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My, Oh My! Welcome to the New Year!

My, Oh My! Welcome to the New Year!

I know I ended last year with a quote from a Michelle Branch song, and it is only fitting that we start the year off with one too! This one happens to be from when she formed a band called “The Wreckers” with Jessica Harp. This band, for their time, was awesome and I still listen to the live album all the time.  My, Oh My Look How the Time Flied For many of you the summer was a welcomed reprieve from the hard school year. You took solace in knowing that we have made…

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Wrapping Up the 2020 – 2021 School Year

Wrapping Up the 2020 – 2021 School Year

We made it! The end is near, and we can all take a collective sigh of relief that we have done the best we could. I am reminded of a song by Michelle Branch called “Breathe”. A couple of lines from the song really resonated with me over this past year and a half.   While I know the song is not about being a schoolteacher (I’m pretty sure the song is about unrequited love although you might feel that way about your school year) heck the song is almost 20 years old, but the phrasing of these words resonated with me. For…

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How Templates Can Save You (Time)!

How Templates Can Save You (Time)!

Have you used templates before? Templates create layouts for documents for you to use with your students which can enrich the activities you are doing in the classroom. Using templates can save you loads of time. Templates can also be thought of like graphic organizers, many of them are designed for assignments and help deepen understanding of topics and units.  You might be saying wait a second, “I thought graphic organizers are only for organizing a student’s thoughts”, and you’re right. The basic definition of templates means that they are reusable files…

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Saying Goodbye to a Friend

Saying Goodbye to a Friend

Back in January of 2020 I wrote about this exceptional tool, Skype in the Classroom. Just a quick recap of that article:  Skype in the Classroom is awesome!  Skype boasts six ways that you can connect to the world:    Virtual Field Trip    Skype Collaborations    Mystery Skype    Guest Speakers    Theme Collections/Lesson Plans   Special Events   Fast forward to December 2020 and this tool is changing. As Microsoft has continued to invest in Microsoft Teams and Flipgrid, they are discontinuing Skype in the Classroom during the summer of 2021. You might remember…

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Creating Balance

Creating Balance

It’s Sunday Night. A year ago, you would have been finalizing your plans for the next week and finishing up your grading so you can give work back on time. For most of us, we would have had some time for ourselves to read or watch a show, maybe we would have gone for a hike, or had a nice dinner with family and friends. That would have been 12 months ago before we entered this uncertain time. In today’s world of teaching, we are isolated at our homes…

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Episode 104: Minecraft Full Teacher Interviews

Episode 104: Minecraft Full Teacher Interviews

If you missed it, in Episode 103 we meet with various teachers, students and parents from Liberty Elementary School in Springfield to discuss Minecraft in the classroom. When I was talking with everyone, I quickly realized that I needed to share the whole interview with the teachers, as they gave me so much good stuff, but I did not want to make a 2-hour episode, I’m not Joe Rogan. So, I am producing two separate podcasts with the full interviews…

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SPS Digital Learning Hour featuring Kristyn Brannigan

SPS Digital Learning Hour featuring Kristyn Brannigan

In the latest episode of the SPS Digital Learning Hour, I met with Kristyn Brannigan. She is a classroom teacher from Alice B. Beal Elementary School here in Springfield. With over 15 years of experience, you will learn all about what it’s like to be a teacher that has had the opportunity to teach in schools around the world. In this episode you will learn all about her journey, you’ll get to hear some great ideas on teaching remotely, including…

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SPS Digital Learning Hour featuring Catherine Murphy

SPS Digital Learning Hour featuring Catherine Murphy

That’s right, we are back with another episode of the SPS Digital Learning Hour. In this week’s episode we met with Catherine Murphy, a Kindergarten Teacher from Arthur T. Talmadge Elementary School. Catherine is doing some amazing work in the classroom. During this magical year, she introduces many students to what school is all about. As a CSForAll teacher, she integrates a lot of technology into her class pre-COVID, which excites her students throughout the year. If you have ever…

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Mike’s Top 5 Microsoft Edge Tools

Mike’s Top 5 Microsoft Edge Tools

Whenever a tool I like to use updates, it makes me so happy! When Edge moved to Chromium over a year ago, I jumped for joy. Literally, in my chair. One of our goals as a department is to make every program we use seamless with Single Sign-On  – and Chromium provides that. Unified Classroom and Schoology are going to work better for our students with the use of Single Sign-On. (you know, the whole not having to sign in more than…

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