What is your virtual learning mission?
MISSION: Equity Exemplar
Engage
Athlete Upstanders & the Role of Activism in Sports. Join Facing History and Ourselves for a conversation featuring Olympic gold medalist and renowned activist, Dr. Tommie Smith, and other acclaimed athlete activists, moderated by Lamont Jones, General Counsel of Boxing Operations for Haymon Boxing Management. This timely conversation will connect historical sports activism to modern day protests, and ask what we can all learn from the athlete activists who choose to take a stand. Thursday, February 25, 7:00 p.m. EST / Friday, February 26, 3:00 a.m. AST. Learn more. | Register.
Designing for Equity. The Global Online Academy (GOA) is offering a new course, Designing for Equity, which expands upon GOA’s previous professional learning courses, including our Designing for Online Learning series, and has been developed in response to growing needs for sustainable, culturally-responsive strategies across hybrid, in-person, and online K-12 models. This course is offered as a facilitated, discussion-based, asynchronous experience February 22 – 26. The course will then remain open until June 2021 so you can be “in” the course as your schedule permits. It is free for any and all educators. Learn more. | Register.
Recognizing Race in Education. The value of discussing the dynamic topic of race early with children is readily agreed upon, but HOW to do it effectively and empathetically is a resounding question. Transform your school culture by hearing from others on strategic ways to both recognize and invite conversations about race and diversity in your local community. Discover new social and emotional learning (SEL) resources to capitalize on those teachable moments that occur daily in our classrooms. Free webinar Tuesday, February 16 @ 5:00 p.m. EST / Wednesday, February 17 @ 1:00 a.m. AST. Registered participants will have access to the recording after the live session. Learn more. | Register.
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Coaching for Equity.
Every child has a right to feel loved and cared for and to feel that they belong to a community. Emotional well-being is as important as academic success in my definition of educational equity.
Grades as the Gatekeeper to Privilege. Despite the initial purpose of grades being an assessment of learning, schools often use grades as a sorting mechanism within the school’s social structure. Read more about this important topic in this blog post. (4 minutes)
MISSION: IB Innovator
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Five Mega Trends in Education. Imagine school as a series of community-connected projects and skill sprints that develop leadership, collaboration and problem-solving skills. In this article learn more about five mega trends that are reshaping education. (6 minutes)
Four Takeaways for Designing Meaningful Assessments. A recent educator event that gave enormous hope was GOA’s live “Ask Me Anything” event on designing high-quality assessments for online and hybrid learning. Be inspired by our panel of teachers, who said they were moving beyond worrying about cheating and dedicating themselves to looking for learning in assessments. Check out the entire conversation and read highlights from the Sarah Tahir’s (Global Online Academy’s Associate Director of Professional Learning) blog post. (5 minutes)
MISSION: Literacy Enthusiast
Read
Five Ideas to Boost Independent Reading. In this blog post from Follett, be reminded of ways in which to encourage independent reading with middle and high school students so they can experience, and look forward to, the fun of curling up with a book and getting lost in a story.
Mastering Argumentative Writing. In this article from edutopia read about how the popular online strategy game, Among Us, students make claims, listen to counterclaims, and reach a conclusion—skills they need to write a strong argumentative essay. (5 minutes)
MISSION: Math Maven
Learn and Earn
Math Modeling. Join HMH’s National Mathematics Content Specialist, Margo Dye, for this edWebinar as she shares the “Spies and Analysts” mathematical modeling strategy. During this collaborative session, you’ll discover practical ways to get students “unstuck,” allowing them to persevere in modeling, which is key for problem solving in the secondary classroom. Teachers and students will love this creative and critical-thinking strategy and applying it to many mathematical problems in and out of the classroom. Free webinar Wednesday, February 17 @ 5:00 p.m. EST / Thursday, February 18 @ 1:00 a.m. AST. Registered participants will have access to the recording after the live session. Learn more. | Register.
MISSION: Microsoft Master
Learn and Earn
Designing for Learning: Math. Learn and explore with training and resources, and earn badges and certificates on a personalized hub created for educators like you. Browse the full catalog of Microsoft Educator Center training courses.
Office 365 Teacher Academy. Office 365 provides the right environment for better learning outcomes. In this learning path, educators will learn how to become more innovative with cloud-based tools, regardless of the device they use. In this course, learn how to use basic features of Office 365 including Microsoft Teams, OneNote, Sway, Microsoft Forms, Office Online and OneDrive. (12 hours)
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All About the Immersive Reader. The Microsoft Immersive Reader is a free tool, built into Word, OneNote, Outlook, Office Lens, Microsoft Teams, Forms, Flipgrid, Minecraft Education Edition and the Edge browser, that implements proven techniques to improve reading and writing for people regardless of their age or ability. Explore the extensive resources available from Microsoft to learn more about the Immersive Reader.
Schedule Assignments for the Future. In this quick instructional from Microsoft, learn how to schedule assignments for the future right now. Future You will appreciate your efficiency! (1 minute)
Seven Tips for Breakout Room Success. Having students meet to work in small groups helps build community and fosters deeper learning. In this article from edutopia learn important tips to ensure successful engagement using breakout rooms. (5 minutes)
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Breakout Rooms in Microsoft Teams. The long awaited breakout rooms feature has arrived! Break your meeting into multiple rooms and then later bring everyone back. Here is a detailed video to show you how! (~8 minutes)
MISSION: STEM Star
Learn and Earn
Designing for Learning: Math. Another great learning experience from the Global Online Academy (GOA)! Designed and facilitated by math teachers, for math teachers. Ideal for math departments or individual math educators teaching grades 5- 12 with concrete ideas for assessment, problem solving, and math practice in hybrid and online contexts. Approximately 3-5 hours total, asynchronously. March 1 – 5, 2020. $150 non-member schools. Learn more. | Register.
Designing for Learning: Science. Another great learning experience from the Global Online Academy (GOA)! Designed and facilitated by science teachers, for science teachers. Ideal for science departments or individual science teachers teaching grades 5-12 with specific ideas for assessment, scientific problem solving and labs, in hybrid and online contexts. Approximately 3-5 hours total, asynchronously. March 1 – 5, 2020. $150 non-member schools. Learn more. | Register.
MISSION: Virtual Learning Designer
Listen
Moving Beyond “Cheat-Proof”. One of the biggest head-scratchers for educators during the COVID-19 pandemic is how to design assessments that provide evidence of what students know and can do. How can we adapt our assessment practices to show and support student learning in hybrid and online settings? Access to the recording of the GOA Ask-Me-Anything episode. (45 minutes)
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Design Principles for Learning. In this article, the author reveals 10 design shifts that represent an opportunity in learner experience and supporting learning tools that can improve the life trajectories of billions. (5 minutes)
MISSION: Literacy Enthusiast
Read
Learning Journals. Why not start the new year by starting a learning journal with your young learners? These could be either a physical notebook or a digital record where learners can record reflections on learning, keep records of language learnt, classroom experiences and progress, and outline personal goals and targets. Read more in this blog post. (5 minutes)
MISSION: Well-Being Wizard
Engage
Build SEL skills with Calm. Nearpod brings Calm into the classroom with 9 lessons that include guided meditations to help boost confidence, reduce stress and anxiety, and teach students the basics of mindfulness meditation for a happier, healthier life.
Stop, Breathe & Think. Stop, Breathe & Think is a free mindfulness and meditation app that allows users to check-in with how they are feeling and provides activities tuned in to their emotions. The app allows users to tune in to how they are thinking and feeling, and select emotions that guide them to recommended meditations. (~10 minutes)
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Camera On/Camera Off. In this article from edutopia, learn details of a new study offers some guidance for striking a balance between class cohesion and privacy. Plus, strategies from teachers to encourage camera use in context. (4 minutes)
Work Life Balance is a Cycle, Not an Achievement. In this article, Ioana Lupu and Mayra Ruiz-Castro explore what it takes for busy professionals to make a change for the better. The authors conducted a series of interviews with middle and senior-level managers at two global firms. They found that while the majority of respondents assumed working long hours was inevitable, a significant minority of them were able to resist this pressure and achieve a healthier balance through a process of increasing awareness, conscious reprioritizing, and implementation of public and private changes. (7 minutes)
Approaching Teaching @ AISK 