Primary/Elementary and Secondary Educators

In this season, educators have an opportunity to build more bridges and breakdown barriers in our relationships with families. In this video Jessica shares 4 key ways to engage and deepen relationships with families.

In this video, authors Bill Hunter and Roger Austin describe some of the practical steps that teachers might take to become involved in international school collaborations that support their students’ intercultural learning. They also describe some common features of existing international projects.

As schools prepare to go back, certified child play therapist and author Amanda Seyderhelm offers three child-centred techniques to support children experiencing grief, loss and change.

This clip is aimed at teachers as we return to school post-coronavirus. How do we approach education in a world that is very different to the one six months ago? We need a strong narrative of community cohesion and hope.

Now more than ever, we need to come together to support our children so they feel safe during stressful and uncertain times. There are many ways you can help children to cope and build resilience.

Emotional poverty has become a deterrent to academic success. Research shows that almost half the nation's children have experienced trauma, which has a profoundly negative impact on their behaviors, relationships, learning, and/or mental wellness. Educators must have a basic understanding of the social-emotional needs of wounded children in order to reach them, teach them, and position them for transformation through education. Additionally, a comprehensive approach to SEL that includes understanding the impact of personal and/or secondary trauma on educators is paramount to creating healthy cultures where adults and children alike can thrive.

This is a 2 ½ minute video describing a quick mindfulness activity (Breath Awareness) educators can do on their own or with their students to create a calm, balanced state of mind, conducive for teaching and learning.

How to use sensory engagement techniques to enhance learning and engagement and why such techniques might offer us all support with our wellbeing during challenging times.

Now more than ever, early childhood educators are being called to serve children and families using new and unprecedented strategies. This short video gives tips and ideas on how to use empathy to support the families and children in your care, along with implementing self-care.

When considering online teaching and learning, it is easy to simply worry about the content. However, we will serve our students best and create conditions for success when we consider their social and emotional needs as well. This video shares three key considerations: the tools we choose and how we teach students to interact with them; instructing synchronously, asynchronously, and with office hours; as well as slowing the flow of content and information. Our students are braving an entirely new educational experience, and it is crucial to support their social, emotional, and academic needs

The Corona Virus has meant that for some students, friendships and social interaction have dwindled and friendship groupings will likely be affected now, and on return to education. Here are some quick ideas how you can support students to maintain social interaction and friendships.

This video demonstrates how a to use a Google template to help groups brainstorm rapidly and ideate around solutions

During the COVID-19 crisis, educators are expected to do more through technology. Little technology shortcuts allow teachers to spend less time on mundane tasks and spend more time creating content. Let's take "copy & paste" to a new level. Windows Clipboard History appeared in Oct. 2018, but most of us don't know it's there. Once you learn this technique, you’ll wonder how you survived without it.

During the COVID-19 crisis, educators are under more of a time crunch than ever before. We especially need ways to make the increased time we’re spending with technology more efficient. This video solves a common copy & paste headache using an easy keyboard command. It shows you how to paste without formatting. The video shows the problem you likely face daily and the all-to-easy solution nobody ever told you.

The video discusses a few Google Meet extensions that are helpful for educators; those extensions are Google Meet Grid View, Nod - Reactions for Google Meet, and Meet Attendance. These extensions help expand the use of Google Meet, also include was a Google Meet Etiquette Guide for educators.

My video will offer support for teachers/educators on how to have engaging conversations aboutliterature using Digital Literature Circles. In the video, I offer some strategies as well as somedigital tools to use with students.

Author Adam Bushnell uses the Descriptosaurus by Alison Wilcox to create a mythical creature description. Create a Creature with the Descriptosaurus

In this video, I address the question “How can teachers make grammar instruction engaging, relevant, and effective?” I describe an instructional process in which teachers share authentically used grammatical concepts in published texts with their students, help them understand the importance of those grammatical concepts, and work with the students as they apply those concepts to their own work. In doing so, I make specific connections to today’s distance-learning educational environment.

While we may be tempted to only provide one path forward during these unprecedented times, we can still honor individual choice and personalization by creating modules that can be re-used. Asking students for ideas of what they would like to learn, providing them with different opportunities and supporting them through pre-recorded videos means that we can give them different modules that they can choose from in the coming weeks. Asking students, “How do you learn best?” while giving them opportunities to explore different types of assignments means that students will feel heard, supported, and also be able to manage their stress better. This may seem hard but it’s not.

In order to stay connected with our students, one of the most authentic tools that we have is our voice. While written feedback is important and useful, by recording and sharing our voice -- with the emotional resonance that it brings -- we can let students know that we care about them as writers, and as people. Using a simple online voice recording tool, Vocaroo (vocaroo.com), this brief tutorial from Dr. Troy Hicks, Routledge/Eye on Education author and Professor of English and Education at Central Michigan University, demonstrates how to create and share these voice recordings.

Kathryn Murphy-Judy has 20+ years of experience teaching language online. In this short video, she demonstrates how to foster learner buy-in when teaching online in expected or unexpected online teaching environments. Particularly in unexpected circumstances where teaching online is the only option, she demonstrates how to give students choice. Her methods promote learner autonomy, motivation, and signal to the students that their input into their own learning is valued.

Teachers can be helpers to their school families in emergency learning time by showing compassion and providing lessons with much choice and flexibility.

This video describes 1) what to look for with good online fitness programs for kids while they’re not in regular PE class and 2) key things for families to keep in mind with keeping students active during this time.

There has never been a better time to think about children’s education holistically. Developing motivation to learn, a positive mindset and healthy study habits are more important now than they ever were.

The current UK lockdown means that all children in the country are expected to be educated at home, at least for the foreseeable future. Whilst there are lots of amazing educational resources out there, with schools offering access to various virtual learning platforms, their effectiveness will depend so much on whether the child or teenager is physically and mentally in the right space to learn.

In this video I introduce 10 key strategies to support motivation and learning when trying to home-school. Free resources to support some of the areas I mention in the video will also be available via the Routledge site.

In this video, we’ll discuss the two aspects of intrinsic motivation: value and success. We’ll also look at specific ways teachers can incorporate value and success in their classrooms.

Supporting Educators Transitioning to the Remote World is a brief video presentation that walks viewers through various ways that instructional coaches can assist their colleagues during this extraordinary time period. Various tools of the trade are shared and how they can promote the success of all students.

Virtual Coaching 101 is a brief video presentation that provides those working in a coaching role with ideas for how to move their coaching work into the virtual world during this extraordinary time period. Six coaching strategies are presented with tips for how to modify for success in the online environment.

For the past 25 years I have been studying organizational turbulence. That work has led to the development of Turbulence Theory. If ever there was a turbulent time it’s now. Educational leaders at all levels and students of educational leadership need process that will help them to respond to and work with the turbulence they now face. This video takes viewers through a 5 step process that is designed to do just that. These steps include: Reflecting deeply on the turbulence, considering the drivers of turbulence (positionality, cascading, and stability), deciding on the general level of turbulence, considering whether to escalate or tone down the turbulence, and making a plan.

Many teachers and other school champions are feeling especially overwhelmed during this unusual time. Learn specific steps you can take as a school leader to lighten their burden without underserving students.

As Speech and Language Therapists we have expertise in supporting children who have speech, language and communication needs. Our video provides ways of supporting these children, who are likely to be struggling with the challenges of learning from home.

This is aimed at anyone who has to teach spellings. Spellings are generally harder than reading because they require recall. Reading requires recognition.

It briefly describes the stages before one starts to teach phonics, reading and spelling. The learners need to be really secure in their language ability, particularly their phonological awareness.

The 3 main stages are:

• Syllables - blending/segmenting
• Rhyme - detecting/generating
• Phonemes - awareness/blending and then manipulation.

If the learner is able to manipulate phonemes such as using spoonerisms (king john becomes jing kohn) then they should be fully equipped for learning phonics, word reading and spelling.

Many dyslexics have a weak phonological loop and we need to help them strengthen it.

Alex talks about the things she likes and provides an activity for you to complete at home. Thinking about things we like can help us feel happy.

Alex talks about the really important people in her life and provides an activity for you to complete at home. http://www.speakingspace.co.uk.

Alex uses a feelings board to tell us how she is feeling today. You can download a variety of feelings boards from her website http://www.speakingspace.co.uk.

A quick overview of some of the games which are downloadable from our blog

A quick overview of some of the games which are downloadable from our blog. http://thinkingtalking.co.uk/blog/

This video is a great way for educators and children alike to take a moment and find a balanced breath. By drawing on her 15 years experience providing mindfulness, yoga and Social-Emotional Learning to school districts across the globe, Carla Tantillo Philibert walks viewers through a simple breath work activity to find a sense of calm during these challenging days. For more information, or to connect with Carla and her co-authors, Chris Soto and Lara Veon, please shoot Carla a note at Carla.P@ClassCatalyst.com.

As we make the sudden shift to 100% digital learning, many teachers are especially frustrated and overwhelmed. Learn key steps you can take to fend off teacher burnout during this difficult time.

When the COVID-19 crisis hit, the nature of schooling changed. While we’re adapting to a different way to teach, we’ve also got to keep an eye on the future. When the country reopens, will you be ready? This video gives three suggestions that you can start now.

In these two minutes Jessica shares practical strategies to navigate the statement: Just because technology is on 24/7 doesn't mean you have to be on it as well.

While some teachers are overworked during quarantine, others are experiencing the opposite: they finally have time on their hands and are ready to take on projects that expand their reach. Learn some easy, practical ways to share your teaching wisdom with the world. For example, join lists reporters use to find education experts to interview, present online (prepping for a TED Talk), write a book chapter (to become a published book author), copy journalists on your work, and have your students-helping pitch ready.

We’re going through a period that none of us have ever experienced. With respect to teaching and learning, as pupils can’t attend school, we must help them learn at home. Fortunately, online education offers a solution, but the instructional techniques involved are not (completely) the same as what we do in the classroom. In this video Paul Kirschner presents his top ten tips for effective e-teaching. The video is based on the book Lessons for Learning, a collaboration between Tim Surma, Kristel Vanhoyweghen, Dominique Sluijsmans, Gino Camp, Daniel Muijs and Paul Kirschner and also draws on the recent publication How Learning Happens by Paul Kirschner and Carl Hendrick.

This video discusses the spacing effect. The spacing effect is the phenomenon where practice is more effective if it is delayed rather than immediate. This means that practice of any new concept or skill is likely to have more impact if it is widely distributed over time rather than being intensive. I discuss how this fact is counter-intuitive; students will tend to study via intensive sessions unless given guidance to do otherwise. However, the spacing effect is easily applied in the classroom, and can be implemented to make independent learning more effective too.

In a virtual learning environment how can you, as a teacher, maintain expectations without your physical presence? What strategies can you utilize for classroom management? And how can you be a source of comfort to your students?

Most governments are following the science in coping with the covid-19 pandemic. Educators need to do the same, to follow the science in developing their teaching online.

What does the science of learning have to say about how best to teach, learn and assess online?

The good news is that online learning can be effective, but only if it’s well designed. What doesn’t work well online are instructional videos alone. A video can be useful to introduce a topic, but keep it under six minutes, or students will just switch off. What does work is to support the three C’s of active learning: Construct, Collaborate and Control. Construct means supporting students to build their understanding of a topic through mastery learning. Students learn at their own pace. They’re tested and get feedback, and when they’ve mastered the topic they move on to the next one. Collaborate is setting up discussions and group projects. The students learn from each other and learn how to cooperate. It works best when students have shared goals, when they know when and how to contribute, they share the rewards of their collaboration, and they can reflect on their progress. Control is assisting students to manage their learning by setting personal goals, planning their study, and seeing how they are progressing. This has deep implications for how we teach online. For example, it means working with students to set personal goals, giving regular short assignments and rapid feedback, and setting small-group projects that students can work on using their own tools and social media.

Where I want to end is that following the science of learning and adopting good pedagogy doesn’t need the latest technology. For more than 50 years at the Open University we’ve taught over 2 million students at a distance using these methods. To find out more about ways to teach online, take a look at my book “Practical Pedagogy: 40 New Ways to Teach and Learn”, published by Routledge. If you would like to discuss anything raised in this video please contact me on Twitter - @sharplm

Remote learning is not the mere porting of classroom instruction into virtual mediums. To attempt to do so will further exacerbate opportunity gaps because students who are more dependent on the teacher to create meaningful pathways to understanding will find their learning stilted while kids with more resources and supportive networks in the home will be able to more easily engineer their own engagement. In order to address this issue of Equity, teachers should plan for understandings which requires a different focus than planning for activities.

It is critical that teachers plan instruction with specific attention to the affective engagement of students or the most vulnerable are unlikely to be served well during the school closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This video offers tips for how remote learning experiences can be designed to leverage emotional connections which is essential to students’ learning.

In this video I talk about estimation as a low stress/non-judgemental activity for doing maths. I mention some fringe benefits, such as meta-cognition, appraising answers and avoiding negative evaluations

Top tips for practitioners, parents and carers wanting to offer preschool and reception children fun outdoor experiences that will enhance their learning and development.

In this video I look at the ways you can make playing outdoors with children easy and possible. My top tips are: Keeping it simple, no fancy equipment, making the most of what you have, joining in, wear the right clothing.