Tag: engagement

Fall-themed Mystery Prize and Points Template

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A huge trend among our young students right now is collecting mystery reveal prizes. These are sometimes referred to as “blind bags”. These are a series of toys or figurines that kids buy without being able to tell which one they are going to get. Some are labeled as “Common” and others are “Rare” or “Ultra Rare” – which are, of course, highly coveted. I brainstormed with my daughter (who loves these mystery reveal prizes, by the way) how I might create a template that mirrors the excitement and fun of revealing a prize while practicing school work. I also wanted the template to be useful as both a DIGITAL template for online learners AS WELL AS a PRINTABLE for use without a computer. Here’s what we came up with:

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3 Strategies to Keep Students Engaged and Accountable with Video Content

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3 Strategies - Video

More and more and more I see educators using video as part of their instruction. Whether they find a great video that covers the content well or create their own with a quick screencast or webcam video, many educators struggle with assigning video content because they fear that students won’t really watch it (or they just won’t pay attention). Just as great educators often infuse their face-to-face lessons with formative assessments  to engage and hold students accountable (such as high-level questioning, turn and talk, and signals to indicate understanding), we must do the same when assigning video! Here are three great strategies for doing JUST that! Continue reading →

The 2 Minute Writing Strategy that can Change Your Class Forever!

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2 minute Writing

What if I told you there is an easy strategy to incorporate more writing into your curriculum AND that it improves student engagement, accountability, and achievement? What’s that you say? You’ve heard it all before? And you don’t have time in your scope and sequence to add in writing assignments? Well… What if I told you this strategy takes LESS THAN 2 MINUTES to work its magic??? Now we’re talking!  Continue reading →

Engage your Audience with Video

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video graphic

As educators, we’ve got important information that we want to convey to students, parents, staff, and often our community members. While verbally sharing our stories or writing them down for others to reference still have their place (ahem… like writing a blog, for example…), more and more, people prefer to receive their information by watching quick little videos.

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