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Follow him for fabulous teaching ideas. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHZt23uPsIt/?igsh=MW1rb2RycmVzZjN2ag==

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Scott Todnem on Instagram: "How is building confidence like jumping rope? 📿

Another thoughtful question about social-emotional learning and creating cool connections in Health Class. Here’s what the students came up with this week.

🧑‍🏫 Fellow teachers:
Ask your students the same question and let us know how they respond. Or, better yet, tag us in your video and I will gladly repost! 

🙋 What topic is next?
Got a question for us? Need a good analogy for your own life? Let us know what our next social health simile or mental health metaphor should be!

#teaching #education #SEL #health #wellness #socialemotionallearning #teachersofinstagram #teacher #mentalhealth #habits #middleschool #selfmanagement #selfcare #decisionmaking #selfawareness #NHES #jumprope #confidence #resiliency"

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3 likes, 2 comments - scottampersand on March 19, 2025: "How is building confidence like jumping rope? 📿

Another thoughtful question about social-emotional learning and creating cool connections in Health Class. Here’s what the students came up with this week.

🧑‍🏫 Fellow teachers:
Ask your students the same question and let us know how they respond. Or, better yet, tag us in your video and I will gladly repost! 

🙋 What topic is next?
Got a question for us? Need a good analogy for your own life? Let us know what our next social health simile or mental health metaphor should be!

#teaching #education #SEL #health #wellness #socialemotionallearning #teachersofinstagram #teacher #mentalhealth #habits #middleschool #selfmanagement #selfcare #decisionmaking #selfawareness #NHES #jumprope #confidence #resiliency". 

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A post shared by Scott Todnem (@scottampersand)

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Instructional leaders have a role to play in guiding teachers to use AI effectively in unpacking standards and designing lesson plans.

Eleven years ago, there I was. Every Sunday. A first-year teacher struggling for hours on end to design, draft, and submit a halfway-decent lesson plan for the impending week. With practice, lesson design would become far less frustrating and often even exciting for me. Even so, the plans still required a considerable portion of my time as a teacher.

Fast forward to now-the age of artificial intelligence. Today, the kind of planning and preparation that used to take hours can be done in minutes. Regardless of your position on tools like ChatGPT, teachers are using AI.

In my current role as an ELA and social studies curriculum supervisor, I check other teachers' lesson plans on a weekly basis. More of my teachers have begun to lean on AI for lesson design. Rather than discouraging that, I started working with them to use AI more effectively. Here's how.

4 Steps to Generating Effective Lesson Plans with AI

Step 1. Reflect on the purpose of your plan. Mitigating teacher workload is one of my core values as an instructional leader. However, lightening the load should never come at the cost of instructional quality, and lesson plans aren't just a tool of compliance. Regardless of the template you are required to use, planning and preparation are central to excellent instruction. Before you use AI, make sure you are invested in designing engaging, challenging, effective lessons to meet the academic needs of your kids. AI can make it tempting just to accept the first prompt response and be done-and that doesn't serve you, or the kids in the class.

Step 2. Start with the standards and use AI to unpack them. Creating an effective lesson plan, with or without AI, should always begin with the standards. Standards dictate grade-level proficiency, identifying the mark our children must meet-thus driving a baseline of challenge for the class.

Accordingly, identify an upcoming standard within your unit-I use an ELA standard in this article, but this works with social studies as well. Task AI with siphoning all necessary goals from the standard. Throughout this process, I will be using variations of the ACDQ prompt method. In this method, you instruct AI what to "act" as, provide the "context" for the query, ask it to consider the problem in some "depth," and then instruct the bot to ask you "questions."

My prompt: "You are a tenth grade English Language Arts teacher planning a lesson within a unit about argument, argumentative texts, and argumentative writing. Analyze the following New Jersey Student Learning Standard for English Language Arts and identify every necessary goal students will need to meet in order to become fully proficient in this standard. NJ ELA Standard: Introduce precise claims, distinguish the claims from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence."

Things to note: I am using Gemini, Google's AI engine; this prompt would work in ChatGPT as well. Gemini broke the standard into three learning objectives for me: crafting precise claims, distinguishing claims, and organizing academic writing. I want to focus on the third.

Students need to be able to structure their arguments logically, demonstrating clear relationships between:

Claims and Counterclaims: Students must demonstrate an understanding of how claims and counterclaims interact. Can they effectively address opposing viewpoints? Do they understand strategies for refuting, conceding, or integrating counterclaims?

Claims and Reasons: Students must demonstrate how reasons support the main claim. Are the reasons relevant, logical, and persuasive? Is the connection between the claim and the reasons clear?

Reasons and Evidence: Students must demonstrate how evidence supports the reasons. Is the evidence credible, sufficient, and relevant? Is the connection between the reasons and the evidence clear? Do they understand how to properly cite evidence?

Step 3: Choose the necessary goal. Now that my articulate virtual assistant has aided me in unpacking the standard, I can identify the goals I need to cover. At the middle and high school level, we are often building on a set of prerequisite skills. This means that covering the entirety of every standard is not always necessary depending on the makeup of your class. Perhaps my students have already demonstrated a strong understanding of crafting precise claims but struggle to objectively identify opposing perspectives. I want to concentrate on that specific goal-in this case, claims and counterclaims.

My prompt: "Revise these learning goals to ensure higher order thinking based on Bloom's Taxonomy and measurability of knowledge, concept, and skill. Ask me any relevant questions."

Things to note: I use this prompt to ensure rigor and measurability of goals, and to make sure that the plans will be suitable for assessment. Although Gemini offered a range of measurable goals based on Bloom's Taxonomy, from analysis to creation, I am basing my lesson plan on the first one: Analyzing Claims and Counterclaims.

Okay, let's revise those learning goals to incorporate higher-order thinking skills based on Bloom's Taxonomy and ensure measurability. We want to move beyond simple recall and comprehension and push students toward analysis, evaluation, and creation.

Analyzing Claims and Counterclaims: Students will be able to deconstruct complex arguments, identifying and evaluating the effectiveness of claims, counterclaims, and their relationships within the text. (Measurable: Students can provide a written analysis of an argumentative text, identifying the main claim, counterclaims, and explaining how the author addresses or fails to address them, justifying their evaluation with specific examples from the text.)

Using the prompt above, I now have a well-defined, measurable goal: Students will be able to deconstruct complex arguments, identifying and evaluating the effectiveness of claims, counterclaims, and their relationships within the text. Now I can move my lesson design forward, ensuring that the objective, assessment, and instruction are aligned.

Step 4: Use AI to provide you with options for assessment. At this point, by virtue of having a clear objective, you may have an idea for assessment. However, if you do not, task your virtual assistant with providing you with aligned assessment options to choose from.

My prompt: "For each goal, think deeply and create a choice of three assessments per goal. Ask me any relevant questions including but not limited to my class, student demographics, reading proficiency levels, student disabilities, and languages spoken by students.

Okay, let's craft three assessment options for each of the revised learning goals, keeping in mind the need for higher-order thinking and measurability. I'll also include clarifying questions to ensure the assessments are appropriate for your class.

Learning Goal 1: Analyzing Claims and Counterclaims (Deconstructing complex arguments)

Assessment 1: Textual Analysis Essay: Students analyze a provided argumentative text, identifying the main claim, counterclaims, and explaining how the author addresses (or fails to address) them. They justify their evaluation with specific examples from the text.

Assessment 2: Debate Analysis: Students observe a formal debate and write an analysis of the arguments presented, focusing on the effectiveness of the claims, counterclaims, and rebuttals. They should evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each side's arguments.

Assessment 3: Comparative Claim Analysis: Students are given two articles on the same topic presenting different viewpoints. They analyze and compare the claims and counterclaims presented in each, evaluating which argument is more logically sound and persuasive, justifying their analysis.

Then, because I prompted the AI engine to ask me any relevant questions, my virtual assistant asked me for clarification and a better understanding of my classroom culture. It wrote:

Now, my questions for you:
Student Choice: How important is it to you to offer student choice in assessment formats? Would you be open to allowing students to choose from the options provided, or do you prefer to assign specific assessments?

Technology Access: Do all students have consistent access to technology for creating multimodal projects and presentations? If not, what are the limitations, and how can we address them?

Collaboration: Are group projects and collaborative assessments appropriate for this class? If so, what are your guidelines for group work, and how do you ensure individual accountability?

Grading Rubrics: Are you comfortable using rubrics to assess these assignments? Would you like to collaborate on developing rubrics that align with these learning goals and assessments?

Assessment Timeline: How much time do you typically allocate for major writing assignments and projects? This will help determine the scope and complexity of the assessments.

Specific Examples: Do you have any specific examples of topics or issues that you think would be particularly engaging for this group of students, and that would lend themselves well to these types of assessments? This would be very helpful in making the assessments relevant and meaningful.

My response: "Student choice is a core value in my classroom. I am always open to giving students both choice and voice. All students have laptops. Group projects are a critical component of instruction in my class. Group work is normed by assigning roles and responsibilities. I am open to using rubrics. This assessment should require no more than 5 to 10 minutes of reading and 10 to 15 minutes of writing. My student interests include social media (specifically tiktok), anime and manga, and pop music."

Gemini's revised suggestions:

Excellent! Student choice, readily available technology, collaborative work, and a clear timeframe are all helpful parameters. Knowing student interests in social media (TikTok), sports, and pop music is also key for relevant assessments.

Given these parameters, let's refine the assessment options, focusing on brevity for reading and writing, and incorporating student choice. Learning Goal 1: Analyzing Claims and Counterclaims (Deconstructing complex arguments)

Assessment 1: TikTok Trend Analysis (Written): Students choose a current TikTok trend (related to one of their interests if possible). They analyze a video related to the trend, identifying the implicit or explicit claim being made, any counterclaims presented in the comments or other related videos, and how the original video creator addresses (or ignores) those counterclaims. (Focus: Short, focused analysis, potentially using a template.)

Assessment 2: Sports Debate Snippet Analysis (Written): Students choose a short clip from a sports debate show or podcast. They analyze the arguments presented by each participant, identifying the key claims and counterclaims, and evaluating the effectiveness of each side's argument. (Focus: Concise analysis of a short, readily available clip.)

Assessment 3: Pop Music Review Analysis (Written): Students choose a review of a current pop song or album. They analyze the reviewer's argument, identifying the main claim (e.g., "This album is a masterpiece," or "This song falls flat"), any counterclaims the reviewer anticipates or addresses, and how the review is structured to persuade the reader. (Focus: Analysis of a short, focused piece of writing.)

Now that you have a great objective and aligned assessment, you can use AI to further assist in planning your instruction or do that on your own. Rather than simply prompting the program to create the rest of the plan, think about each part of the lesson and tap your assistant when needed.

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A Curriculum Supervisor's Guide to AI-Assisted Lesson Planning

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Instructional leaders have a role to play in guiding teachers to use AI effectively in unpacking standards and designing lesson plans.

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MagicSchool.ai - AI for teachers - lesson planning and more!

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Join over a million teachers saving hours of time using the #1 AI Platform for Education, MagicSchool, to help lesson plan, differentiate, write assessments, write IEPs, communicate clearly, and more!

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If you do not have time to get through everything on your original lesson plan because you have to spend more time focusing on something, that is okay, you can always readjust your next lesson. Focusing on the student's progress is most important, if they are not progressing the way you planned and need more time, that is okay.

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High school students really feed off of your energy. If you are super energetic and excited, they will give it right back.

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Google Forms is a great way to assess the student's progress, however try not to rely solely on those because the students get bored of it after awhile and they will stop answering the questions fully.

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NSMS
Referring back to the material. For example if you are playing a kahoot and a majority of the students a question wrong. Refer back to the material to guide the students to the right answer.

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NSMS
Giving the students time to work. After getting over the awkward silence it is easy but important in teaching.

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North Smithfield Middle School

Is is so cool watching your students be creative. Give them a idea and criteria to follow. Then see what they come up with. I used this for my summative assessment and viewing what my students came up with  was truly awesome.

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Free, Online Crossword Puzzle Maker - Crossword Labs

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Make crossword puzzles, print them out as PDFs, share them, and solve them online with Crossword Labs. It’s free, fast and easy. No registration required!

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Dr. Clark

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Spinners and pickers are a great tool for the classroom. They help you and your class make decisions in a totally random way. Use them to choose individuals, groups, activities, rewards, time segments, and more. Here are a dozen of our favorite online spinners and pickers.

1. Spin the wheel

Wheel of Names is simple to use and has lots of customizable options. Choose your theme, colors, speed, or even the language (over 30 options). We especially love all the sounds you can choose, from ticking and all sorts of music to launching confetti and subdued applause.

2. Roll the dice

Need to choose a table group to line up first? Or pick a number for how many math exercises to assign for homework? Take a roll of the die with this neat tool from TeacherLed. Select one, two, or three dice, click "roll dice," and watch as they roll up the alley and bobble as they settle. Your students will love the authentic sound and realistic graphics.

3. Pull the one-armed bandit

Your students will love this random picker from Random Name Picker, which simulates a slot machine. Enter your custom name, group, or activity list (up to 10 entries at a time), press play, and watch the choices roll by as authentic slot machine music plays. This site also has a customizable spinner wheel.

4. Line 'em up

You're going to want to bookmark this site, for sure! Flippity has an amazing variety of useful classroom tools. Try their spinning wheel which has options for group and team generators, random name pickers, seating chart makers, lineup pickers (shown above), and more.

5. Follow the rainbow

Online Stopwatch is a treasure trove of random name generators. We love the Pot of Gold option (above) and also the Magic Box, Random Cog Machine, and Crane Claw Picker. In addition, this site has lots of options for timers and group generators.

6. Pick a name out of the hat

Make random picks with a quick pull of a name out of the hat. The best thing about this tool is each name can only be picked one time, and once all of the names have been picked, they are automatically shuffled and reloaded. Transum also has a spinning wheel, random student, and group generators.

7. Team up

Create teams quickly and randomly with this tool from PickerWheel. All you have to do is input your name list and it will create however many teams you like and even balance the gender distribution if you'd like.

8. Flip a coin

Make quick decisions with a flip of the coin with this tool from FlipSimu. Customize your colors and choices (yes or no, heads or tails, inside or outside, etc.). Then all you have to do is click Flip It and...decision made. Also, check out FlipSimu's dice roller tool.

9. Make a random pick

Random is Class Dojo 's random student generator tool. Great for choosing a volunteer, someone to go first, or someone to read the next section. Class Dojo is free for teachers; all you have to do is create an account. Other great tools include their group maker, class noise meter, a think pair share picker, and lots of great options for classroom music.

10. Ask the Magic Eight Ball

Need an answer to a tricky question? Look into the magic eight ball and find your answer with this fun online tool from Online Stopwatch. Stick with the standard responses or customize with your own list of names, answers, or numbers.

11. Crack open a coconut

Pick a winner with this fun tool, which randomly shuffles your custom name list and picks first, second, and third place winners.

12. Go fish

Import your students' names or student numbers into this easy-to-use tool, then cast your line and pull up a big one!
What are your favorite online pickers and spinners for the classroom? Please share in the comments! And for more teacher tips and tricks, be sure to subscribe to our newsletters. Plus, Best Online Timers for the Classroom.

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Best Spinners and Pickers for Online Learning

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Spinners and pickers are a great tool for the classroom. They help you and your class make decisions in a totally random way. Use them to choose individuals, groups, activities, rewards, time segments, and more. Here are a dozen of our favorite online spinners and pickers.

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Have back up plans ready for anything, and just be flexible!

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The students want to have some fun and they really feed off the energy you give them!

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PHS- Showing videos to maintain student engagement worked really well! Especially for the visual learners

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PHS- Showing videos to maintain student engagement worked really well! Especially for the visual learners

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How to Make an Animated Google Classroom Banner with Your Bitmoji

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Convert a PDF into a Digital Worksheet in Google Slides

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Be yourself. Teach with your own style. Be confident.

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I learned that high school students aren't so scary after-all. These students WANT that connection with a teacher. I think it also really helps that we are close to them in age versus their typical teachers. Students love seeing a new face in general. Keep a positive energy and the students will respond well to you.

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I would suggest having back up plans for videos and links to activities. We all know at this point that sometimes technology is not always your best friend, and at times activities you plan may not work. In that case just have something else in your back pocket to bring out, or another way to deliver the information. Also constantly ask questions and/or switch up the activities. Talking too much can cause the students to lose focus. Finally, have adaptations for all students. For example Central Falls has a lot of ELL students so making adaptations to assignments or activities to allow them to learn and understand the content was very important!

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Building relationships with the students is very important and despite being there for a short period of time you will be surprised by some of the relationships you are able to build with the students. I would suggest getting on the call early just to talk to the students, because in building those relationships the students engage and participate in the lesson better and many of those students will be the ones that answer a question when the class is quiet.

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Call on the students by name during activities and discussions.  Sometimes just calling on the students by name keeps them on their toes and more engaged in the lesson.  This prevents students from losing focus and drifting off.

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When planning, try to challenge the students.  If refinements are necessary, they can be implemented easier than extensions mid-lesson, in my opinion.  You'd rather challenge the students initially than have them bored and waiting to be challenged, because once you've lost some students they are gone for the day.

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Most students are willing to share & learn as long as you create a relationship. I commonly had the misconception that just because we are teaching a short unit or "a few lessons" that we cannot create that relationship, but we can. With the pandemic and students on lock down for a large portion of the last year, they have had limited time to form any sort of relationships with friends, teammates, or even teachers. Form that relationship & students will be willing to share, learn, and be open about your topic.

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Have a back up plan for activities and your lesson as a whole. Make sure you watch the videos or memorize the materials you are showing. If a material was not available or was not working properly, you want to be able to explain them and create a comparable experience without the material in front of the students.

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OVER PLAN!!!!! Have back ups! There's no problem with having plans ABC for every lesson! Sometimes they come in handy especially with teaching online!

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I learned that the students want to share EVERYTHING. Most are eager to engage in conversation but some do not. Also, students try to play fast ones and hand in nothing that has to do with the assignment, keep watching google classroom during their time doing it and check everything!

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Have back up plans!!! Sometimes the technology does not go to plan and you need to be able to modify. Ex: I had students make comic strips, i had a site for them to use, a blank doc to write on or an outline of a comic strip if they chose to draw it out~ GIVE OPTIONS HAVE BACK UPS.

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7th graders were eager to learn and excited to learn from the college students. They loved when I gave positive feedback and got more comfortable as each lesson went on. Do not underestimate how much they know!

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Use google forms to gather quick info on the students and use kahoots and interactive (hands on) activities to keep students interested. I also used videos when possible to draw interest.

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Always plan to have extensions and refinements because lessons may not go as planned. Also, make sure you have a way to make a quick change so students do not get bored. As long as they are motivated they will participate in the lesson.

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Students are very good listeners so having good explanations and clear expectations are very helpful.

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Be realistic. High school students respond well when you give them relevant information/scenarios to work with. Think about when you were in high school: what did you want to learn? what would you want to learn? Plan with the end in mind!

Also- manage your time. Schedule in planning time so you give yourself the opportunity to really narrow down your ideas and focus on what you want your students to know.

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Students feed off your energy. If you are motivated yourself the students will be more encouraged as well.

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Even in PE, technology is very useful. I used a powerpoint because my CT was able to connect me to a projector. I used this to explain cues which really helped the students cognitively. When using music to motivate students in an activity, you can use your phone so it's easy to start and stop rather than switching between tabs in chrome.

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Students were hesitant to receive feedback and speak up even though they knew the answers. Creating a comfortable environment allowed them to open up more. Asking questions and expecting more than just a couple of students to answer is beneficial. Social Reinforcement before any type of feedback helped.

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Incorporating technology in various forms will engage students and keep them motivated. This could be different learning experiences (padlet, jamboard, peardeck, nearpod, google form, kahoot, etc.) OR it could be as simple as creating a visual representation of a daily agenda for students to follow.

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Sometimes things don't work as well in application as they do on paper. Be prepared to make changes and don't be afraid to scrap something in the moment if it is not working. That is why we have more than 1 activity and plenty of ext/ref.

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Google Forms is your friend, I used videos that I turned into .gif files so the s's could see skills in motion rather than a still pic that is hard to interpret.

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Add time into your plan! The conversations and discussions are just as important as the content.

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Many students will choose not to speak up/answer questions however, once called upon to contribute then they almost always respond. It's important to call on students rather than wait for someone to answer.

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Use an interactive online tool! I find that my students work best with Pear Deck. It keeps them engaged with the lesson and I can keep track of who is participating or not.

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Do not over plan. I had way too much planned for lesson two and ended up rushing some important content. Make sure you time everything out. Time management is KEY.
Have an agenda slide to tell students what they will be doing that day.
Give clear and concise directions. Tell the students exactly what you want from them so they are not left guessing what to do.

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Give students time to answer your questions. Ask them follow up questions. Call on students when you ask a question because they may not answer when you say, "Who can tell me....."

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Mix up the technology. Pear Deck, Padlet, Jamboard, write in the chat, etc. It is a good way to keep students engaged in your lesson.

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Teaching Strategies from Award Winning Teachers

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Teaching Strategies from Award Winning Teachers

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Teaching Strategies of Award-Winning Online Instructors

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A recent study gleaned five insights on virtual instruction by examining the techniques shared in common by top-rated online instructors.

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