Category: Ed News

These blogs have to do with education as a whole. I write about different topics concerning ed reform and educating our 21st century youth.

The Hybrid Schedule

Our district leaders met this past summer to plan what the start of school was going to look like. We surveyed families and based on the results our re-opening team decided that since our county was at low risk with regards to COVID cases we could offer families at least their overall 2nd choice – …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/12/27/the-hybrid-schedule/

Fully Remote Again

School Teaching Station Photo

Friday, December 18, our last school day before winter break concluded our third week of having school 100% online for everyone. Well, almost everyone. Special Education programs were able to support kids coming back to school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8:45 am to 12 pm. There were enough Educational Aides (EA’s) available to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/12/24/fully-remote-again/

Blended Learning EdWeek Post

I had the pleasure of being one of three contributors to part 1 of a Larry Ferlazzo two part series on Blended Learning titled Blended Learning in the Age of COVID-19. Click on the image below to read the entire post:

Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/08/19/blended-learning-edweek-post/

Planning for a COVID Fall 2020

Added on July 28, 2020 – From the Washington Post, One teacher’s experience teaching a summer camp with kids who are required to be socially distant and wearing masks. This teacher confirms what I feared as I wrote my thoughts below, any kind of teamwork or small group work is most likely just not going …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/07/25/planning-for-a-covid-fall-2020/

COVID-19 School Learning Models Glossary

I started a short glossary of terms that will help our district and school re-opening planning teams communicate more easily. What am I missing? What would you add? Please leave a comment if you see something that needs to be added. (Updated on July 24, 2020.) Face-to-Face Learning What we consider the traditional teaching model …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/07/15/covid-19-school-learning-models-glossary/

Racism Felt

I take things personally. Logically, I know I shouldn’t. Logically, I know it’s not always about me, maybe the kid or the parent, or the person is just having a bad day and they are taking out their frustrations on whoever is right in front of them. Emotionally though, I feel what I feel. I’m …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/06/20/racism-felt/

Talking About Grading with Larry Ferlazzo

Just recently I had the pleasure of being interviewed once again by Larry Ferlazzo for his amazing BAM Radio Network show, Classroom Q and A. Larry also shared a written commentary I wrote for his EdWeek column that goes with the show on Grading. My commentary focused on gamifying the grading process to make it …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/10/08/talking-about-grading-with-larry-ferlazzo/

Teachers Raising Funds for their Classrooms

I share as much as I can here about getting money for your classroom because it’s so doable. It takes work, but it’s doable. Recently, I wrote about Getting Even More Money and I took the points I shared there for a fantastic EdWeek Column by Larry Ferlazzo, Response: Show Me the Money! Ways Teachers …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/08/21/teachers-raising-funds-for-their-classrooms/

Classcraft Finally Beat Rezzly

I started gamifying my Science classes in the 2012-13 school year. I came up with my own custom badges to keep track of what students were learning and I used Moodle to push out assignments, or quests, with my students. It was more difficult than I thought and didn’t work very well. By the 2013-14 …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/07/09/classcraft-finally-beat-rezzly/

20% Time Reflections

Ever since I heard about 20% Time projects, Genius Hour, and Passion Projects I wanted to provide those opportunities to my students. The idea behind giving students class time to work on topics that truly interest them aligns with my views of education and schooling. While I do believe that kids should be exposed to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/07/08/20-time-reflections/

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