Creating Student Choice to Improve Engagement
Angela Derr2025-07-03T17:43:41+00:00Educators across the country are looking for innovative ways to increase student engagement and gauge mastery of content in the classroom. Assessments should be more than the traditional quizzes, tests, and essays that have been used for generations. Students should be challenged to tackle real world problems that they may face outside the classroom. Providing authentic assessments and lessons increases understanding of content, improves critical thinking skills, and increases student engagement. However, educators shouldn’t feel like they have to accomplish authentic lesson planning and assessment on their own! There are plenty of great creative technological tools out there to [...]
How Educational Technology Improves Instruction
Angela Derr2025-07-03T17:43:31+00:00As more and more school districts across the country move to 1:1 environments, the topic of whether technology enhances or hinders education has become a common conversation. Many believe that technology is a hindrance in the classroom. Students play games on their phones in class; there are constant dings and vibrations as students receive messages; and students are fixated on how they are perceived on social media. Why shouldn’t educators lock up their students' phones? Schools have become more reliant on technology and remote learning due to the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020. Students are immersed in technology [...]
No, It’s Not Too Late to Try a Flipped Classroom This Year
Angela Derr2025-07-03T17:43:13+00:00This school year has been a strange and challenging one for many school districts so far, as educators, administrators, and students alike are discovering that many of the traditional models for learning and teaching are becoming less and less effective. Those who wish to meet the new and emerging needs of today’s students must find ways to adapt. One such technique that seems to fade in and out of the education lexicon is a flipped classroom. In this model, students learn new material at home by watching recorded lectures and participating in online discussions at home rather than listening to [...]
Warning! Is Your School District Unknowingly Breaking ADA Requirements?
Angela Derr2025-07-03T17:43:06+00:00As a whole, educators tend to be good, law-abiding citizens who would never intentionally break any rules or regulations. However, many school districts across the country are currently breaking ADA and other compliance requirements in regards to closed captioning without even realizing it! There are several laws pertaining to the accessibility of electronic media and their use in schools, each of which have their own unique framework and guidelines and are subject to change. It’s no wonder school administrators can lose track of the requirements set forth for them by the law when there is so much to keep up [...]
3 Key Benefits of Live Broadcasting Your School Board Meetings
Angela Derr2025-07-03T17:42:51+00:00They say it takes a village to raise a child, and the same can be said for educating them. On occasion, typically once a month, that village comes together at a school board meeting to discuss and decide on important factors that impact the daily lives and education of all students. While many parents and community members may be unaware that these meetings are typically open to the public, more and more people are waking up to the fact that school board meetings are one of the best places to have your voice heard in a meaningful and immediately impactful [...]
4 Ideas for Promoting Creativity Through Project Based Learning
Angela Derr2025-07-03T17:42:31+00:00If you ask any educator who is a fan of the popular teaching strategy known as “project based learning”, they will tell you that their students learn best when engaging in the planning and execution of real-world and personally meaningful projects. The critical thinking skills and deep content knowledge involved in such projects instill not only a sense of ownership and independence, but also a level of creativity that students can struggle to find in more traditional settings. When students are invested in the entire process of completing a project, they are given the opportunity to flourish and create well [...]
How Technology Can Revolutionize Your Formative Assessments
Angela Derr2025-07-03T17:42:23+00:00As educators, making and sticking to a well-designed plan can be the key to success in many endeavors. Each school year begins with a meticulously planned curriculum map, along with detailed lesson plans designed to engage students in meaningful instruction. However, effective teachers also acknowledge the value of constantly monitoring and evaluating the success of said well-designed plan, and pivoting where necessary. What works great for one group of students may not fit the particular needs of the next group. This is where formative assessments come in. By providing frequent, informal, and low-stakes opportunities for students to demonstrate proficiency and [...]