This year we covered game-changing K12 trends, including the unprecedented ESSER fund investments that promise to improve education across the country. Under the stewardship of K-12 leaders and educators, 2023 promises to be another eye-opening year in digital equity, STEAM, special education, and more as trendsetting educators dedicate themselves to accelerating education post-pandemic. While we … Continue reading
2 Motivational Lessons from STEM #Sheros
Girls face an uphill battle to pursue STEM, and it’s not for lack of good grades and talent. They need help combatting negative gender stereotypes that prevent them from choosing STEM fields. Women STEM professionals play an important role in encouraging and building confidence in the next generation of STEM women. Women advocates can help … Continue reading
Keeping Girls in STEM: Nurture, Not Nature is the Problem
Changing how girls are nurtured in STEM could be one of the biggest barriers to growing female representation in STEM. It’s easy to assume that a lack of participation is linked to a lack of economic opportunity, but surprisingly girls from high-income families are more likely to be taught that boys are more talented in … Continue reading
Black History Month | Honoring Black Educators and Influential Figures in Education
As Black History Month winds down, educators will still be doing their best to close education gaps and get students career ready. We want to give one last tribute to the black educators and other influential heroes we celebrated for this year’s Black History Month because they are a vital source of inspiration for those … Continue reading
Get Ready for Student Testing
Teachers report spending as much as 20 to 50 percent of the school year preparing students for tests and assessments, including learning test language and format, and practicing multiple choice questions. You could win back more time for learning by incorporating testing more organically within your daily lessons. Tips for getting students ready for testing: … Continue reading
5 Ways to Increase Student Engagement in 2023
Design your classroom around these 5 tips to boost student engagement this year. Like social media community guidelines, creating your classroom or community guidelines lets you share your expectations for proper classroom behavior. Doing so will help foster a safe environment where students can share their experiences and input. Create accountability for students by having … Continue reading
How to Prepare for Your Next Educational Event [4 Tips for Educators]
When you write up your list of things to pack for your next educational event, follow these 3 educator tips to prepare for your next educational event to get the most out of your conference. How to maximize your conference takeaways 1. Make your plan Some of the best industry events for educators have multiple … Continue reading
Top K-12 Educational Events You Should Attend in 2023
Meeting old and new contacts within the education space in 2022 was a refreshing change from social distancing. Our Sales Team had energizing conversations with resellers and educators about trending K-12 products and the future of education. We can’t wait to connect with trendsetting K-12 vendors, resellers, and educators in this new year. Are these … Continue reading
Invest in Yourself: 8 Tips for Language Learning
Teaching strategies from language assistance programs and English as a Second Language (ESL) programs to dual or bilingual education programs seek to build English language proficiency. But even if you’re not an ESL or bilingual teacher, you can accelerate English-language learning too. Growing your language skills in Spanish or another language can help you bridge … Continue reading
Hilarious Holiday Memes for Teachers
Sometimes you need a little bit of humor to get through your day. Enjoy a laugh or two with these holiday teacher memes that we find amusing. Source: We are Teachers Source: Board Teachers Source: Someecards #Truth Source: MemeGenerator.net Enjoying too much holiday cheer Source: California Casualty What’s your go-to resource to manage teacher life? … Continue reading
Making the Grade: Preparing Students for Spring Assessments
Spring testing is fast approaching. Over the past year, schools nationwide have been implementing evidenced-based initiatives to accelerate post-pandemic learning. Policymakers will use these upcoming state assessments to qualify the effectiveness of these initiatives, making spring assessments feel even more like high stakes testing than ever before. As a teacher, you might already be feeling … Continue reading
Reimagining Modern Libraries: Using VR to Boost Teen Health
What do you think of when you think of a modern library? Features of modern libraries include library bookmobiles, WI-FI connectivity, device rental, makerspaces, and digital lending. Even before the pandemic, the rise of digital books and resources sparked a debate over whether physical libraries were obsolete. While it’s true that those libraries that best … Continue reading
Teach Your Students How to Cite Sources Faster
Developing well-rounded thinkers should be a goal teachers have when teaching K-12 writing. Students today have more online resources available to parse that the research writing process is more complicated than ever. With newer forms of media, including blog posts, tweets, and podcasts, finding, analyzing, and determining reliable sources from unreliable ones and then organizing … Continue reading
Tricks to Help Students Beat Writer’s Block
Creative writing can build better English and Language Arts skills, but creative writing is a different beast. If students are uncertain how to start writing, they’ll face what all writers, even professional writers, dread – writer’s block. Here are six activities to inspire their writing. When reading a book, poem, short story, or other lesson, … Continue reading
How to Use Assistive Tech to Unleash Creative Writing
Writer’s block may not be the biggest writing challenge students need to overcome. For some students, writing mechanics, including handwriting, typing, or grammar, are hindering students from expressing their creative ideas. When you think of ways to help students become better writers, assistive tech probably doesn’t make it on your list, but it should. Assistive … Continue reading
Teach K12 Novel Writing: Where to Start
November is National Novel Writing month, making it the perfect time to teach a unit on creative writing. Fictional narrative is unique from academic writing, leaving students confused about how to approach creative writing. Check out this infographic for tips and inspiration to help your students write their best draft yet. Infographic text: Free-flow writing … Continue reading
Explore the Future of K-12 Esports: Competitive Coding
Esports has gained recognition as a legitimate growth opportunity for students since 2018 when the National Federation of State Highschool Associations deemed Esports an official sport (NEA.org). Many competitions are open to students, and several colleges offer Esports scholarships. Now there is another branch in Esports growing in popularity: competitive coding. The mainstream gamification of … Continue reading
Bookmark these K-12 Coding Competitions
Bookmark these 2023 STEM competitions that can help students build their leadership, team building, and coding skills in the new year. Looking for more reasons to sign them up? Check out our post on “6 Benefits of Robotics Competitions.” STEM Competitions 1. Wonder Workshop’s Wonder League Robotics Competition (WLRC) Your students can compete with students … Continue reading
Advance STEM Diversity with Culturally Responsive Making
Compared to other minority groups, Indigenous People still participate in STEM at a lower rate. Contributing factors to this participation rate include lack of funding and the traditional way STEM is taught in K-12 schools and colleges. Making STEM education culturally responsive to Indigenous students makes education personalized, relevant, and accessible, which can help promote … Continue reading
4 Ways to Celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2022
While the concept of an Indigenous Peoples’ Day was first proposed in 1977 at a United Nations conference to combat discrimination against Natives, it wasn’t until 2021 that Indigenous Peoples’ Day was officially recognized at the federal level. This day is an opportunity to showcase Native American history and culture and highlight the violence imposed … Continue reading
Diversifying Teachers to Boost Equity
Recruiting minority teachers is a goal for school districts across the U.S. Generation Z is the most culturally diverse generation of Americans, and arguably students will benefit from teachers who reflect this plurality of race and culture. While today it’s hard to find new black educators, that was not always the case. History in brief: … Continue reading
Conquering the Digital Divide: What’s the next hurdle?
Arguably phase one of advancing digital equity came down to providing a device for every student, and the pandemic fast-tracked these efforts. Then the pandemic revealed another digital equity hurdle: internet access. Phase two revolved around addressing connectivity issues and kids unable to do their homework, which became known as “The Homework Gap.” The Emergency … Continue reading
Celebrate National Literacy Month
Get your students inspired to read this fall during National Literacy Month, happening all of September. This year we’re celebrating diverse literature that sparks children’s imagination, builds empathy, helps them understand and manage their emotions, and broadens their mindset. Part of National Literacy Month is Banned Books Week, happening September 18 – 24. This year’s … Continue reading
Creating Healthy Online Habits
Digital citizenship is about how kids can be “good citizens” online and have healthy and safe online time. This is increasingly important when screen-time takes up a huge chunk of students’ free time. To build health-minded students, start by building their interests offline. Students are spending more time online Kids 8 and up are spending … Continue reading
Future of K-12 SEL: curriculum integration
The pandemic healthcare crisis underscored the need for comprehensive K-12 SEL programs. Public schools experienced a jump in students seeking mental health services since the start of the pandemic, according to a May 2022 study by the National Center for Education Statistics. The majority surveyed are concerned about the lack of resources despite record-breaking federal … Continue reading
Teach Coding Unplugged
It is possible to teach coding unplugged. For National Wellness Month, we’re showcasing Makey Makey, a popular STEAM education solution that is an ingenious way to get kids active and learning to code without all the screentime. Teaching code through invention literacy What is Makey Makey? It’s a perfect way to instill confidence in kids … Continue reading
Keeping Students Safe Online
August is National Wellness Month, making it a great time to start working with your students to develop healthy online habits. Build your cybersecurity literacy to help your students navigate online safety in today’s hyper-connected world with these K-12 online safety tips and resources. Online Gaming Tips As e-gaming and Esports clubs increase in popularity, … Continue reading
Boosting Education Equity by Combating Summer & COVID Slide
Schools that combat summer & COVID slide are bound to boost education equity. Summer slide has traditionally been an education equity issue because poorer students and those with learning disabilities are more at risk of falling behind in their learning over the summer. This fall teachers have to face yet another school year helping students … Continue reading
How Schools Can Advance Accessibility and Equity (3-minute read)
Pandemic learning showcased the state of accessibility and education equity across the U.S. Advancing education for all students starts with reevaluating what inclusive education means at your school. How to reevaluate inclusive education To advance accessibility and promote education equity, one assistive technology specialist believes teachers should reevaluate these 3 inclusive education myths: Myth 1: … Continue reading
3 LGBTQ Heroes for the Classroom
As LGBTQ Pride Month wraps up, here are 3 people we highlighted for 2022 that we think are worthy of mention in an LGBT-inclusive curriculum. Alan Turing Turing is credited as the creator of modern computer science and AI. He put his talent to use breaking German codes during World War II. James Baldwin Baldwin … Continue reading
5 Ways to Create Inclusive Classrooms
When students can feel safe, they can focus on learning. Creating a classroom environment that is friendly and inclusive involves a 360-degree look at your teaching methods and materials. Here are 5 ways to create inclusive classrooms. 1. Prepare for teachable moments Planning for teachable moments will make a difference in developing a safe learning … Continue reading
Overview: Pandemic Educational Funding [Infographic]
K-12 ESSER funds represent an unprecedented investment in education. Here’s your brief educational funding overview. Infographic text: Overview: Pandemic-related Educational Funding *After schools voiced concerns over spending ARP fund by September 30, 2024, The U.S. Department of Education announced on May 13, 2022, that it will consider requests for 18-month extensions in light of schools … Continue reading
ESSER III Spending Plans [Infographic]
Get a snapshot of how schools plan to spend their ESSER III funds, which includes about 7.6% towards student mental and physical health. For schools looking to accelerate learning, there is possibly more time to research new solutions. On May 13, 2022, the Department of Education shared that they would consider requests for 18-month extensions … Continue reading
#WomensHistoryMonth | Bookmark interactive classroom activity for 2023
Want a unique and interactive way to celebrate trailblazing women? Why not take your classroom on a virtual field trip next year? Read today’s blog post to learn more. #education #WomensHistoryMonth #socialstudies Continue reading
4 Classroom Tools that Matter for Girls’ Success in STEM
Risk-takers succeed in STEM careers. Read today’s blog post to learn about 4 STEAM tools that can give girls the confidence to experiment, learn, and excel in the classroom and in their future careers. Continue reading
Black History Month | Hero Shoutouts and Looking Ahead to BHM 2023
Here’s one last hurrah for our 2022 Black History Month heroes and one surprising thing we learned that you can use to celebrate next year. Continue reading
3 Tips for Culturally Responsive Teaching
Do you understand your implicit biases? Take a Harvard test by Project Implicit and get 3 tips for creating a culturally responsive classroom. Continue reading
Black History Month | Boosting Inclusivity in STEM
AI and machine learning have a dark side. Learn about it in this today’s VAR blog post. Continue reading
K-12 Trends | VR Tech and the Metaverse
Companies like NIKE and Walmart are joining the Metaverse. What does this mean for education? Here are 3 tangible benefits to using VR in school now. Continue reading
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