By Nick DiNardo: Education Technology Professional, Action-Taker, and Podcaster
Action. Impact. Progress.
Here are our general observations, a review of where the sentiment is and productivity is, almost a year after Covid19 hit. 02:05 Our hopes 03:06 Teachers are still being very reactive, day to day based on COVID cases coming in...
Why do we pull data and set goals around sub-groups in a school when we have a goal that’s hoping to meet the needs of all students? 02:00 Schools setting goals based on data on student academic success 03:00...
What is the impact on relationships that this remote virtual learning world has put on teachers, parents, students, and staff? 02:00 Why this episode 03:00 Building rapport and building relationships 03:19 Transactional relationships 03:45 You don’t have those water cooler...
What can potentially engage students virtually? Here are different tactics to lessen the load on the emotional exhaustion that happens from running a virtual classroom all day, and to increase student engagement. 04:49 Flipped model for learning 09:01 Having an...
We talk about stamina as it pertains to distance learning from the student and teacher perspective, and the challenge of student engagement. 01:32 Three buckets of stamina: from the lens of a teacher from a first grader doing distance learning from...
Continuing our family-facing series on supporting your child at home, we talk about practicing social emotional learning (SEL) at home, what SEL means, and its familiar and unfamiliar applications. 02:00 Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is about being able to...
Malika Ali joins us in this series about parents supporting their distant learners; a resource for parents on how to set their child up to be able to learn at home. In this episode, we talk about how to set...
This episode is a deep dive on teachers and what they’re dealing with as they go back to school and focus on student success. 01:44 The teachers are on the front lines of this, having to focus on student...
How are people making back-to-school decisions for K-12? We share our perspectives on some of the different strategies for going back to school. 01:24 Guidance from the state for how schools should be considering going back to school. 02:58 How...
Today’s One Thing is a series produced in partnership with The Learning Accelerator. Week 6: How do you differentiate remote instruction? 00:42 Recap of past episodes 01:40 What differentiation is and is not 03:35 Tips for looking at differentiation in 3 different...
In this Part 2 of the Distance Learning Feedback series, we share what students and teachers want to leave behind once we get to a new normal in the classroom. 01:04 Why talking about the “leave behinds” is important...
Today’s One Thing is a series produced in partnership with The Learning Accelerator. Week 5: How do I assess learning to inform and improve instruction remotely? 01:12 Data points to be used not to assign grades but as a concrete...
Christina did a survey in mid-March, asking students and teachers: What was successful about distance learning? What do you want to keep? 01:29 Reason for the survey 03:03 Use of choice boards and playlists so that students can learn...
Today’s One Thing is a series produced in partnership with The Learning Accelerator. Week 4: How can educators flip existing content or curate content online to personalize and engage students, still with high levels of rigor? 01:41 Teachers, don’t...
We’re talking about screencasting in the classroom: how is it used and how can it help re-imagine effective learning in this new virtual world. 01:30 What is screencasting? 02:14 Screencastifty https://www.screencastify.com/ 03:07 Making interactions more efficient 04:19 A teacher’s...
Today’s One Thing is a series produced in partnership with The Learning Accelerator. Week 3: How can we develop systems and strategies that help students to self-manage engagement and progress, and also own the accountability for their work? 01:13...
We’re sharing virtual end-of-year activities and ideas in the classroom. 03:08 Compliment trade or compliment exchange 05:46 Digital scrapbook Canva https://www.canva.com/ Google Slides https://docs.google.com/presentation/u/0/ 07:05 Top 10 list 08:05 Letter to your future self 10:32 Dance video 11:17 Virtual...
Bianca Davila of The Learning Accelerator joins us again as we talk about how can educators help set up daily structures at home so that students can engage with content, feel supported, and build habits that create independence and autonomy....
Nando Prudhomme and Maureen Sigler of the Highlander Institute, and Liz Leebens of Baychester Middle School join us to talk about how the school is keeping kids and families at the center, and how that is driving student engagement in...
We teamed up with The Learning Accelerator for this series, Today’s One Thing, where we focus on one thing that teachers can enact within the virtual classroom every week to connect with students. In this first episode, Bianca Dávila joins...
We talk about the evolution of the parent-teacher relationship and how these virtual parent-teacher conferences have started to become much more important as parents take on more of the teaching role and the teachers take on more of a consulting...
Mike Miele of the Highlander Institute and Stefanie Lafleur of Greystone Elementary School join us to talk about the expectations and reality of making the shift to distance learning during a pandemic. 02:31 Difference between digital and distance learning...
Laura Jackson tells us about the Yellow Farmhouse, a working farm where they do education, food, and farm-based education for children and adults. Yellow Farmhouse Education Center – https://www.yellowfarmhouse.org/ 02:20 Yellow Farmhouse Education Center and its mission 03:36 Reconnecting...
Vera De Jesus of the Highlander Institute shares a bundle of resources for teachers, families, partners, etc. that could potentially support or inform around Covid-19. 02:11 Coronavirus Resources: Teaching, Learning and Thinking Critically – resources and links that provide...
We talk about the differences between remote learning and online learning, and the misconceptions about the two. 02:24 If this was an easy transition, you might have been doing something wrong. 02:50 Where does the student fit in? 03:25...
This is an update on the Covid-19 situation and how it’s applied to K-12 education. 01:59 Trends observed as schools went into remote/distance learning 03:35 People making adjustments based on feedback coming from families and communities 04:36 Tribe: On Homecoming...
Malika Ali of the Highlander Institute joins us in talking about the ways that we use the concept of “developmentally appropriateness” as kind of a deficit lens or as an excuse not to have high expectations for kids. 01:53 How...
The WOOP toolkit for educators helps students set a goal (wish), and by visualizations, help them imagine an outcome and an obstacle, then plan for it. 01:01 What is WOOP? WOOP for classrooms: https://characterlab.org/activities/woop-for-classrooms/ 02:28. WOOP process (Nick) Wish:...
What’s the importance of preparation in education, in the classroom setting? 02:00 Home Depot analogy: You wouldn’t go into Home Depot without a project in mind. 03:10 How do you plan with just the right amount of effort? 03:45...
In the midst of the coronavirus discussion, we talk about the implications that this is going to have through the end of the school year, what this is going to do to student learning, and to administrations who are making...
Author and educator Michael Horn provides insights for parents, students and educators about the research in his book, Choosing College: How to Make Better Learning Decisions Throughout Your Life. Guest Bio: Michael Horn speaks and writes about the future of...
If you could wave a magic wand to create a school system of your dreams, what would it look like or what would the change be? Mike: 02:42 1. How might we create an integrated school system that honors all...
Mike Klein of the Highlander Institute joins us today as we talk about digital citizenship and how to become a great digital citizen. 01:57 Definition of digital citizenship 03:08 I was just thinking about what digital citizenship means to me,...
In this episode we talk about adaptive software. How do you use it well? How do you make it work for you? And some ways to make sure that you’re not doing it the wrong way. 01:30 Definition of adaptive...
Today we talk about student ownership, not just about student engagement and being entrepreneurial, but also teacher happiness and sharing the “effort” in the classroom. 01:10 Story of a teacher in the classroom 03:47 Delegating tasks to lighten teachers’ load...
In this episode, we talk about the logistics of starting a podcast and how podcasting can be applied in the classroom. We heard from teachers and students not only about great podcasts to listen to, but also that people have...
In this episode, we talk about podcasting as an alternative route to content in the classroom. How do you leverage the existing great content that’s out in the world now via podcasts, in different themes and discipline areas? How do...
“Only My Smartest Kids Can Handle This” In talking about why this phrase may come out of someone’s mouth and how is it handled, we also talk about student mastery, honors-based education and classroom culture. 02:09 Concept of high...
Shawn Rubin, Chief Education Officer, and Cathy Sanford, Director of Research and Development, both from the Highlander Institute, talk about their new book, Pathways to Personalization: A Framework for School Change. This is the seventh of a multi-part series about...
Shawn Rubin, Chief Education Officer, and Cathy Sanford, Director of Research and Development, both from the Highlander Institute, talk about their new book, Pathways to Personalization: A Framework for School Change. This is the sixth of a multi-part series about...
Shawn Rubin, Chief Education Officer, and Cathy Sanford, Director of Research and Development, both from the Highlander Institute, talk about their new book, Pathways to Personalization: A Framework for School Change. This is the fifth of a multi-part series about...
Shawn Rubin, Chief Education Officer, and Cathy Sanford, Director of Research and Development, both from the Highlander Institute, talk about their new book, Pathways to Personalization: A Framework for School Change. This is the fourth of a multi-part series about...
Shawn Rubin, Chief Education Officer, and Cathy Sanford, Director of Research and Development, both from the Highlander Institute, talk about their new book, Pathways to Personalization: A Framework for School Change. This is the third of a multi-part series about...
Shawn Rubin, Chief Education Officer, and Cathy Sanford, Director of Research and Development, both from the Highlander Institute, talk about their new book, Pathways to Personalization: A Framework for School Change. This is the second of a multi-part series about...
Shawn Rubin, Chief Education Officer, and Cathy Sanford, Director of Research and Development, both from the Highlander Institute, talk about their new book, Pathways to Personalization: A Framework for School Change. This is the first of a multi-part series about...
What do awards actually do for student performance? Is there a benchmark for an approach to recognition, plaques, awards overall? What is the goal for having those awards? 01:31 Christina’s perspective on awards as a student 02:52 Christina’s perspective on...
How do teachers and administrators approach the end of year extension phase? 01:43 Christina’s experience and what she hears from teachers 02:30 How do I use this time in a way that’s meaningful for both me and my students? 03:02...
Can you do project-based learning in a blended learning classroom? How do you do it in the right way? 02:00 What’s the difference between PBL (project-based learning) and BL (blended learning)? 02:40 Project-based learning is coaching your students to engage...
In this episode, we talk about teacher rubrics. How do you think beyond the traditional rubric? 01:35 The single-point rubric and how simplification and clarity could be the key to getting teachers much more excited about rubrics and making sure...
In this episode, we talk about incorporating parent and community engagement in the classroom. How do you engage parents in a holistic way? And how do you also engage the broader community to share their experiences on certain topics that...