The demands that are being placed on classroom teachers continue to increase as time passes. I see it and continually search for ways to help decrease the workload and create systems that help teachers efficiently use their time. Magic School AI is the latest tool I have found to reduce teacher workload in a number of areas.  

Magic School AI has over 50 tools that teachers can use when designing instruction, differentiating, and offering feedback to students. (Those are naming just a few of the things the tool can help with.) Look below for all the different ways Magic School AI can support teachers. 

Logging in and experimenting with the tools sent me down many rabbit holes! The tool offers so many ways to differentiate, accomodate SPED students, translate, spiral back through concepts, identify common misconceptions and SO much more! 

The video overview by founder  Adeel Khan gives you a quick glimpse into the power of the tool.

As an example of the assistance that the tool can provide in lesson planning, watch the short video below to see how I move from identifying a learning objective, creating a suggested plan and creating a Demonstration of Learning that students should be able to complete in 10 minutes or less. 

People that are amazing at what they do....I nickname "wizzards", and I think this AI tool has the potential to be a virtual wizzard and create some magic for teachers if used and fact checked carefully.  Give it a try and see what you think! 

Using a timer during a lesson to pace your instruction is a powerful tool.  Below are 4 areas where I consistently see a timer improving the quality of instruction in a classroom.
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1. Streamlining Transitions:  A timer establishes a clear structure, enabling students to anticipate the upcoming switch. By doing so, it enhances classroom management, ensuring swift and organized transitions without wasting precious learning time.
2. Boosting Focus and Time Management Skills: Timers provide a visual and auditory reminder, nudging students to remain attentive and manage their time efficiently. Over time, this consistent practice can improve their intrinsic time management skills.
3. Setting Clear Expectations: Whether it's a group discussion, individual reading, or a writing task, setting a timer makes the duration and expectation clear. This helps students mentally allocate energy and effort to complete the task within the specified time, promoting efficiency and diligence.
4. Promoting Autonomy and Independence: A timer's signal provides students with the cue they need to move on to the next task or wrap up their current activity. This self-guided approach reduces dependency on teacher prompts, fostering a culture of self-management and responsibility.

If you are using a Google Slide Deck learn this quick tip to add a timed slide into your deck with just a few strokes on your keyboard.

Click here to add the Slides Timer Extension to Chrome
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If you are a Canva user and are generating slide decks over there, there is also an easy way to add a timer to your slides in the moment.

Check-out either or both methods and add timers to your instructional design quickly and easily!  

AI tools are revolutionizing the education landscape, and I am excited to dive into the realm of experimentation to learn how these tools can empower teachers! Today, I came across an intriguing tool called Diffit.me, which has the capability to greatly assist teachers in adapting existing materials and generating leveled resources.

Diffit.me is a user-friendly website that allows teachers to easily differentiate their instruction by creating multiple versions of their lesson materials. This means that teachers can provide tailored levels of support and challenge based on the unique needs of each student.

Through differentiation, teachers can customize their materials and resources for students. By leveling texts, teachers ensure that students work with materials that are appropriately challenging yet still within their reach, enabling them to develop the necessary skills and knowledge to meet grade-level objectives. We are only beginning to explore how AI can support teachers in this regard.

Take a moment to watch the two concise videos below and discover the capabilities of Diffit.me.
 Part 1 - Leveling Text (1:36)

Part 2 - Align to a standard and generate resources. (2:05)

As we embrace the potential of AI, it's important to remember that whenever AI tools are utilized, it is crucial to check the generated materials for accuracy. Diffit.me offers educators a way to adapt and generate leveled text and resources in a time effiecient manner that was not possible before AI. Don't miss out on this remarkable chance to harness the power of AI while ensuring the accuracy of the content you deliver!

Give it a try and let me know what you think. 

An analogy of Universal Design exists at the entrance to most buildings. There are two ways to access our building, the stairs or the ramp. Most days I take the stairs and am quickly at the door; if I have pushed it too hard during a workout or have a sore knee, I might opt to use the ramp.  When I use the ramp, it takes me a little longer, but it makes it easier, and on those days, that is what is best for me. I don't need permission to make this decision. UDL's primary goal is to create expert learners. Expert learners decide which supports and scaffolds they believe will help them be more successful.  A learner may need more time, a video, an audio recording, or a safe editing partner.

​I am curious how a focus on UDL can influence instructional design when we are utilizing our Learning Management Systems. I am reading UDL and Blended Learning; Thriving in Flexible Learning Landscapes by Katie Novak and Catlin Tucker to learn more! 
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Reading is one of the many vehicles to learning, and yet when complex or long texts are assigned to students, many students struggle. In classrooms, you will often hear instructions given to annotate or take notes as you read and yet pulling those items together is difficult.  Recently I listened to the podcast “Rebuilding American Civics”, in the conversation, Luke Perez addresses the jump from high school to college and some of the skills that he sees lacking in students; the conversation drew me in. I vividly remember the long reading assignments and reading without gaining knowledge. 

In the podcast, Perez, a professor at Arizona State, shares the strategy of using “The Three Questions Summary.”  This strategy enables a student to take dense pieces of text and summarize it down to the essentials.  The Three Question Summary can be applied in chunks as a student reads and then again as more of the text is processed. A student might answer the questions at the end of each chapter and then again at the end of the text.  
Questions to ask as you read the document/book chapter/primary source:

• What is the argument?
  • “(Author) argues______”   (In one sentence, capture the argument being made. It can be the thesis statement from the author. )
• How is it argued?
  •  “Argues this by….”   (Explain the outline of the argument.)
• Why does it matter?
  • “This matters because….” (This third question can show an understanding of lesson objectives or assess the overall comprehension of the material. At this point, the student’s internalization of the material can connect prior knowledge and lead to additional questions.)​​

Perez states during the podcast that when the 3 Question Summary is applied while reading, students are able to engage and retain more rigorous content. Answering the questions and putting a summary together also reinforces the learning through writing.

The 3 Question Summary is a technique that I plan on using during my next rigorous read.  Give it a try with your students and see how it affects the knowledge students walk away with as they engage in their next reading assignment.  

The Learner Lab Podcast is a podcast that I listen to on a regular basis and I often walk away from an episode with something to think about or improve on in my own learning journey.

In the episode, "How to Improve the Learning Environment with Modeling" hosts Trevor Ragan and Alex Belser explore the role that modeling plays in learning. The episode starts off with an "Anti-Talent" Show challenge at a school.  This was a challenge where students and teachers, selected something that they were not good at and practiced and learned about it for two weeks and then shared the before and after.  When students saw teachers struggling to learn something new, the teachers were modeling the learning process.  It turns out that there is actually science behind why the teachers struggle to learn had an impact on the students. Without being aware, people mimic or accept what they see in front of them as the norm. 

Guest of the podcast are Karch Kiraly, head coach of USA Volleyball and Ceci Craft, a mental performance coach.  They shared that every action we display and thing we say is technically modeling. We can model good things, irrelevant things, or not so good things.  Our actions have more of an impact on those around us than we realize. 

Sitting around the dinner table a couple of weeks ago, I had a friend ask me what was one thing that we would never have tried had the pandemic not happened. It got me thinking….​

For me, the answer was our daily schedule. Our traditional school schedule had students visiting 7 classes for 50 minutes a day with a common period in the middle of the day for lunch and activities.  As we started to brainstorm we set out with a clear finish line, knowing what the total number of minutes needed to look like, and began to work backwards. 

We did not take our traditional schedule and move it online. Asking students to sit in front of a computer for 7+ hours, as if they were in class was not an option we thought was viable or in the best interest of our students. We sought feedback and ideas and we completely changed how time was allocated.  Students had learning experiences designed that ultimately took up the same amount of time, but we organized the time in a completely different way.

Our schedule allowed for synchronous sessions in the morning and then time in the afternoon for students to spend minutes in “the work” of learning, meeting with teachers individually during office hours, or in “Content Hours”. (An idea that came from our teachers.)  Content Hours were hour blocks of time that were assigned to departments. In this hour, teachers had the ability to bring all of the students that they taught together at one time. At the high school level, that might mean 180 students or even more if several teachers teamed up together. Our teachers used this time in a variety of ways.  Content Hour allowed teachers to bring in professionals and guests that students normally wouldn’t have access to.  Students were able to meet authors, scientists, and remotely travel the world led by travel guides that normally are escorting groups in person. Teachers also had the ability to give an assessment all at one time, as opposed to giving it 5 times and taking away from the synchronous time they had with students in the mornings. 

Content Hour was one of the biggest “wins” we saw emerge for our students in some courses, but not in all of them.  In the beginning, I believe we should have offered additional learning and collaborative time for teachers to share their ideas about content hour with each other. As a school community, I think we also could have established clearer expectations and set norms for the content hours. 

Developing the schedule was not easy and involving our stakeholders throughout the process was critical. When I saw the "Stages of Thinking" that Farnam Street published, I found it correlated with the process we went through.   During step 2, the tempting thing to do was to just go with a block schedule and spread the time out throughout the day.  ​

In face to face instruction, I loved using simple white boards and having students show their answers to get a quick pulse on where everyone was or what they thought. In virtual instruction I have seen a strategy called Waterfall work in much the same way.

In the virtual world, where students and many adults are hesitant to turn their cameras on or unmute their microphone Waterfall gives them a chance to participate in a safe low stakes way. When everyone is contributing the focus is not on any one person. 

1. Ask a question
2. Students answer in the chat, but do not click send
3. Teacher says or projects an image “3-2-1 Waterfall!”
4. Students all press send together for a cascade of answers!

Waterfall can be used at the beginning of class, as a check for understanding during instruction, or as an exit ticket. It can also be a silly or personal question that fosters a sense of community. 

Make a copy of the template here. 

When you are designing your instruction plan where you will use the strategy. You can simply place the waterfall icon image in the corner of a slide to remind yourself to use the strategy, or you can insert a copy of the slide above to add a bit of color and sound to the strategy.  Press the Play button in the corner as students are typing in their answers and they'll hear a waterfall. (It's the little things like a sound that can make a difference, sometimes.)  Waterfall is a simple strategy that is effective.  

Pandemic problem - students were remote and we needed to send each student their report card at the end of a grading cycle. We did not want to use the U.S. Mail as it was expensive, non-eco friendly, and time consuming, Our solution, mass email individual files to student email addresses. We chose to send the emails and documents to student email addresses because we were confident that they were the most reliable address we had on file for any student, as the email addresses were created and assigned by the school district. In non-pandemic times, we would send the document home with the student. 

Early this year we learned how to send a mass email through mail merge using Word. Thank you Peerti Burns for teaching us how to do this first step! After we learned how to mail merge out a standard email we were met with a new challenge, attaching a specific pdf to each email. Sending each student a specific file took us a bit of time to figure out.  The steps below walk you through what we learned so that we could send individual pdfs to students.  

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There are two tools that I used to help make the process simpler and go faster. I reference them in the videos, but I am linking them here too.
Links to Plug-Ins
AutoSplit:   
https://www.evermap.com/AutoSplit.asp

Mail Merge Toolkit: (Remember to try trial and make sure the version you buy attaches your file.  I am not sure what the difference is between Personal Attachments and Personalized PDF in attachment. There were not two versions when I purchased the add-in). https://www.mapilab.com/outlook/mail_merge/#purchase  

Also, I used two formulas that you can copy and paste into your spreadsheet to help complete your data sheet.
Links to Formulas:

• Formula to remove characters from ID Number:     =LEFT(A1,LEN(A1)-4)    
• Formula for Vlookup to match file with ID Number  (Remember to change file to your file’s name.): 

          =VLOOKUP($A2,'[Report Cards Sample File.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1:$G$3193,7,FALSE)     

Learning to send documents individually to students has added an additional layer to  our communication channels. It's efficient, reliable, and cost effective.  The challenges we have faced during the pandemic have been immense, learning to leverage email to distribute unique student information is one way in which we have gotten better through the pandemic months.  I hope what we have learned helps you communicate with your community.