacher burnout increased tenfold, and the issue of students’ learning preferences–in school, hybrid, or online–attracted more debate.

A series of factsheets from the Clayton Christensen Institute explores five insights about post-pandemic education, backed by data, which could have major implications for schools and districts as they prepare for the 2022-23 school year.…Read More

How you can bring pandemic tech into post-pandemic learning

As an Instructional Technology Coach in Georgetown County, South Carolina, I have the amazing opportunity to work closely with teachers and students as they use educational technology in meaningful ways. 

It is clear that COVID-19 has changed how teachers use educational technologies to support teaching and learning.  During the “Emergency Teaching Era” of the pandemic, educators grew quite familiar with edtech resources and developed many new competencies and strategies for integrating those resources into instruction.  However, as the education community tentatively moves into what I think of as the post-COVID world of education, the competencies and skills teachers built, and the edtech tools they acquired, can be used in new ways within your classroom.  Here are some of the best strategies and skills I’ve recently learned for the new technologies I began to use during the Pandemic:

Write Around the Room: This is a great activity to do with upper elementary through high school aged students, and capitalizes on devices students received and the keyboarding skills students picked up while learning remotely.  For those of you who have ever found yourselves searching for creative ways to inspire your students to write while also reinforcing important skills related to story structure, having your students “write around the room” is a fun way to get your students excited about writing. …Read More

Can your schools keep pace with student mental health demands?

Even before the pandemic, a third of U.S. students struggled with anxiety, depression, trauma, or attention issues that made it difficult to focus, stay motivated, and learn. That number has grown exponentially during the pandemic and recovery: now half of students feel persistently sad or hopeless. This is an urgent need that schools can no longer ignore.

Why? Coping with mental health concerns negatively impacts young people’s ability to meet the many demands of school—from learning, to interacting with peers, to maintaining energy and stamina through the physical demands of the day. Early intervention is critical, or else these students can spiral quickly into avoidance and loss of motivation. This impacts grades, attendance, discipline, and referrals to special education.

Even pre-pandemic, 50 percent or fewer of children and adolescents with a mental health disorder had received services in the previous 12 months. That number is certainly higher today. And yet, many schools have struggled to implement anything beyond Tier 1 interventions, which are simply mental health-related activities designed to meet the needs of all students regardless of whether or not they are at risk for mental health problems.…Read More

North Carolina Education Corps and Littera Education Partner to Improve Reading Achievement for North Carolina K-3 Students

New York — The North Carolina Education Corps (NCEC) will partner with Littera Education to support and improve reading outcomes for thousands of North Carolina students who need to get back on track after more than two years of learning interruptions.

Launched as a joint project of the North Carolina State Board of Education and the Office of the Governor as a response to the pandemic, NCEC now works with state-level agencies and local school districts as an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit to recruit, train and support part-time literacy tutors. This year, Corps members will deliver high-impact tutoring to K-3 students in over 30 districts and charter organizations throughout North Carolina.

The partnership with Littera will give NCEC unmatched ability to track and assess the instruction. Littera’s Academic Support Platform simplifies scheduling and matching tutors with students; it also enables easy data aggregation, including what skills students covered and the length of sessions. A new mobile app allows tutors to instantly log feedback and session data from their phones, giving program coordinators continuous feedback as they support over 500 Corps members serving students across the state.…Read More

Ripple Effects, Leader in Social Emotional Learning, Announces New Chief Executive Officer John Ray-Keil

NEW ORLEANS – June 27, 2022 – Today, Ripple Effects, a leader in digital social emotional learning (SEL), mental health and behavior supports, announced the appointment of John Ray-Keil as its new CEO. Ray-Keil succeeds co-founder, Alice Ray, who will become chair of the board.

Prior to joining Ripple Effects in 2019, Ray-Keil served as CFO of BlueFoot Partners, an investment firm. He has more than 20 years of experience growing small companies and optimizing portfolio management. Ray-Keil also served on the boards of numerous local youth and school organizations and is an advocate for advancing scalable solutions in the education market.

“John’s deep experience and success in the financial sector coupled with his commitment to delivering the best digital content to help PreK-12 students receive the social emotional supports they need uniquely position him as the right person to move the company forward,” said Alice Ray, chair of Ripple Effects board of directors.…Read More

Cicero School District 99 Adopts Lexia LETRS Professional Learning Programs

BOSTON (June 29, 2022) – Cicero School District 99 in Illinois has adopted Lexia LETRS® (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) professional learning programs for its teachers and administrators. Offered by Lexia® Learning, a Cambium Learning® Group company, LETRS provides educators with the deep knowledge required to be literacy and language experts in the science of reading.

Developed by Dr. Louisa Moats and leaders in the field of literacy, the LETRS Suite provides practical support with tools that are available 24/7—online and in print. It also offers professional learning sessions led by national LETRS experts. These sessions provide classroom application examples of the learning and refine and extend participants’ understanding of the content.

Cicero SD 99 began rolling out LETRS in the second part of 2021. The district implemented two professional learning programs:…Read More

The best ways to approach high-impact tutoring

What do we even mean when we say “high-impact tutoring?” As schools grapple with so many of the effects of unfinished learning, tutoring has emerged as a potential approach for addressing students’ educational needs.

“High-impact tutoring” is defined by the National Student Support Accelerator as a form of teaching 1:1 or in a small group toward a very specific goal. It is a form of tutoring that leads to substantial learning gains for students by supplementing, but not replacing, students’ classroom experiences and it’s intended to respond to individual students’ needs by complementing what they’re learning in the classroom.

High-impact tutoring is not just homework help, nor is it just test prep, so there is key differentiation between it and what most people conceptualize “tutoring” to be. It’s an intentional, multifaceted program that’s geared toward accelerating student learning. High-impact tutoring is not intended to solely focus on remedial skills; it’s about addressing the skills that are necessary for the student to make progress and advance to those instructional next steps.…Read More