Teaching4Tomorrow Blog

May 11, 2018

Shifting Professional Development in Education

How do we change professional development (PD) for educators to be personalized, equitable, and effective?

Our current methods of PD don’t check off all of these boxes at once and because they don’t, we are always throwing new things at teachers hoping something will stick.

May 04, 2018

How Teachers Use Interactive Technology

Technology has the potential to improve student capacity to learn in new and exciting ways that promote interactivity and deeper understanding of a given topic. In a survey of K-12 Technology newsletter readers, we explored what types of technology tools are currently in use and for what purposes.

Apr 27, 2018

Rethinking Learning Environments

When I was a third grader in the early 1970s, I went to a newly constructed elementary school. There were no classrooms, but students sat in large open spaces at desks or tables. The large spaces were called “pods.” Each grade had a “pod” that faced a common area of open space rimmed by bookshelves housing the school library for lower grades. Sliding glass doors could be closed to reduce noise (or contain students) in the pod space. There were flexible walls within the pods that could be pulled shut to allow for concentrated instruction by teachers when students were divided into groups for content studies, or opened for activities that encompassed the whole grade.

Apr 20, 2018

Our Top Five Resources in March 2018

Each month we publish blogs and several newsletters full of digital learning, funding, professional growth, social media, and STEM resources. Below are items from our blogs and newsletters that educators turned to the most in March.

Apr 13, 2018

Digital Storytelling as an Educational Tool

In this installment of our Digital Storytelling Series, Jason Ohler provides a framework for using digital storytelling (DST) to enhance educational standards. He also suggests ways to incorporate new media development into future versions of those standards.

Apr 06, 2018

How I Destroyed the Rainforest

I am a special education teacher who is constantly looking for ways to improve my craft both in the classroom with students and at my desk with the daunting myriad of forms. There is no doubt that educators everywhere are overwhelmed with the ever growing need to manage and evaluate data.

Mar 30, 2018

Aspects of Effective Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning (PBL) is a topic many teachers are interested in, but are unsure of how to implement or understand if it is working. Long before my Epic Romeo and Juliet Project, the first major project I created was during my student teaching 10 years ago. I thought it would be a great idea to hold a mock trial in my class after reading Huck Finn. I wanted students to put Mark Twain on trial for being a racist. At the time, there was some uproar across the nation on whether or not Huck should be taught in schools. We had discussed the topic in class and I thought this would be an engaging way for students to explore both sides of the issue and make up their minds.

Mar 23, 2018

How Teachers Can Stop Cyberbullying

Editor’s note: Teacher Trevor Muir shares his experience with bullying as a student and compares it to cyberbullying today. He offers educators insights into how to fight cyberbullying and empower students to stand against bullying.

Mar 16, 2018

Our Top Five Resources This February

Each month we publish blogs and several newsletters full of digital learning, funding, professional growth, social media, and STEM resources. Below are items from our blogs and newsletters that educators turned to the most in February.

Mar 09, 2018

AI May Have the Ability to Replace a Live Teacher—But Should It?

In his article, “Beyond Turing,” technology and education author Jason Ohler discusses his opinion on the possibility that one day artificial intelligence (AI) may replace educators in classrooms and as tutors. The technology might be closer than we think. AI is regularly passing the famed Turing Test, proving that humans often can't tell the difference between an AI and an IRL (in real life) educator. But what happens when we prefer artificial intelligence to real teachers? Express your opinions on the topic in the comments.

Mar 02, 2018

Code Red Lockdown

I am a classroom teacher in the era of Code Red Lockdowns. I am angry, frustrated, distressed, and overwhelmed. Every moment of every working day, when I walk into my school, I have to think about my escape routes, my barricades, my students’ safety, and my own mortality. I have to plan and be ready. But most importantly, I have to be prepared to decide life or death fates. Can I ever be trained enough for this insanity? How does your school district train for lockdowns?

Feb 23, 2018

Creating Learning Centers in a Blended Literacy Classroom

There has been no greater impact on differentiation and student achievement in recent years than the effective integration of technology in the classroom. Traditionally, literacy educators spent long hours gathering resources, developing tasks and extensions, and reading and analyzing assessments to determine if the instruction was meeting the needs of students. Now imagine doing this same routine three or four times over to cover all Lexile levels in one classroom—exhausting.

Feb 16, 2018

Our Top Five Resources in January

Each month we publish blogs and several newsletters full of digital learning, funding, professional growth, social media, and STEM resources. Below are items from our blogs and newsletters that educators turned to the most in January.

Feb 09, 2018

Discussing and Defining Digital Storytelling

In this installment of our Digital Storytelling Series, Jason Ohler gives insight into his teacher workshops about digital storytelling. He discusses how teachers react to seeing different digital stories created by students and teachers, and the discussions that ensue.

Feb 02, 2018

Are Tech and Learning Compatible?

Editor’s note: Author and blogger Tom Whitby asks whether technology and learning are actually compatible and what constitutes learning technology experience for educators.