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Join the Schoology Group: 2020 VB DLSS to access all presenter resources. Join code: 73C4-4HJV-DPRTG

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You have been signed out of Seesaw, but not Google. You have been signed out of Seesaw, but not Clever. You have been signed out of Seesaw, but not ClassLink. Click here to sign out of Google. Click here to sign out of Clever. Click here to sign out of ClassLink.

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You have been signed out of Seesaw, but not Google. You have been signed out of Seesaw, but not Clever. You have been signed out of Seesaw, but not ClassLink. Click here to sign out of Google. Click here to sign out of Clever. Click here to sign out of ClassLink.

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How to Create a Tabbed Notebook Activity

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How to Deliver Daily Lessons and Assignments

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Check out my activity on Seesaw! Weekly Planner by Slidesmania https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_activity?share_token=1_VJEAZ7Tx6NPMK3NybSYQ

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Tap the :video: to learn about the choice board for our assignments. Tap the :add: button. Click on each :link: to take you to each assignment for today. Watch and listen to the :video: to hear the lesson and directions for the assignment. Use the tools :pen:, :photo:, or :label: to complete the activity.

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Cathy Rocks Seesaw!!!

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Made with Seesaw - Student Driven Digital Portfolios. Free for teachers!

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You have to log into google

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Here is a tip I have used successfully in Zoom. When you have an activity that you want the students to do indepently while in a Zoom class, and you want to monitor them, put each student in their own private breakout room and have them share their screen. That way you can pop into each breakout room to check on their work and talk to them without your conversation bothering the other students who are working. Students also have an option of pushing the help button to signal you that they need you in their breakout room. I feel like this created an atmosphere that's somewhat replicated the classroom where the students are all working independently but they're surrounded by their friends and I can walk around and monitor and assist as needed. This helped me to have higher participation levels in activities.

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When thinking about using this tool- think about the visual noise, our kids who can’t have all
Of that stuff, think about data/broadband that these types of classrooms may take to load with several people in a home online.
Equity!!!!

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Copy of Copy of Copia de Bitmoji Resources

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This library is a gathering of others people's resource and my own in one place, with the hopes that it can be an organized place to find what is needed. Giant Bitmoji Library

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Google Slides - create and edit presentations online, for free.

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Create a new presentation and edit with others at the same time. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Slides to edit PowerPoint files. Free from Google.

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Organize assignments, display student work, & more using these 60+ slides filled with ready-to-use bulletin boards, sticky notes, borders, and clip art!
I have enjoyed creating virtual classrooms as I prepare for the upcoming school year. My plan is to have one main classroom with a consistent structure to assist students in locating assignments and additional resources in an organized and engaging manner.

Within my room, I have several strategies for organizing content without cluttering the space. One way to do this, is linking items in the room to other slides. This allows for separate slides for different purposes, and gives more space to work with. For assignments, I am planning to use this Interactive File Cabinet, which actually links to another Google Slide deck. For announcements, reminders, special events, and thematic displays, I plan to incorporate these bulletin boards. It is a fun way to display information, and an important way to connect a virtual room to the structure and routines of the traditional classroom.

I have included more than 60+ slides of virtual bulletin boards for you to enjoy,

including ready-to-use decorated bulletin boards, chalk boards, white boards, borders, sticky notes, push pins, and clip art to decorate! I have also included links to some other resources that I have created and think might be beneficial to you and your students as you begin the new school year, whether that is remote, hybrid, or in-person.

If you enjoy this FREE teacher resource, you can let me know by clicking the ❤ or leaving a comment below. I work hard to help other educators have FUN using technology and appreciate your comments and feedback! Join the Teachers Using Tech FB Groupfor even more sharing by our members. Click here to make a copy of my Bitmoji Bulletin Boards . https://bit.ly/BitmojiBulletinBoards_TeachersUsingTech

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Organize assignments, display student work, & more using these 60+ slides filled with ready-to-use bulletin boards, sticky notes, borders, and clip art! I have enjoyed creating virtual classrooms as I prepare for the upcoming school year. My plan is to have one main classroom with a consistent structure to assist students in locating assignments and additional resources in an organized and engaging manner.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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This.

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Sponsored by PowerSchool and ViewSonic

I don't need to give you much background here: As you all know, schools have been closed worldwide in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the same way that cities are at various stages of reopening businesses, schools are doing the same thing, or at least thinking about how it might work.

We all know that unless someone develops a vaccine soon, school just can't be run the same as it was before. There's reinfection to consider, second and third waves of cases that could cause new shutdowns, and on a more distant horizon, the stark possibility that new viruses could take us down just like this one did.

I figure right now, educators everywhere are trying to decide the best course of action, or at least wondering what their district leadership is considering. Since I have access to a lot of educators all over the place, I believe the best way I can help with that process is to ask you all what you're doing, then curate those ideas so they can reach more people. So about a week ago I tweeted out a request for ideas. I got some from there, some from my own searching, and some from the legwork that Larry Ferlazzo already did on this topic.

Reading through all the proposals was overwhelming, especially when I clicked through to look at the densely-packed documents that detailed all the different distancing and disinfecting protocols that had to be considered. I would give each one about thirty seconds, and then I just wanted to run away. The words just swam together after a while. I'm guessing you may have experienced something similar at some point. I guess I just wanted to validate that for you: Yes, it's overwhelming.

So in the spirit of contributing something of value here, rather than adding to the overwhelm, I'm going to do three things.

The first part will be practical. I'll very quickly run through seven different ideas people are considering for reopening schools. I was kind of excited about one idea in particular, because it's something a little different and it might actually work.

The second part will also be practical, but more random. In this section I'll share other thoughts and ideas I've seen floating around that connect to school reopenings but aren't necessarily tied to specific plans.

The third part will be more of a pep talk. I'm not sure how much good it will do, but I want to talk a little bit about what I would be doing right now if I were a classroom teacher bracing myself for the upcoming school year. My hope is to offer something that will help you get through this.

Alrighty then. Deep breath.

Part 1: Ideas for Reopening

Before I start on all of these options, I just have to acknowledge something: All of these ideas completely suck compared to pre-pandemic life. They are depressing and repressive and in a lot of schools, not even realistic. In a post published this past week, 3rd grade teacher Paul Murphy floated the idea that reopening schools under the proposed constraints may not be worth it at all:

"Why should we assume that placing young people in an environment of masked peers whom they aren't allowed to approach will result in an improved mental state? And if adults are going to be serious about restrictions they'll have to enforce them. It's my deep suspicion that punishments for hugging friends, admonishments for encroaching on six-foot personal bubbles, vigilant surveillance of hand-washing and line spacing, daily temperature checks that send a recurrent message that everyone else is to be feared, and possible repeated school closures when someone inevitably catches the virus will not produce an atmosphere conducive to improved mental health."

I agree with him to a large extent. But I also think it makes sense to try something, to try some kind of arrangement that gets more teachers in rooms with more students at least some part of the week, because among all the lessons we've learned from this pandemic, one has certainly been that videoconferencing just isn't the same as face-to-face.

With that said, here are some ideas that look like they might sort of kind of work. This is not an exhaustive list: I saw some ideas that would only work in schools that have very low numbers-where all students return full-time but everyone just spreads out. This doesn't seem like a realistic option for most schools. I'm also not going to get into all the handwashing, disinfecting, and testing protocols, nor will this post address transportation; we'll just focus on how schools might arrange the instructional component. Also, some schools are looking at hybrid models that combine some of these solutions or set up a plan where they toggle in between them depending on how infection stats are looking in their region at any given time.

Solution 1: Alternating Days or Half Days

Schools would run A/B schedules, where some students come on A days and others on B days. Those not at school would be doing remote learning at home. Another variation of this is doing half days, like kindergarten used to be in a lot of places, where half the student population goes to school in the morning and half goes in the afternoon.

Solution 2: Cohorts

Students are put into small groups that stay together all day, thereby mixing students with each other as little as possible. For changing classes or subject areas, the teachers are the ones who would move throughout the building.

Solution 3: Selective Return of Grade Levels, Students, or Teachers

In this arrangement, a limited number of students and teachers would return to in-person schooling, while others would continue doing school remotely.

Some schools are looking at in-person instruction for kindergarten and grade 1 (to keep students on track for early literacy and math skills), vulnerable students who need more help, students without home technology, and seniors who need to be kept on track for graduation.

This idea may also be applied to certain teachers and staff members-those over 55 or at higher risk for infection may continue to teach from home while a substitute holds down the fort in the physical classroom.

Solution 4: One Course at a Time

This idea kind of blew my mind: Students stay in the same class, with the same teacher, taking a single course for a few weeks, then rotate to another course for a few weeks. So instead of changing classes once an hour, they'd change once every two weeks or so. This was shared by science teacher Sam Long on Twitter, and I think it has real potential.

Some people pushed back on this idea because they hated the thought of students sitting in the same class for so long, but if a teacher is mixing things up, delivering instruction in an engaging way, providing good breaks, and not requiring long periods of sitting, it could work.

The only thing that could still stand in the way of this working would be social distancing requirements-you couldn't have classes at full capacity. But maybe this combined with an A/B or half day schedule could be something to try.

Solution 5: One-Room Schoolhouse

In this arrangement, students would stay in one room all day, studying multiple subjects with the same teacher. This could work in some elementary schools, where teachers are already somewhat used to teaching more than one subject and only rotate for a few subjects, but again, social distancing protocols would still have to be kept, so you couldn't operate at full capacity. To make this work instructionally, teachers might need to shift to more of a Project Based Learning approach, where students are engaged in long-term projects that incorporate learning from multiple subject areas. Kids could still interact with Ts from other rooms-maybe through the phone, videoconferencing, or just by standing far apart out in the hall?-but those teachers would need more planning time to be available for those kinds of conferences.

Instruction could also be delivered in this kind of scenario via video mini-lessons. A few years ago I interviewed teachers at the Apollo School, where students spent a block of three hours each day in a combined English, history, and art class. Each teacher offered daily mini-lessons on relevant topics, and students attended these voluntarily based on their needs and projects.

If schools were to try the "one-room schoolhouse option," it may be possible to do something similar, where a group of teachers "shares" a larger group of students, but each teacher actually stays with part of the group in their classroom and students can "attend" video-broadcast mini-lessons being given by teachers in other rooms. If all students in this arrangement were working on cross-curricular projects, this could ultimately be an improvement over the kind of traditional instruction they had before.

Solution 6: Individual Learning Plans

At first, I thought this was just not realistic: The idea of creating separate plans for each student, depending on the individual situation, learning needs, available technology, and home resources seemed an almost impossible task. But I'm starting to rethink that, because it might be accomplished with maybe five or six basic plans.

So for example, you have some students who are on plan 1, which is full-time home instruction with no technology. Those students would need to be on some sort of paper delivery system and the school might need to set up weekly face-to-face meetings between the family and an assigned teacher. Other students might be on plan 2, which is full-time home instruction with reliable technology. Plan 3 might be coming to school some days. For each subject area and grade level things might need to be further individualized, but I'm realizing that while every student has different needs, there may be groups of students whose needs are similar, so these individual plans may be something that can be batched.

Still a lot of work, obviously, but maybe not as much as I initially thought.

Solution 7: Keep Distance Learning

Amid all the discussion of how to reopen, I think keeping things the way they are-with 100% distance learning-is an option. Many schools have already done a trial run and there may be some lessons that can be applied the next time around. Obviously, getting all students connected is a must, or at the very least finding good, workable ways to stay in touch without the internet, but if that's possible, it may be the most realistic approach at least for the start of the school year. Again, like all of these other options, it's not great, but at least it's a known quantity, unlike the other arrangements that could potentially result in everyone bouncing back to distance learning anyway.

Part 2: Other Considerations

These are some other ideas that have been mentioned in conversations about reopening that are worth considering, regardless of what plan you end up with:

Remediation vs. acceleration: When planning instruction for the upcoming year, the temptation may be to focus on remediation, to go back to wherever students left off before quarantine and teach from that point forward, rather than starting the new school year where you might normally start. This seems logical, but something I read the other day caused me to rethink that-an article about the lessons learned after New Orleans schools closed post-Hurricane Katrina. According to this report, schools that focused mostly on skill recovery rather than teaching grade-level content found that students were less engaged and scored poorly on tests, whereas schools got better results when they took a "spiraling" approach, where the regular content is taught on its normal schedule, and gaps in student skill and knowledge are filled in and scaffolded as needed. I don't know much about the particulars of this approach, but the organization TNTP has put together a Learning Acceleration Guide that can help you learn more. I think it's worth a look.

Getting input from all stakeholders: Schools will have the best chance of landing on a workable solution if you involve representatives from all stakeholder groups in your school community. That means while you're still in the exploratory phase, ask teachers, support staff, paraprofessionals, students, and parents for their input, then ask again when you're narrowing your options. Do this in a way that gives them time to think through the proposed ideas and space to share their thoughts honestly. And make sure there's representation from diverse backgrounds in terms of socioeconomics, ethnicity, race, and language.

Making equity and culturally responsive teaching an integral part of the plan: Any plan for reopening or re-starting school must take into account how all students' needs will be met. A lot has been written about the ways this pandemic has shone a light on existing inequities, like this piece from Dena Simmons, and working on a reopening plan is an opportunity to address those more thoroughly than they've been addressed before. This collection offers some good resources on culturally responsive teaching in remote situations.

Looping: Elementary schools may want to consider teacher looping to build on existing relationships. This is where a teacher stays with the same students over two or more grade levels, rather than students moving to a different teacher every year.

Substitute availability: Substitute teachers are being held up as key players in some proposed scenarios, but in many districts, a large number of subs may be over age 55 and could therefore be more at risk for infection.

Childcare for teachers' kids: Many, many teachers are also parents, so if their own children can't go back to school full-time, that poses a significant problem for the teachers as well.

Part 3: Facing the Unknown

Probably the only thing that's certain right now is that no one knows for sure what the next school year is going to look like. And this may very well be putting you in a state of paralysis, waiting for someone to tell you what the plan is so you can get moving with your own preparation.

Here's what I would do in your shoes:

Prepare for a full year of 100 percent distance learning.

No matter what the specific plan looks like for next year, there's a good chance that at least some of your instruction is going to be delivered remotely. Even if your school manages to get kids into the building, social distancing will likely require students to get their materials and do much of their work on devices.

With that in mind, you're going to be better off if you have shifted a good part of your instruction into an online format. Once it's there, you can still use it in a face-to-face setting; you'll just have more opportunities to interact with students in real time.

Here are some things that can help you with the process:

Now that you have a little more time, learn how to design instruction for online environments from those who have fine-tuned the process. Simply Googling "how to create an online course" will get you lots of results, and although many of these were created by people who are creating courses for profit, you can still learn quite a bit about learner engagement from them. Two other sources to check out are this article from ASCD and this one from Inside Higher Ed.

Seek out teachers who have some pieces of the remote learning puzzle figured out and learn from them. Maybe they've gotten more engagement from students than most. Maybe they're not quite as exhausted as most of your colleagues. Maybe they've had one or two "pretty good lessons" throughout this time. See what they can teach you.

Consider curricular options that are already available online. Khan Academy is definitely worth a look, and taking advantage of this as a resource doesn't mean you won't be relationship-building and supporting students; it just means the curriculum has been taken care of and put into a format that's already optimized for online learning.

Create Contingency Plans

When organizing your lessons for the upcoming year, build in contingency plans for different scenarios. So maybe you set up all your lessons for remote learning, but mark places where, if things work out to allow face-to-face teaching or even a situation where social distancing is no longer required, you could do something different, like a lab or group activity.

Give Yourself Space to Grieve

Throughout this process, it may be helpful to occasionally stop and just let yourself grieve all the incredible experiences teachers and students won't get to have right now and for the foreseeable future. Although dwelling on this for long periods of time won't be terribly useful, it also doesn't help to pretend any of this is normal. Acknowledging the loss will allow you, your colleagues, and your students to feel validated, and this could free you up to move on and do what you can under the current constraints.

Push Back on Unreasonable Expectations

Speaking of acting like any of this is normal, I get the sense that there may be some in leadership who are plowing ahead as if instruction is going to continue at the exact same level of quality as before. Although high-quality instruction is obviously the goal, sending a message that denies current challenges can crush teachers' spirits. If you happen to be working in a district where expectations are far beyond reality, push back. Find others who you can join forces with, compose a letter or a document that offers more reasonable alternatives, and present it to your administration. It can and has worked. For more thoughts on this, read my post "We're a Family" and Other School Norms that Can Cause Teacher Burnout.

One More Thing

I want to add this last thought: When you really look at this situation we're in, what makes all of this so hard to do is that we want to be together. If we were okay staying 6 feet apart for the rest of our lives, this wouldn't be such a challenge. But good teaching is an intimate experience and most teachers are at their best when they can stand close to examine student work, give hugs and high fives, have private conversations. Good teachers know how important relationship-building is to the process-not only the teacher-student relationship, but relationships between our students. Our students want to bump shoulders, bend their heads together in whispered secrets, hug each other, mess around on the playground or at the bus stop, dance and laugh together.

We still want and desperately need this connection. This physical connection. I think it's important to stop and recognize that, because it's good news.

Over the last ten years or so, as smartphones took over and we got more and more addicted to screens, we've all collectively shaken our heads at how disconnected we had become. But this pandemic has demonstrated that we weren't actually disconnected. Yes, the devices made things different, but the whole time we were still finding ways to be close, to touch each other, to share physical space. It turns out we really do need that, and I think this is wonderful news.

In 2013, Coca-Cola produced a Super Bowl commercial I never forgot. It was a montage of footage captured by security cameras all over the world, quick clips of people hugging, kissing, doing kind things for each other, celebrating together. In every clip, people are physically close together in ways that are starting to look shocking to me within our current context.

The reason that commercial was so popular then, and why it resonates with me even more deeply now is because this is is who we are, the "normal" we long to get back to. It's that longing that's making all of this so difficult. I believe we'll get back there someday, and I think we'll be much less likely to ever take it for granted again.

Until then, we do the best we can, giving lots of grace to each other and to ourselves.

Come back for more.
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Reopening School: What it Might Look Like

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Sponsored by PowerSchool and ViewSonic I don't need to give you much background here: As you all know, schools have been closed worldwide in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the same way that cities are at various stages of reopening businesses, schools are doing the same thing, or at least thinking about how it might work.

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I shared this with a new Seesaw user but thought you all might like to know too!!

First, welcome to Seesaw!  I hope you love it!  I have been using it for 5 years and am now a Certified Seesaw Educator.

Second, I have a hack for you!  I wanted to do the exact same thing and figured it out. You will need Seesaw, your doc camera connected, and a recording program (I use Loom and it is FREE for educators if you sign in with your school email).

Here is what I did.  Open Seesaw and click like you are going to take a video. Use the toggle in the upper right to connect the video to your doc camera.  This should make your doc camera live on screen.   Do NOT start the recording for Seesaw, just leave the camera hot.   Then open Loom (I added the chrome extension so I could open it quickly).  Look let’s you put your face in the corner while you record if you have the camera coming from your webcam on your computer.  Adjust your circular face picture where you want it.  Now both cameras (webcam and doc cam) should be live on your screen.

Use the Loom record feature.  While recording through Loom, you can move things under your doc camera AND still have your face visible.

Because you are not recording directly in Seesaw, your are not limited to the Seesaw recoding limit.  When you are finished recording, stop Loom.  It will open the Loom window and give you a link.

Go back into Seesaw.  You can drop that link right into Seesaw in the instructions or right on the page where students will respond.

I have found having my face in the corner really helps with engagement and my second graders.

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How to Add A Google Slide/Bitmoji/Seesaw

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How to Add A Google Slide/Bitmoji/Seesaw

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Super Helpful!!

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How to Add a Google Slides Bitmoji Scene or Activity to SeeSaw.

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Join us on Wednesday, September 13, at 6:30 p.m. CT, when Laura Stewart, Chief Academic Officer and Anella Wetter, Chief Sales Officer, will showcase a different approach to assessment and intervention instruction that eliminates the 'now what'.

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Literacy Webinars for Teachers and Educators | 95 Percent Group

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Our literacy webinars for teachers and educators can help drive change in your school or district. Dive into our recorded literacy webinars here.

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NdsyehTmeimKWvbpha8Cm387AhN2LlWbrpvuKSYepHU/mobilebasic

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There has been a push for years to prepare learners to thrive in an unpredictable world. I shared this in my book Learner-Centered Innovation that resonates now more than ever.

Our world needs people who can think differently, solve problems, and thrive in a constantly changing and unpredictable society. SO how can we structure learning experience with a fixed curriculum that is outdated before learners access it. We can't! That said, endless possibilities exist to structure learning experiences for students to discover problems to solve, to develop and test ideas, and to receive feedback on the value of their ideas and products.
Learner-Centered Innovation

2020 is certainly evidence of how unpredictable the world can be and why it is so critical to have the skills that the World Economic Forum highlights such as the ability to think critically, be a complex problem solver, navigate complexity, and emotional intelligence to name a few. Rightfully, many have acknowledged the importance of social emotional health, equity and innovation in this time of uncertainty and challenge.

It is normal and feels safe to transfer practices that we have used in the classroom to an online or remote model yet if we substitute classroom practices that are standardized and designed for efficiency in the classroom, we quickly find that these same practices become inefficient, if not impossible to sustain over time. As educators have been forced to evolve in their roles and developed new teaching practices and identities to meet the needs of learners through distance learning, we continue to learn and grow and so do our students.

Over the last 4 months I have worked with students, educators, and families to understand their experiences in emergency remote learning environments. I have synthesized much of what I heard worked well, what was challenging and have identified 6 key priorities that can help us focus on designing for effective learning any time, anywhere in the fall and beyond.

1) Focus on educating the whole child, including both social emotional learning and academics

There is most definitely a need to prioritize the goals so that we can do fewer things well. One of my greatest fears is that we will become so overwhelmed with the need to "cover it all" with less time and resources and we will effectively narrow the focus to academics that are easy to track and measure rather than educate and nurture the whole child and develop the skills that they need to navigate our uncertain world. In their report, Imagining September (an MUST read), Justin Reich and Jal Mehta describe what this looked like in many schools under NCLB:
"Schools made dramatic cuts to the curriculum by reducing time and attention to science, social studies, civics, the arts, physical education, recess, extracurricular activities, social-emotional curriculum, and many of the things that teachers and students love about school. These cuts make room for schools to focus on test preparation for English Language Arts tests (really just reading tests) and Mathematics tests (really just computation tests). This path will be familiar and readily available to schools, but the costs of such an approach to teacher and student morale and to a comprehensive education are now well known to anyone who has taught during the era of standards-based school reform."
The legacy of these reforms and practices still permeate our curriculum, leadership, and view of success in many schools. One effective strategy for communicating and prioritizing a vision that focuses on the whole child is to create a learner profile that defines the skills, knowledge, and mindsets that you want learners to develop. This will help identify the broader goals and help to make decision about how you design the learning experiences and what resources you use. It also necessary to move from overwhelming lists of standards and surface level curriculum to prioritize the standards or competencies that matter most.

Here are some other ways to identify and prioritize what matters most:

Ask and listen to what matters most to your community

Prioritize desired whole child outcomes

Define proficiency and clear learning targets (both academic and SEL)

Align resources and support to your vision

2) Ensure Equity and Access for Each and Every Child

A response that I saw often in an attempt to alleviate the inequity was to not teach new content or not provide an engaging or authentic learning experience because not all could access it. One concrete example was a teacher who shared that she wanted her students to read novels and discuss them but because there were students who couldn't access the book, they did not set the expectation for any learners to engage in this rich opportunity to learn and connect with peers. Instead, what if we set high expectations high and then worked to remove barriers and provide access for the few who didn't have access to the book so that everyone had the expectations, opportunity, and support to engage in the meaningful opportunity?

Not all kids have devices, support, or consistent routines at home and it will make connecting and learning based on the expectations of schools challenging. This means that some learners will require additional support, guidance and feedback to meet the desired goals. We need to prioritize our goals, understand where learners are and then align support and resources to get them there.

Here are some critical steps to ensure equity and access

Ensure all learners know and feel valued for who they are (race, culture, gender)

Home visits and 1:1 check ins

Conduct empathy interviews with students and families

Provide resources, devices, and/or internet access

3) Employ Mastery or Competency-based approaches to Assessment

A standardized or traditional education system is designed to move kids along a certain path at a certain period of time and often ignores the variability in learners or their circumstances. In a mastery or competency-based system the learning goals are clear and transparent to the students and instruction, resources, learning experiences, and assessment are leveraged to meet the learner where they are and help them navigate their path.

This shift in assessment requires a different view of the role of the teacher, which shifts whole class lessons to more small group instruction, 1:1 check ins, and peer collaboration to move learners from their point a to their point b.

If you begin with your clear learning outcomes in step 1, some powerful tools for competency based assessment are:

Student goal setting and tracking

Progress monitoring

Student-led conferences

Digital portfolio

4) Develop and Facilitate a Community of Learners

Many of our students (and the adults) are experiencing isolation and lack of connection, especially with peers. One student shared that the people and the collaboration are often the best part of the school and moving online has removed the personal conversations and the connections built outside of the classroom experiences. Collaboration and connection are vital to our academic success as well as our social-emotional well being. They can occur more naturally in our face to face environments which is why we have to be more intentional about creating the conditions for this to happen when we are remote.

I believe that creating the community of learners to connect and collaborate with one another will be what keeps learners coming to class and what will sustain more powerful learning over time. People learn from one another, through observation, imitation, and modeling. We learn how to act and react to situations from others. When learning environments are organized to facilitate positive interactions and are designed to foster connection and collaboration, the community benefits from the collective expertise.

Here are some ideas to connect learners remotely:

Socially distant home visits

Small group, 1:1 check ins

Morning meetings

Interest/ Affinity groups

5) Create the Conditions for Learner Agency

Agency is one of the 10 characteristics of learner-centered experiences that I have written about. I often hear people equate learner agency with "doing whatever they want". Agency is by definition the power to act, but this doesn't have to be misconstrued as a free for all. We all operate within constraints but we don't have to all do things the same way to reach the intended learning targets and goals. Educators have certain expectations they are accountable for teaching and there is a variety of content and skills that we want students to learn. Within the constraints, there can still be opportunities for learner agency, which requires learners to set goals, initiate action towards those goals, revise and reflect, and develop the confidence and competence to continue to learn and grow.

I was talking with an educator who is deeply invested in his students and committed to promoting learner agency. He shared that he was really trying to create student-driven, authentic learning experiences. Yet when he asked his students to describe how they learn in school, most described him, the teacher, as the sole source of information.

So what's the disconnect you might wonder?

Despite the teachers goals, as we dove into the day to day activities he realized although he had created fun and engaging activities all the information still came from him. Students hadn't had opportunities to connect with experts beyond the teacher. All the books or articles had been assigned by the teacher and all feedback and guidance had been provided by the teacher so of course, the students believe that the teacher has all the answers.

As you reflect and plan for next year, consider these 6 questions to promote learner agency and help learners learn how to learn:

Here are some ideas to promote and develop learner agency:

Learner Profile

Goal Setting

Personalized Pathways

More opportunities for voice and choice

6) Co-design Authentic and Relevant Learning Experiences

One of the major concerns is that our students will regress without being in school and this fear is real but we have to remember that learning happens in learners, when they are interested and motivated, not just because we tell them to. Much of what I have seen in remote learning has been focused on foundational skills and content and while foundational skills are absolutely necessary, when these skills are isolated or learners lack the opportunity to use them in authentic contexts, they can lose a sense of purpose and disengage. While there are many other issues that can cause learners to disengage and prevent access, a sense of purpose is more important than ever for both our academic learning and social-emotional health. If we want young people to be skilled learners and motivated, we would be wise to provide opportunities that allow them to engage in authentic tasks that foster autonomy, invite the pursuit of mastery, and intrigue them with a sense of purpose.

When school begins in the fall the instinct might be to figure out how we can accelerate the curriculum and double up on assignments and homework to "catch students up" from what they missed. What if instead, we flipped this instinct to find out what they learned? What if we take the time to understand what they do know and what they have experienced? What if we hear their questions and ideas about the world they have experienced during the spring and summer where our world has changed dramatically? What if we understand what new hobbies they picked up or the skills they learned? Our students are learning many things that we haven't taught them. They are learning about the world in ways many history books would never describe.

Here are some ideas to co-design authentic learning with your students:

Interdisciplinary projects

Solve a problem

Passion or Inquiry projects

Investigate and impact the world around them

Moving Forward

As we emerge on the other side of this crisis, although there may be gaps in content knowledge and skills, I hope we have taught, modeled, and guided learners to be more resilient. I hope they not only understand that life is unpredictable but have skills and ability to navigate and cope when things don't turn out as expected. I want them to know how to learn when no one is telling them what to do, how to fight for something that matters to them, and how to communicate ideas, feelings, and dreams and inspire others to do the same.

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From Emergency Remote Learning to Effective Learning Any Time, Anywhere

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There has been a push for years to prepare learners to thrive in an unpredictable world. I shared this in my book Learner-Centered Innovation that resonates now more than ever. Our world needs people who can think differently, solve problems, and thrive in a constantly changing and unpredictable society.

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How to Embed Videos DIRECTLY into Seesaw Activities

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Easy to embed in Schoology/Seesaw
Want this as your own??? MAKE A COPY!!!!!
To edit: must go to slide and edit master.

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NEW! Trace2Learn Letters iPad App

Check out our new iPad app, Trace2Learn Letters...the perfect companion to the TacScreen product line.

Parents and children will be excited and encouraged to practice upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet, along with long and short vowel sounds by an intuitive sequence of letter tracing along with proper pronunciation, cheerful sounds, corresponding vivid images, and rewarding incentives targeting hands-on early learners.
Read more, check out screenshots, download and more here!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tacscreen-trace2learn-letters/id1478046883

Professionals Support TacScreen

TacScreen completes my multi-sensory tool kit.
"Every child using an iPad for education, whether they have a LEARNING DIFFERENCE or not, needs this screen!"

Vivian Morgan, Los Angeles County School District
http://turningarounddyslexia.com/tacscreen-review-tactile-touch-screen-cover-for-multi-sensory-learning/

See all Products...

TacScreen at Home

Remove frustration from learning the fundamentals.
"The tactile surface of TacScreen used in conjunction with word-tracing apps, has helped my 7-year old daughter prepare for upcoming spelling tests. The words are imprinted on her brain before we begin to study. Brilliant!"

Elizabeth Woo, Mom

Child's TacScreen Review

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SO LONG SAND

O.T.'s, teachers, & parents are discarding their sand trays for TacScreen. "TacScreen adds the sense of tactile stimulation to any educational app without the mess of sand trays or tactile letters."

Excited to Learn

TacScreen's bumpy surface builds a better connection while learning to process information and it's fun! Perfect for independent or group sections at home and in the classroom.

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Made by Dyslexia for All

Instructing and answering questions from interested teachers and children is fun. When it's the same school that questioned your abilities and intelligence because you learned differently, AND it's regarding the product and app that you co-founded..... Now that's a very good day! Made by Dyslexia for Everyone

TacScreen in the Classroom.

My students always gravitate to the iPad with the TacScreen on it.
"TacScreen completes the multi-sensory circle for teachers and parents using learning apps for educational development."

Amy McAfee, Director Curriculum & Learning

Teacher's TacScreen Review

Media Coverage

October 10, 2019 - TacScreen was featured on Central Valley Today. Please enjoy this interview to meet the makers and learn the story of the TacSreen!

TacScreen's Story

"When I realized that my child was struggling I was terrified..."
https://youtu.be/jK_fazZF5e4

Here is the story of how I stumbled upon the need for a tactile iPad surface for learning...

Read more...

TacScreen named "Current Obsession"

"Obsession is an understatement! It's hard to describe just how awesome this product is."

"The tactile experience that this screen brings to learning apps in amazing. It revolutionizes the"sand writing" strategy used in many interventions."

Experts Favorite TacScreen

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dyslexia, ADHD, special ed, tactile letters, ipad learning

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NEW! Trace2Learn Letters iPad App Check out our new iPad app, Trace2Learn Letters...the perfect companion to the TacScreen product line. Parents and children will be excited and encouraged to practice upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet, along with long and short vowel sounds by an intuitive sequence of letter tracing along with proper pronunciation, cheerful sounds, corresponding vivid images, and rewarding incentives targeting hands-on early learners.

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Teaching Very Young Learners via Zoom (Demo Video)

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Here are some of the take-always I got from the zoom meeting:

Create videos to introduce yourself to new students.
Create videos showing parents how to use the technology/programs—
Use the websites/extensions
-loom
-Screencastify
-Zoom
Give each child a basket/bag/tub with all materials they will need to bring to each zoom meeting. -include a white board and dry erase marker so kids can easily show their work.
Include water colors for paint days, envelopes with stamps, stickers, math manipulatives

Play mute/unmute game one of the first zooms to help kids navigate the button.

Have set hand signals kids can use (kids help create them as needed) thumbs up and thumbs down etc...

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Mind 🤯

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An awesome parent shared this with me!

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1. Click :add: 2. Click on the :link: on each colored subject tap 3. Watch the video lesson 4. Complete the "student work" page for each subject. 5. When complete click :check: to submit.

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*THis may no longer work!!*

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Relationships

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Sound Walls 101

Sounds Walls support students in understanding the connection between sounds (phonemes) and letters (graphemes). The first step to Sound Wall success is for the teacher to be able to explain the 44 phonemes (smallest unit of sound) of English. This information is designed to be an introduction for teachers to English phonemes and how those phonemes can be organized and presented to students in the form of a Sound Wall.

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Sounds Walls support students in understanding the connection between sounds (phonemes) and letters (graphemes). The first step to Sound Wall success is for the teacher to be able to explain the 44 phonemes (smallest unit of sound) of English.

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Distance Learning | How to Teach Guided Reading Virtually

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Cathy does it again!!! Weekly planner(see link above for copy)

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Cathy does it again!!! Weekly planner(see link above for copy)

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Virginia Beach Practice Acct Log-ins.pdf

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Free PowerPoint template and Google Slides theme.

Creative interactive template for blended learning.

Inspired by the theme created by Mangai, I created this template with File Cabinets.

It has a ton of links hidden in the Master, so it's for you to use in Present Mode. Each drawer opens and closes on click, inside each drawer there are 4 file folders, each file folder opens when you click on its label and once opened, you can click on it to see the file in it.

You can use it as a weekly planner and add 4 activities per day, or you can change the labels on the drawers and use it for different topics for professional development sessions, lessons or even as a choice board (students can choose 1 or 2 folders -activities- from each drawer) or whatever you can think of! The sky is the limit!

To change the labels on the drawers: Go to Edit > Find and Replace! Same goes for the titles (Topics) of each folder. Just keep in mind that the labels are small, and a long title won't look pretty.

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File Cabinets. Free PowerPoint template & Google Slides theme - SlidesMania

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Interactive file cabinets template. A creative template for blended learning. Free for Google Slides and PowerPoint.

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A love of reading starts with a solid foundation A love of reading starts with a solid foundation The Heggerty Way Bridge to Reading Our...

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(From Mandy Yates) It is similar to the Digital Learning Playbook. Some people were saying how they preferred this one because it was more specific.

This is a book that was set to be published in 2021 but they decided to release an abridged version for free since teachers need this information now.

There’s a lot of good info in this book for tools, pedagogy, and strategies for teaching online.

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Calm During Chaos - Flipping Math Lesson in an Elementary Classroom 

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Calm During Chaos - Flipping Math Lesson in an Elementary Classroom 

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Calm During Chaos - Flipping Math Lesson in an Elementary Classroom

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You will need to log in! Here is a tutorial: This is a great tool for Virtual Open House, Meet and Greet, for asynchronous learning platform. https://spark.adobe.com/video/xbrwwR7HgxDBM

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Listen to this audio documentary on the Educate podcast. Subscribe now.

Molly Woodworth was a kid who seemed to do well at everything: good grades, in the gifted and talented program. But she couldn't read very well.

"There was no rhyme or reason to reading for me," she said. "When a teacher would dictate a word and say, 'Tell me how you think you can spell it,' I sat there with my mouth open while other kids gave spellings, and I thought, 'How do they even know where to begin?' I was totally lost."

Woodworth went to public school in Owosso, Michigan, in the 1990s. She says sounds and letters just didn't make sense to her, and she doesn't remember anyone teaching her how to read. So she came up with her own strategies to get through text.

Strategy 1: Memorize as many words as possible. "Words were like pictures to me," she said. "I had a really good memory."

Strategy 2: Guess the words based on context. If she came across a word she didn't have in her visual memory bank, she'd look at the first letter and come up with a word that seemed to make sense. Reading was kind of like a game of 20 Questions: What word could this be?

Strategy 3: If all else failed, she'd skip the words she didn't know.

Most of the time, she could get the gist of what she was reading. But getting through text took forever. "I hated reading because it was taxing," she said. "I'd get through a chapter and my brain hurt by the end of it. I wasn't excited to learn."

No one knew how much she struggled, not even her parents. Her reading strategies were her "dirty little secrets."

Woodworth, who now works in accounting, 1 says she's still not a very good reader and tears up when she talks about it. Reading "influences every aspect of your life," she said. She's determined to make sure her own kids get off to a better start than she did.

That's why she was so alarmed to see how her oldest child, Claire, was being taught to read in school.

As long as this disproven theory remains part of American education, many kids will likely struggle to learn how to read.

A couple of years ago, Woodworth was volunteering in Claire's kindergarten classroom. The class was reading a book together and the teacher was telling the children to practice the strategies that good readers use.

The teacher said, "If you don't know the word, just look at this picture up here," Woodworth recalled. "There was a fox and a bear in the picture. And the word was bear, and she said, 'Look at the first letter. It's a "b." Is it fox or bear?'"

Woodworth was stunned. "I thought, 'Oh my God, those are my strategies.' Those are the things I taught myself to look like a good reader, not the things that good readers do," she said. "These kids were being taught my dirty little secrets."

She went to the teacher and expressed her concerns. The teacher told her she was teaching reading the way the curriculum told her to.

Woodworth had stumbled on to American education's own little secret about reading: Elementary schools across the country are teaching children to be poor readers - and educators may not even know it.

For decades, reading instruction in American schools has been rooted in a flawed theory about how reading works, a theory that was debunked decades ago by cognitive scientists, yet remains deeply embedded in teaching practices and curriculum materials. As a result, the strategies that struggling readers use to get by - memorizing words, using context to guess words, skipping words they don't know - are the strategies that many beginning readers are taught in school. This makes it harder for many kids to learn how to read, and children who don't get off to a good start in reading find it difficult to ever master the process. 2

A shocking number of kids in the United States can't read very well. A third of all fourth-graders can't read at a basic level, and most students are still not proficient readers by the time they finish high school.
Percentage of U.S. fourth-graders below basic level in reading
When kids struggle to learn how to read, it can lead to a downward spiral in which behavior, vocabulary, knowledge and other cognitive skills are eventually affected by slow reading development. 3 A disproportionate number of poor readers become high school dropouts and end up in the criminal justice system. 4

The fact that a disproven theory about how reading works is still driving the way many children are taught to read is part of the problem. School districts spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on curriculum materials that include this theory. Teachers are taught the theory in their teacher preparation programs and on the job. As long as this disproven theory remains part of American education, many kids will likely struggle to learn how to read.
Percentage of U.S. 12th-graders proficient in reading
The origins

The theory is known as "three cueing." The name comes from the notion that readers use three different kinds of information - or "cues" - to identify words as they are reading.

The theory was first proposed in 1967, when an education professor named Ken Goodman presented a paper at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in New York City.

In the paper, 5 Goodman rejected the idea that reading is a precise process that involves exact or detailed perception of letters or words. Instead, he argued that as people read, they make predictions about the words on the page using these three cues:

graphic cues (what do the letters tell you about what the word might be?)

syntactic cues (what kind of word could it be, for example, a noun or a verb?)

semantic cues (what word would make sense here, based on the context?)

Goodman concluded that:

Skill in reading involves not greater precision, but more accurate first guesses based on better sampling techniques, greater control over language structure, broadened experiences and increased conceptual development. As the child develops reading skill and speed, he uses increasingly fewer graphic cues.

Goodman's proposal became the theoretical basis for a new approach to teaching reading that would soon take hold in American schools.

Previously, the question of how to teach reading had focused on one of two basic ideas.

One idea is that reading is a visual memory process. The teaching method associated with this idea is known as "whole word." The whole word approach was perhaps best embodied in the "Dick and Jane" books that first appeared in the 1930s. The books rely on word repetition, and pictures to support the meaning of the text. The idea is that if you see words enough, you eventually store them in your memory as visual images.

The other idea is that reading requires knowledge of the relationships between sounds and letters. Children learn to read by sounding out words. This approach is known as phonics. It goes way back, popularized in the 1800s with the McGuffey readers.

These two ideas - whole word and phonics - had been taking turns as the favored way to teach reading until Goodman came along with what came to be known among educators as the "three-cueing system."

In the cueing theory of how reading works, when a child comes to a word she doesn't know, the teacher encourages her to think of a word that makes sense and asks: Does it look right? Does it sound right? If a word checks out on the basis of those questions, the child is getting it. She's on the path to skilled reading.

Teachers may not know the term "three cueing," but they're probably familiar with "MSV." M stands for using meaning to figure out what a word is, S for using sentence structure and V for using visual information (i.e., the letters in the words). MSV is a cueing idea that can be traced back to the late Marie Clay, a developmental psychologist from New Zealand who first laid out her theories about reading in a dissertation in the 1960s. 6

Clay developed her cueing theory independently of Goodman, but they met several times and had similar ideas about the reading process. Their theories were based on observational research. They would listen to children read, note the kinds of errors they made, and use that information to identify a child's reading difficulties. For example, a child who says "horse" when the word was "house" is probably relying too much on visual, or graphic, cues. A teacher in this case would encourage the child to pay more attention to what word would make sense in the sentence.

Goodman and Clay believed that letters were the least reliable of the three cues, and that as people became better readers, they no longer needed to pay attention to all the letters in words. "In efficient word perception the reader relies mostly on the sentence and its meaning and some selected features of the forms of words," Clay wrote. 7 For Goodman, accurate word recognition was not necessarily the goal of reading. The goal was to comprehend text. 8 If the sentences were making sense, the reader must be getting the words right, or right enough.

These ideas soon became the foundation for how reading was taught in many schools. Goodman's three-cueing idea formed the theoretical basis of an approach known as "whole language" that by the late 1980s had taken hold throughout America. 9 Clay built her cueing ideas into a reading intervention program for struggling first-graders called Reading Recovery. It was implemented across New Zealand in the 1980s and went on to become one of the world's most widely used reading intervention programs. 10

But while cueing was taking hold in schools, scientists were busy studying the cognitive processes involved in reading words. And they came to different conclusions about how people read. 11

Scientists take on three cueing

It was the early 1970s, and Keith Stanovich was working on his doctorate in psychology at the University of Michigan. He thought the reading field was ready for an infusion of knowledge from the "cognitive revolution" that was underway in psychology. Stanovich had a background in experimental science and an interest in learning and cognition due in part to the influence of his wife, Paula, who was a special education teacher.

Stanovich wanted to understand how people read words. 12 He knew about Goodman's work and thought he was probably right that as people become better readers, they relied more on their knowledge of vocabulary and language structure to read words and didn't need to pay as much attention to the letters.

So, in 1975, Stanovich and a fellow graduate student set out to test the idea in their lab. They recruited readers of various ages and abilities and gave them a series of word-reading tasks. Their hypothesis was that skilled readers rely more on contextual cues to recognize words than poor readers, who probably weren't as good at using context.

They couldn't have been more wrong.

"To our surprise, all of our research results pointed in the opposite direction," Stanovich wrote. "It was the poorer readers, not the more skilled readers, who were more reliant on context to facilitate word recognition." 13

The skilled readers could instantly recognize words without relying on context. Other researchers have confirmed these findings with similar experiments. It turns out that the ability to read words in isolation quickly and accurately is the hallmark of being a skilled reader. This is now one of the most consistent and well-replicated findings in all of reading research. 14

Other studies revealed further problems with the cueing theory: 15

Skilled readers don't scan words and sample from the graphic cues in an incidental way; instead, they very quickly recognize a word as a sequence of letters. That's how good readers instantly know the difference between "house" and "horse," for example.

Experiments that force people to use context to predict words show that even skilled readers can correctly guess only a fraction of the words; this is one reason people who rely on context to identify words are poor readers.

Weak word recognition skills are the most common and debilitating source of reading problems. 16

The results of these studies are not controversial or contested among scientists who study reading. The findings have been incorporated into every major scientific model of how reading works.

But cueing is still alive and well in schools.

Picture Power!

It's not hard to find examples of the cueing system. A quick search on Google, Pinterest or Teachers Pay Teachers turns up plenty of lesson plans, teaching guides and classroom posters. One popular poster has cute cartoon characters to remind children they have lots of strategies to use when they're stuck on a word, including looking at the picture (Eagle Eye), getting their lips ready to try the first sound (Lips the Fish), or just skipping the word altogether (Skippy Frog).

There are videos online where you can see cueing in action. In one video posted on The Teaching Channel, 17 a kindergarten teacher in Oakland, California, instructs her students to use "picture power" to identify the words on the page. The goal of the lesson, according to the teacher, is for the students to "use the picture and a first sound to determine an unknown word in their book."

The class reads a book together called "In the Garden." On each page, there's a picture of something you might find in a garden. It's what's known as a predictable book; the sentences are all the same except for the last word.

The children have been taught to memorize the words "look," "at," and "the." The challenge is getting the last word in the sentence. The lesson plan tells the teacher to cover up the word with a sticky note.

In the video, the wiggly kindergarteners sitting cross-legged on the floor come to a page with a picture of a butterfly. The teacher tells the kids that she's guessing the word is going to be butterfly. She uncovers the word to check on the accuracy of her guess.

"Look at that," she tells the children, pointing to the first letter of the word. "It starts with the /b/ /b/ /b/." The class reads the sentence together as the teacher points to the words. "Look at the butterfly!" they yell out excitedly.

This lesson comes from "Units of Study for Teaching Reading," more commonly known as "reader's workshop." 18 According to the lesson plan, this lesson teaches children to "know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words." 19

But the children were not taught to decode words in this lesson. They were taught to guess words using pictures and patterns - hallmarks of the three-cueing system.

The author of Units of Study for Teaching Reading, Lucy Calkins, often refers to cueing in her published work. 20 She uses the term MSV - the meaning, structure and visual idea that originally came from Clay in New Zealand.

Then there is Fountas and Pinnell Literacy, started by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, teachers who learned the MSV concept from Clay in the 1980s. 21

Fountas and Pinnell have written several books about teaching reading, including a best-seller about a widely used instructional approach called "Guided Reading." They also created a reading assessment system that uses what are called "leveled books." 22 Children start with predictable books like "In the Garden" and move up levels as they're able to "read" the words. But many of the words in those books - butterfly, caterpillar - are words that beginning readers haven't been taught to decode yet. One purpose of the books is to teach children that when they get to a word they don't know, they can use context to figure it out.

When put into practice in the classroom, these approaches can cause problems for children when they are learning to read.

'That is not reading'

Margaret Goldberg, a teacher and literacy coach in the Oakland Unified School District, remembers a moment when she realized what a problem the three-cueing approach was. She was with a first-grader named Rodney when he came to a page with a picture of a girl licking an ice cream cone and a dog licking a bone.

The text said: "My little dog likes to eat with me."

But Rodney said: "My dog likes to lick his bone."

Rodney breezed right through it, unaware that he hadn't read the sentence on the page.

Goldberg realized lots of her students couldn't actually read the words in their books; instead, they were memorizing sentence patterns and using the pictures to guess. One little boy exclaimed, "I can read this book with my eyes shut!"

"Oh no," Goldberg thought. "That is not reading."

Goldberg had been hired by the Oakland schools in 2015 to help struggling readers by teaching a Fountas and Pinnell program called "Leveled Literacy Intervention" that uses leveled books and the cueing approach. 23

Around the same time, Goldberg was trained in a program that uses a different strategy for teaching children how to read words. The program is called "Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Sight Words," or SIPPS. 24 It's a phonics program that teaches children how to sound out words and uses what are known as "decodable books." Most words in the books have spelling patterns that kids have been taught in their phonics lessons.

Goldberg decided to teach some of her students using the phonics program and some of her students using three cueing. And she began to notice differences between the two groups of kids. "Not just in their abilities to read," she said, "but in the way they approached their reading."

Goldberg and a colleague recorded first-graders talking about what makes them good readers.

One video shows Mia, on the left, who was in the phonics program. Mia says she's a good reader because she looks at the words and sounds them out. JaBrea, on the right, was taught the cueing system. JaBrea says: "I look at the pictures and I read it."

Courtesy of Margaret Goldberg, Oakland Unified School District

It was clear to Goldberg after just a few months of teaching both approaches that the students learning phonics were doing better. "One of the things that I still struggle with is a lot of guilt," she said.

She thinks the students who learned three cueing were actually harmed by the approach. "I did lasting damage to these kids. It was so hard to ever get them to stop looking at a picture to guess what a word would be. It was so hard to ever get them to slow down and sound a word out because they had had this experience of knowing that you predict what you read before you read it."

Goldberg soon discovered the decades of scientific evidence against cueing. 25 She was shocked. She had never come across any of this science in her teacher preparation or on the job.

And she started to wonder why not.

Balanced Literacy

People have been arguing for centuries about how children should be taught to read. The fight has mostly focused on whether to teach phonics.

The whole language movement of the late 20th century was perhaps the zenith of the anti-phonics argument. 26 Phonics instruction was seen as tedious, time-consuming and ultimately unnecessary. Why? Because - according to the three-cueing theory - readers can use other, more reliable cues to figure out what the words say. 27

Marilyn Adams came across this belief in the early 1990s. She's a cognitive and developmental psychologist who had just written a book summarizing the research on how children learn to read. 28 One big takeaway from the book is that becoming a skilled reader of English requires knowledge of sound-spelling correspondences. 29 Another big takeaway is that many kids were not being taught this in school.

Soon after the book was published, Adams was describing her findings to a group of teachers and state education officials in Sacramento, California. She was sensing discomfort and confusion in the room. "And I just stopped and said, 'What is it that I'm missing?'" she recalled. "'What is it that we need to talk about? Help me.'"

A woman raised her hand and asked: "What does this have to do with the three-cueing system?" Marilyn didn't know what the three-cueing system was. "I think I blew all of their fuses that I did not [know what it was] since this was so fundamental to being an elementary reading teacher," she said. "How could I present myself to them as an expert on reading and not know about this?"

The teachers drew her a Venn diagram of the three-cueing system. It looked something like this:

Adams thought this diagram made perfect sense. The research clearly shows that readers use all of these cues to understand what they're reading.

But Adams soon figured out the disconnect. Teachers understood these cues not just as the way readers construct meaning from text, but as the way readers actually identify the words on the page. And they thought that teaching kids to decode or sound out words was not necessary.

"The most important thing was for the children to understand and enjoy the text," Adams said. "And from that understanding and joy of reading, the words on the page would just pop out at them."

She would explain to teachers at every opportunity that explicitly teaching children about the relationships between sounds and letters is essential to ensure all kids get off to a good start in reading. But she got tons of pushback from teachers. "They didn't want to teach phonics!" she recalled in frustration.

In 1998, Adams wrote a book chapter about how the three-cueing system conflicts with what researchers have figured out about reading. She hoped it would help put three cueing to rest. 30

By this time, the scientific research on reading was gaining traction. In 2000, a national panel convened by Congress to review the evidence on how to teach reading came out with a report. 31 It identified several essential components of reading instruction, including vocabulary, comprehension and phonics. The evidence that phonics instruction enhances children's success in learning how to read was clear and compelling. National reports on reading a few years later in the United Kingdom and Australia came to the same conclusion. 32

"When I got into the classroom and someone told me to use this practice, I didn't question it."-Stacey Cherny

Eventually, many whole language supporters accepted the weight of the scientific evidence about the importance of phonics instruction. They started adding phonics to their books and materials and renamed their approach "balanced literacy."

But they didn't get rid of the three-cueing system.

Balanced literacy proponents will tell you their approach is a mix of phonics instruction with plenty of time for kids to read and enjoy books. But look carefully at the materials and you'll see that's not really what balanced literacy is mixing. Instead, it's mixing a bunch of different ideas about how kids learn to read. It's a little bit of whole word instruction with long lists of words for kids to memorize. It's a little bit of phonics. And fundamentally, it's the idea that children should be taught to read using the three-cueing system.

And it turns out cueing may actually prevent kids from focusing on words in the way they need to become skilled readers.

Mapping the words

To understand why cueing can get in the way of children's reading development, it's essential to understand how our brains process the words we see.

Reading scientists have known for decades that the hallmark of being a skilled reader is the ability to instantly and accurately recognize words. 33 If you're a skilled reader, your brain has gotten so good at reading words that you process the word "chair" faster than you process a picture of a chair. 34 You know tens of thousands of words instantly, on sight. How did you learn to do that?

It happens through a process called "orthographic mapping." 35 This occurs when you pay attention to the details of a written word and link the word's pronunciation and meaning with its sequence of letters. 36 A child knows the meaning and pronunciation of "pony." The word gets mapped to his memory when he links the sounds /p/ /o/ /n/ /y/ to the written word "pony."

That requires an awareness of the speech sounds in words and an understanding of how those sounds are represented by letters. 37 In other words, you need phonics skills.

Here's what happens when a reader who has good phonics skills comes to a word she doesn't recognize in print. She stops at the word and sounds it out. If it's a word she knows the meaning of, she has now linked the spelling of the word with its pronunciation. If she doesn't know the meaning of the word, she can use context to try to figure it out.

By about second grade, a typically developing reader needs just a few exposures to a word through understanding both the pronunciation and the spelling for that word to be stored in her memory. 38 She doesn't know that word because she memorized it as a visual image. She knows that word because at some point she successfully sounded it out.

The more words she stores in her memory this way, the more she can focus on the meaning of what she's reading; she'll eventually be using less brain power to identify words and will be able to devote more brain power to comprehending what she's reading. 39

But when children don't have good phonics skills, the process is different.

"They sample from the letters because they're not good at sounding them out," said David Kilpatrick, a psychology professor at SUNY Cortland and the author of a book about preventing reading difficulties. 40 "And they use context."

In other words, when people don't have good phonics skills, they use the cueing system.

"The three-cueing system is the way poor readers read," said Kilpatrick.

And if teachers use the cueing system to teach reading, Kilpatrick says they're not just teaching children the habits of poor readers, they are actually impeding the orthographic mapping process. 41

"The minute you ask them just to pay attention to the first letter or look at the picture, look at the context, you're drawing their attention away from the very thing that they need to interact with in order for them to read the word [and] remember the word," Kilpatrick said. In this way, he said, three cueing can actually prevent the critical learning that's necessary for a child to become a skilled reader.

In many balanced literacy classrooms, children are taught phonics and the cueing system. Some kids who are taught both approaches realize pretty quickly that sounding out a word is the most efficient and reliable way to know what it is. Those kids tend to have an easier time understanding the ways that sounds and letters relate. They'll drop the cueing strategies and begin building that big bank of instantly known words that is so necessary for skilled reading.

But some children will skip the sounding out if they're taught they have other options. Phonics is challenging for many kids. The cueing strategies seem quicker and easier at first. And by using context and memorizing a bunch of words, many children can look like good readers - until they get to about third grade, when their books begin to have more words, longer words, and fewer pictures. Then they're stuck. They haven't developed their sounding-out skills. Their bank of known words is limited. Reading is slow and laborious and they don't like it, so they don't do it if they don't have to. While their peers who mastered decoding early are reading and teaching themselves new words every day, the kids who clung to the cueing approach are falling further and further behind. 42

These poor reading habits, once ingrained at a young age, can follow kids into high school. Some kids who were taught the cueing approach never become good readers. Not because they're incapable of learning to read well but because they were taught the strategies of struggling readers.

'So what if they use the picture?'

Once Margaret Goldberg discovered the cognitive science evidence against cueing, she wanted her colleagues in the Oakland school district to know about it too.

Over the past two years, Goldberg and a fellow literacy coach named Lani Mednick have been leading a grant-funded pilot project to improve reading achievement in the Oakland schools. 43

They have their work cut out for them. Nearly half the district's third-graders are below grade level in reading. Goldberg and Mednick want to raise questions about how kids in Oakland are being taught to read.

They meet every couple weeks with literacy coaches from the 10 elementary schools in the pilot program. They read and discuss articles about the scientific research on reading. At a meeting in March, the coaches watched the video of the "picture power" lesson.

"This teacher meant well," Mednick said to the coaches after they watched the lesson. "It seemed like she believed this lesson would ensure her students would be on the road toward reading."

Mednick wanted the coaches to consider the beliefs about reading that would lead to the creation of a lesson like "picture power." The Oakland schools purchased the Units of Study for Teaching Reading series, which includes the "picture power" lesson, as part of a balanced literacy initiative the district began about 10 years ago. The district also bought the Fountas and Pinnell assessment system.

The coaches saw right away that "picture power" was designed to teach kids the cueing system. But they said many teachers don't see any problem with cueing. After all, one of the cues is to look at the letters in the word. What's wrong with teaching kids lots of different strategies to figure out unknown words? 44

"I remember before we started looking at the science and everything, I thought to myself, 'Reading is so hard for kids, so what if they use the picture?'" said Soraya Sajous-Brooks, the early literacy coach at Prescott Elementary School in West Oakland. "Like, use everything you've got."

But she's come to understand that cueing sends the message to kids that they don't need to sound out words. Her students would get phonics instruction in one part of the day. Then they'd go reader's workshop and be taught that when they come to a word they don't know, they have lots of strategies. They can sound it out. They can also check the first letter, look at the picture, think of a word that makes sense.

Teaching cueing and phonics doesn't work, Sajous-Brooks said. "One negates the other."

Goldberg and Mednick want to show the district there's a better way to teach reading. Schools in the pilot project used grant money to buy new materials that steer clear of the three-cueing idea. Two charter school networks in Oakland are working on similar projects to move their schools away from cueing.

To see what it looks like, I visited a first-grade classroom at a charter school in Oakland called Achieve Academy. 45

One part of the day was explicit phonics instruction. 46 The students were divided into small groups based on their skill level. They met with their teacher, Andrea Ruiz, at a kidney-shaped table in a corner of the classroom. The lowest-level group worked on identifying the speech sounds in words like "skin" and "skip." The highest-level group learned how verbs like "spy" and "cry" are spelled as "spied' and 'cried" in the past tense.

There were also vocabulary lessons. 47 The entire class gathered on a rug at the front of the classroom to talk about a book Ms. Ruiz read out loud to them. One of the words in the book was "prey."

"What animals are a chameleon's prey?" Ms. Ruiz asked the children. "Or we can also ask, what animals do chameleons hunt for food?"

The kids turned and talked to each other. "A chameleon's prey are bugs and insects and other chameleons and mice and birds," a little boy explained to his classmate. "That's it."

Other vocabulary words these first-graders had learned were posted on cards around the classroom. They included: wander, persevere, squint and scrumptious. The kids weren't expected to read those words yet. The idea is to build their oral vocabulary so that when they can read those words, they know what the words mean.

This comes straight from the scientific research, which shows that reading comprehension is the product of two things. 48 First, a child needs to be able to sound out a word. Second, the child needs to know the meaning of the word she just sounded out. So, in a first-grade classroom that's following the research, you will see explicit phonics instruction and also lessons that build oral vocabulary and background knowledge. And you will see kids practicing what they've been taught.

After their vocabulary lesson, the kids did "buddy reading." They retreated to various spots around the classroom to read books to each other. I found Belinda sitting on an adult chair at the back of the classroom, her little legs swinging. Across from her was her buddy Steven, decked out in a yellow and blue plaid shirt tucked neatly into his jeans. He held the book and pointed to the words while Belinda read.

"Ellen /m/," Belinda paused, sounding out the word "meets." She was reading a decodable book about some kids who visit a farm. Almost all of the words in the book contain spelling patterns she'd been taught in her phonics lessons.

"I am a farm here," Belinda read.

Steven did a double-take. "A farmer here," he said gently. Steven's job as Belinda's reading buddy was to help her if she missed a word or got stuck. But that didn't happen much because Belinda had been taught how to read the words. She didn't need any help from the pictures, either. She barely glanced at them as she read.

To be clear, there's nothing wrong with pictures. They're great to look at and talk about, and they can help a child comprehend the meaning of a story. Context - including a picture if there is one - helps us understand what we're reading all the time. But if a child is being taught to use context to identify words, she's being taught to read like a poor reader.

Many educators don't know this because the cognitive science research has not made its way into many schools and schools of education. 49

Ruiz didn't know about this research until the Oakland pilot project. "I didn't really know anything about how kids learn to read when I started teaching," she said. It was a relief when she came to Oakland and the curriculum spelled out that kids use meaning, structure and visual cues to figure out words. "Because I came from not having anything, I was like, 'Oh, there's a way we should teach this,'" she said.

I heard this from other educators. Cueing was appealing because they didn't know what else to do.

"When I got into the classroom and someone told me to use this practice, I didn't question it," said Stacey Cherny, a former teacher who's now principal of an elementary school in Pennsylvania. She says many teachers aren't taught what they need to know about the structure of the English language to be able to teach phonics well. She says phonics can be intimidating; three cueing isn't.

Another reason cueing holds on is that it seems to work for some children. But researchers estimate there's a percentage of kids - perhaps about 40 percent - who will learn to read no matter how they're taught. 50 According to Kilpatrick, children who learn to read with cueing are succeeding in spite of the instruction, not because of it.

Goldberg hopes the pilot project in Oakland will convince the district to drop all instructional materials that include cueing.

When asked about this, the Oakland superintendent's office responded with a written statement that there isn't enough evidence from the pilot project to make curriculum changes for the entire district and that the Oakland schools remain committed to balanced literacy.

Oakland's situation is no different from many other districts across the country that have invested millions of dollars in materials that include cueing.

"It feels like everyone's trusting somebody else to have done their due diligence," Goldberg said. "Classroom teachers are trusting that the materials they're being handed will work. The people who purchase the materials are trusting if they were on the market, that they will work. We're all trusting, and it's a system that is broken."

'My science is different'

If cueing was debunked decades ago by cognitive scientists, why is the idea still in materials that are being sold to schools?

One answer to that question is that school districts still buy the materials. Heinemann, the company that publishes the Fountas and Pinnell and Lucy Calkins' products that the Oakland schools use, earned somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 million in 2018, according to earnings reports. 51

I wanted to know what the authors of those materials make of the cognitive science research. And I wanted to give them a chance to explain the ideas behind their work. I wrote to Calkins, Fountas and Pinnell and asked for interviews. They all declined. Heinemann sent a statement that said every product the company sells is informed by extensive research.

I also asked Ken Goodman for an interview. It's been more than 50 years since he first laid out the three-cueing theory in that 1967 paper. I wanted to know what he thinks of the cognitive science research. Of the major proponents of three cueing I reached out to, he was the only one who agreed to an interview.

I visited Goodman at his home in Tucson, Arizona. He's 91. He uses a scooter to get around, but he's still working. He just finished a new edition of one of his books.

When I asked him what he makes of the cognitive science research, he told me he thinks scientists focus too much on word recognition. He still doesn't believe accurate word recognition is necessary for reading comprehension.

"Word recognition is a preoccupation," he said. "I don't teach word recognition. I teach people to make sense of language. And learning the words is incidental to that."

He brought up the example of a child who comes to the word "horse" and says "pony" instead. His argument is that a child will still understand the meaning of the story because horse and pony are the same concept.

I pressed him on this. First of all, a pony isn't the same thing as a horse. Second, don't you want to make sure that when a child is learning to read, he understands that /p/ /o/ /n/ /y/ says "pony"? And different letters say "horse"?

He dismissed my question.

"The purpose is not to learn words," he said. "The purpose is to make sense."

Cognitive scientists don't dispute that the purpose of reading is to make sense of the text. But the question is: How can you understand what you are reading if you can't accurately read the words? And if quick and accurate word recognition is the hallmark of being a skilled reader, how does a little kid get there?

Goodman rejected the idea that you can make a distinction between skilled readers and unskilled readers; he doesn't like the value judgment that implies. He said dyslexia does not exist - despite lots of evidence that it does. 52 And he said the three-cueing theory is based on years of observational research. In his view, three cueing is perfectly valid, drawn from a different kind of evidence than what scientists collect in their labs.

"My science is different," Goodman said.

This idea that there are different kinds of evidence that lead to different conclusions about how reading works is one reason people continue to disagree about how children should be taught to read. It's important for educators to understand that three cueing is based on theory and observational research and that there's decades of scientific evidence from labs all over the world that converges on a very different idea about skilled reading.

The cognitive science does not provide all the answers about how to teach children to read, but on the question of how skilled readers read words, scientists have amassed a huge body of evidence.

Goldberg thinks it's time for educators across the country to take a close look at all the materials they use to teach reading.

"We should look through the materials and search for evidence of cueing," she said. "And if it's there, don't touch it. Don't let it get near our kids, don't let it get near our classrooms, our teachers."

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How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers

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For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don't know there's anything wrong with it.

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Rather than asking students about what they did over the summer, consider these questions instead: 4/5

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Rather than asking students about what they did over the summer, consider these questions instead: 4/5 https://t.co/8FCbTYY9Et

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Why I Won’t Be Asking, “How was your summer?” Anymore 3/5
https://t.co/eoycVHbv0D

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Why I Won’t Be Asking, “How was your summer?” Anymore

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The first days of school I am so excited to reconnect with students and my ‘go to’ conversation starter has almost always been a variation of “How was your summer?” But acco…

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Rather than asking students about what they did over the summer, consider these questions instead: 4/5 pic.twitter.com/8FCbTYY9Et
— Katrice (she/her) (@katricequitter) August 17, 2020

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Rather than asking students about what they did over the summer, consider these questions instead: 4/5 https://t.co/8FCbTYY9Et

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Why I Won’t Be Asking, “How was your summer?” Anymore 3/5
https://t.co/eoycVHbv0D

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Why I Won’t Be Asking, “How was your summer?” Anymore

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The first days of school I am so excited to reconnect with students and my ‘go to’ conversation starter has almost always been a variation of “How was your summer?” But acco…

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Rather than asking students about what they did over the summer, consider these questions instead: 4/5 https://t.co/8FCbTYY9Et

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Why I Won’t Be Asking, “How was your summer?” Anymore 3/5
https://t.co/eoycVHbv0D

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Why I Won’t Be Asking, “How was your summer?” Anymore

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The long-awaited Google Slides audio feature has finally arrived!

We can now insert audio in Google Slides-this can be voice, music, narration, sound effects, any type of audio you have access to or want to create.

For many years, teachers have been asking me how to add audio-usually narration or background music-to Google Slides.

Google has heard our request and we now have a new menu option: Insert > Audio! Hooray!

There are so many ways that we can use this feature in our lesson plans and student projects.

If you are looking for project ideas, be sure you take a look at my previous post: 25 Ways to Use Audio in Google Slides.

Currently, this feature is only available on the desktop version of Google Slides.

Below is a YouTube video tutorial. Keep reading to see all the steps (and tips) in the blog post as well.

Keep in mind, this feature allows us to INSERT audio, not create the audio file itself.
The file must be an .mp3 or .wav file type.
You can insert audio clips, sound effects, or music if you own the file and have the rights to use it.

(Remember to respect copyright and fair use policies when using audio files created by someone else, and use this as an opportunity to talk with your students about good digital citizenship!)

Creating Your Own Audio Files

Since Google Slides doesn't provide you with a recording option, you will need to use a separate application to record the audio file and save it to your Google Drive.

Here are a few apps to try for audio recording: Online Voice Recorder (web-based, no sign-in), Audacity (Mac or PC), or GarageBand (Apple only).

A simple search in the Chrome Web Store will also help you find many other options, particularly for Chromebooks.

Once you have located or created your audio, you are ready for the next step.

STEP 1: Save your audio file to your Google Drive

If you already have an audio or music file you want to use, be sure it is saved to your Google Drive.

To upload and store files in Drive, go to Drive, click on the NEW button, and select FILE UPLOAD.

Don't forget! If you are sharing this slide deck with your students or anyone else that will need to play the audio file, the audio must be shared separately from Google Drive.

Right-click on the file from Google Drive, and click on Share.

Share this file so that at least anyone with the link can view. Learn more about sharing in the Guide to Google Drive Sharing.

If you forget to share the audio file, students will not be able to play it.
<
h3>STEP 2: Insert audio into your Google Slide

Open your Google Slides file or create a new one.

(Tip: Type in Slides.new to create a new slide deck quickly.)

Select the slide where you want to insert the audio file.

Then go to INSERT>AUDIO

Select the file from your Google Drive.

After you click SELECT, a speaker button will appear on your slide. Click on the icon to play the audio or move the button anywhere you like on the slide.

Audio Format Options

There are a few adjustments you can make to your audio file once it is inserted in the slide.

This is similar to the options you see with videos as well. ( CLICK HERE to learn more about video options in Google Slides.)

When the speaker icon is selected (has the blue bars), you can click and drag to place it where you want.

You can also click on FORMAT OPTIONS in the toolbar. (This contextual menu will only appear when the object is selected.)
Related: How to Record and Insert Audio in Google Slides with Mote
A sidebar menu will appear that will give you some playback options.

(The screenshot below are the default settings.)

You can choose to have it play "on click," or to play automatically when you present that slide.

If you choose to have it play automatically, you can also hide the icon because most likely, you won't need to see it on the screen.

You can also adjust the volume level of the audio.

You can choose to have the audio loop so that it plays over and over again.

And last, but not least, you can uncheck the box that says "Stop on slide change," and this will allow the audio to continue to play when you change slides.

How to Play Audio in Your Google Slides

You can preview the audio and play while you are in editing mode by hovering over the speaker icon or clicking on it to select it and then click play.

When you are in presentation mode, you can click on the speaker button to play the audio, or just hover and click the play button.

Learn More About Google Slides!

I frequently refer to Google Slides as the Swiss Army Knife of the G Suite tools because it is capable of being so much more than a presentation tool. In this course, you will learn how to use Slides in new and unexpected ways in your classroom that will engage your students and make learning more dynamic!

K-12 teachers are going to LOVE THIS COURSE!

This class is perfect for beginner to intermediate users to take their skills to the next level and become a Google Slides Master!

(Prerequisite: basic knowledge of slides, how to access and create new slides.)

Learn All About the Course

What's Included?

Self-paced

Video-based lessons

3 BONUS Lessons!!!

Bonus 1: Stop-Motion Animation

Bonus 2: How to Create Magnetic Poetry with Slides and Drawings

Bonus 3: 50 Google Slides Lesson and Project Ideas

Supporting Resources

Best Practices and Tips

6 hours of professional learning credit

Purchase orders are accepted (Just email Kasey[at]ShakeUpLearning.com (replace [at] with @.)

Bulk license discounts

Get your whole team, campus, or district on board

© Shake Up Learning 2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kasey Bell and Shake Up Learning with appropriate and specific direction to the original content on ShakeUpLearning.com. See: Copyright Policy.
Click here to learn more and to ENROLL TODAY! Click here to learn more and to ENROLL TODAY!

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How to Insert Audio in Google Slides (Step-by-Step)

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The long-awaited Google Slides audio feature has finally arrived! We can now insert audio in Google Slides-this can be voice, music, narration, sound effects, any type of audio you have access to or want to create. For many years, teachers have been asking me how to add audio-usually narration or background music-to Google Slides.

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How do deal when we are face to face

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PUBLIC K-2 Innovation Bootcamp: Back to School Edition #1 - Google Slides

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Flipgrid has added some amazing new features! I am most excited about the new split screen option when recording a response.

Video Assessment

As a math teacher, show your work is obsolete. Photomath will do that! I want “Show your thinking.” “Demonstrate mathematical reasoning.” “Explain your answer.” I can use Flipgrid to assess students understanding of a concept and hear them explain their reasoning.

Create a Group

Flipgrid has changed the interface and some of the terminology. You now create a GROUP instead of a Grid. If I am wanting to create an assessment say for Unit 1 I would create a “Unit 1 Assessment” group.

Add Topics

For each concept I want to assess I will create a topic. Think more “question” than “topic.”

Flipgrid allows you to share directly to Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams. You can also simply copy the link and share it with your students. Super easy!

Students Use Split Screen

When in their response students can click on “Effects” and “Board” to get a whiteboard. Note: Students can write on the whiteboard before they start recording to allow for sharing their thinking rather than watching them write things out.

Clicking on “Board” students can choose from a variety of paper types. Once the paper is selected they can use the split screen slider to divide the screen between their face and the board.

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Flipgrid has added some amazing new features! I am most excited about the new split screen option when recording a response. flipgrid.com Video Assessment

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Don’t want to deal with oh no! I am missing a letter

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TEACHER PAY TEACHER FREE! If it doesn't load

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How to Teach Sight Words - Science of Reading // sight word activities for struggling readers

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How to Make INTERACTIVE Google Slides (All the Basics & Then Some!)

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Close each experience in a purposeful way. An Intentional Closure highlights an individual and shared understanding of the importance of the work, and can provide a sense of accomplishment and support forward thinking.

Intentional Closures may be reflective about the learning, help identify next steps, or make connections to one's own work. Since our learning and our work are always a part of an on-going journey, these experiences bring a moment of pause, collection and reflection to help anchor learning and build anticipation for the efforts to come.

What's important is that each engagement, class period, or school day ends in a thoughtfully planned and meaningful way that intentionally helps everyone leave with appreciation and energy, looking forward to connecting again.

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Close each experience in a purposeful way. An Intentional Closure highlights an individual and shared understanding of the importance of the work, and can provide a sense of accomplishment and support forward thinking. Intentional Closures may be reflective about the learning, help identify next

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Integrating SEL. Signature Strategy Templates

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This was a great course to support the use of Securly