Teaching4Tomorrow Blog

Jul 27, 2018

Including Student Voice in Hiring: Student Interview Panels and Involvement

Educator and blogger Laura Steinbrink explains how her district involved one school’s students in selecting their new principal. This article was originally posted on her blog, Rockin’ the Boat, on June 17, 2018. The partial lyrics she included as subtitles are from Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall.”

Jul 20, 2018

Our Top Five Resources in June 2018

Each month we publish blogs and several newsletters full of digital learning, funding, professional growth, social media, and STEM resources. Below are the articles and features educators turned to most in June.

Jul 13, 2018

6 Classroom Structures to Make Creation Happen: Part 2

In part one of this series, we discussed how implementing certain structures can help develop student creation as a learning method. The first three structures included precise scheduling, developing well-crafted scenarios, and offering students choice within their projects.

Let’s dive into the final three structures that help harness student creativity through project-based learning.

Jul 06, 2018

6 Classroom Structures to Make Creation Happen: Part 1

Students get more learning out of creation than they would out of almost anything else. We know that! However, creation projects are just like everything else success and learning depend on the structure.

Jun 29, 2018

More than 9 in 10 Elementary Teachers are Highly Stressed. Are You One of Them?

One of the most important factors in ensuring student success is quality instruction by teachers. However, quality instruction can be a difficult goal if teachers do not have the resources to improve their skills and if rising levels of teacher stress go unchecked.

Jun 22, 2018

7 Ways to Improve Workflow with Google

Many districts utilize Google Apps for Education, which can be overwhelming. There is a myriad of applications available and plenty of tricks to help us navigate them to increase our workflow. Linked below is a cheat sheet of sorts that focuses on Google Drive, Google Docs, and advanced tips for other Google products. Each page contains an animated demonstration or screenshot, as well as the steps to create or complete each task. Topics featured include the following.

Jun 15, 2018

Our Top Five Resources in May 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 May.

Jun 08, 2018

Formula for a Perfect Grant Application: Part II

In Part I of this two-part article, I reviewed the first two elements in the formula for creating the perfect grant application: A Proven Need + An Innovative Idea. In Part II, I’ll review the last two elements: A Written Plan + A Superhero Funder. All together, these elements create a Measurable Change for the Better!

Jun 01, 2018

Formula for a Perfect Grant Application: Part I

If you don’t know a lot about grant writing, you’re in good company. Over the course of my years as a grant writer, many of the educators I’ve worked with have admitted they don’t know what makes a “good” proposal and what constitutes a “bad” one. I use the following formula for laying the groundwork for a fundable grant proposal.

May 25, 2018

The Secret to a Great Staff Meeting is Creativity

I look over at the laughter and my Head of School is using a tiny light and a giant comb on the business director's head, illustrating the proper use of the flashlight their group designed. I couldn't believe how great their design was. In fact, every group had a great design. They all worked, mostly, and the room was alive with creative energy.

May 18, 2018

Our Top Five Resources in April 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 April.

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.