Tag: NEO

time lapse photography of blue lights
Teaching Tools

Solving the Curation Equation

Terri Eichholz

My latest post for NEO offers advice on how to develop a workflow to help you compile the hundreds of teaching ideas you gather from social media and other digital sources. Solving the Curation Equation: Efficient Methods for Collecting Teaching Resources relates some of the secrets I use to save myself time when I bookmark those resources — and when I need to find them later. Though my current favorite tool is Wakelet, you can easily adapt the suggestions in this article to any tool you use. Speaking of Wakelet, here is my page of public Wakelet lists to which I’ve just added “Books for Maker Ed/Design Thinking/STEAM.”

Here are my other NEO Articles in case you missed them: Podcast Pedagogy: Leveraging Audio Programs for Learning, Six Ways to Support Spatial Reasoning Skills Online, Let’s Talk a Good Game: Mining Talk Shows for Classroom Engagement Ideas, How to Do More with Less Screen Time, How to Facilitate Meaningful Discussions in Hybrid or Virtual Classrooms, Top Ed Tech Tools for Differentiation, From Normal to Better: Using What We’ve Learned to Improve Education, Applying Universal Design for Learning in Remote Classrooms, How Distance Learning Fosters Global Collaboration, How to Use Design Thinking in the Classroom, and How to S.T.E.A.M. Up Distance Learning.

A couple of specific articles that you may want to read are: Podcast Pedagogy (which pairs well with this recent list from Common Sense) and From Normal to Better: Using What We’ve Learned to Improve Education. The latter article was written last August, and I think it’s a good reminder of the improvements we can made in education based on what we learned last year instead of returning to status quo.

woman standing in modern museum with pictures on walls
Photo by Cesar Hiar on Pexels.com
black woman in earphones listening to music and texting message
Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, K-12, Language Arts

Podcast Pedagogy

Terri Eichholz

In my latest post for NEO, “Podcast Pedagogy: Leveraging Audio Programs for Learning,” I talk all about the power of podcasts in the classroom – listening and responding to them, as well as creating them. This industry has really become popular in the last few years, and there are so many free materials out there that you and your students can take advantage of for learning and creativity. One fun new app that I mention in the article is “That Part,” which I have enjoyed using to save snippets of podcasts that I want to remember. It’s currently in beta, so there is a glitch every now and then, but it has been great to just take a screenshot of a podcast while I’m walking my dog, and using the app later on to share out the moments of inspiration I think family and friends will appreciate. One resource I don’t share in the article (because I discovered it after the article was submitted) is this awesome free podcasting template from SlidesMania.

If you’d like to catch up on my previous articles for NEO, here’s the list: Six Ways to Support Spatial Reasoning Skills Online, Let’s Talk a Good Game: Mining Talk Shows for Classroom Engagement Ideas, How to Do More with Less Screen Time, How to Facilitate Meaningful Discussions in Hybrid or Virtual Classrooms, Top Ed Tech Tools for Differentiation, From Normal to Better: Using What We’ve Learned to Improve Education, Applying Universal Design for Learning in Remote Classrooms, How Distance Learning Fosters Global Collaboration, How to Use Design Thinking in the Classroom, and How to S.T.E.A.M. Up Distance Learning.

black and blue corded headphones
Photo by Stas Knop on Pexels.com
K-12, Problem Solving, spatial reasoning

6 Ways to Support Spatial Reasoning Skills Online

Terri Eichholz

I’m back online here in Texas after our week of crazy weather. It’s 74 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny today – and I’m perfectly happy for it to stay that way!

My latest blog post for NEO was published last Thursday while my fingers were still too cold to type on a keyboard. “6 Ways to Support Spatial Reasoning Skills Online” emphasizes the importance of offering plenty of opportunities to children to learn and develop aptitude in this area. During my 29 years in the classroom I observed that spatial reasoning was often overlooked, but has many extremely practical applications in our everyday lives. I also saw, and was the casualty of, gender discrimination in this area. Though I think physical practice is the best way to sharpen spatial reasoning, I mention many free digital tools that you can use in the article. In addition, I’ve made this Wakelet of over 40 links to games, toys, articles, and websites that support spatial reasoning.

My previous NEO articles have been:  Let’s Talk a Good Game: Mining Talk Shows for Classroom Engagement Ideas, How to Do More with Less Screen Time, How to Facilitate Meaningful Discussions in Hybrid or Virtual Classrooms, Top Ed Tech Tools for Differentiation, From Normal to Better: Using What We’ve Learned to Improve Education, Applying Universal Design for Learning in Remote Classrooms, How Distance Learning Fosters Global Collaboration, How to Use Design Thinking in the Classroom, and How to S.T.E.A.M. Up Distance Learning.

Photo by Scott Webb on Pexels.com
Games, K-12

Step Up Your Game

Terri Eichholz

In my latest blog post for NEO, I give ideas for games to play in class that are based on ones found on some of your favorite talk show. The post, “Let’s Talk a Good Game: Mining Talk Shows for Classroom Engagement Ideas,” includes popular examples from daytime and nighttime hosts like Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy Fallon. There are suggestions for how to tweak them to use with your curriculum, and they can be adapted for virtual or face to face classes. I even included a Google Slides Template for one of the games. This was a super fun post to write (especially as I hunted for video links to use for reference), and I hope that it will help you to generate some unique ways to introduce, review, and assess learning.

My previous NEO articles have been:  How to Do More with Less Screen Time, How to Facilitate Meaningful Discussions in Hybrid or Virtual Classrooms, Top Ed Tech Tools for Differentiation, From Normal to Better: Using What We’ve Learned to Improve Education, Applying Universal Design for Learning in Remote Classrooms, How Distance Learning Fosters Global Collaboration, How to Use Design Thinking in the Classroom, and How to S.T.E.A.M. Up Distance Learning.

Image by G Lopez from Pixabay

K-12, Teaching Tools

How to Do More With Less Screen Time

Terri Eichholz

I’ve observed a disconnect between the length of time schools and districts are requiring distance learning teachers to be on screen (many expecting it to be the entire school day) and the number of daily hours that parents and teachers believe to be beneficial to virtual learners (definitely not 6-8 hours). In my latest post for the NEO blog, How to Do More With Less Screen Time, I’ve offered some “workarounds” to avoid or combat screen fatigue. I hope that some of the suggestions are helpful.

My previous NEO articles have been:  How to Facilitate Meaningful Discussions in Hybrid or Virtual Classrooms, Top Ed Tech Tools for Differentiation, From Normal to Better: Using What We’ve Learned to Improve Education, Applying Universal Design for Learning in Remote Classrooms, How Distance Learning Fosters Global Collaboration, How to Use Design Thinking in the Classroom, and How to S.T.E.A.M. Up Distance Learning.

Next month’s NEO post will be a fun surprise with many entertaining ideas. I can’t wait for you to see it!

Photo by Lena Helfinger on Pexels.com
K-12, Teaching Tools

Top EdTech Tools for Digital Differentiation

Terri Eichholz

My latest post for the Neo Blog is, “Top EdTech Tools for Digital Differentiation.” You may recognize some of the tools I recommend, such as Newsela and the one I blogged about yesterday, Immersive Reader. But you might be surprised by some other gems that are less ubiquitous right now.

One of the messages I hope that gets across with my Neo post (and everything I include on my own blog) is that differentiation should be happening for all students, not just the ones who are struggling. With technology, we can help all students to learn more, and teachers can have more time to give children the personal attention they need.

My previous NEO articles have been: From Normal to Better: Using What We’ve Learned to Improve Education, Applying Universal Design for Learning in Remote Classrooms, How Distance Learning Fosters Global Collaboration, How to Use Design Thinking in the Classroom, and How to S.T.E.A.M. Up Distance Learning.

Next month’s post for Neo will be, “How to Facilitate Meaningful Discussions in the Hybrid or Virtual Classroom.” If you have any advice, I would love to hear it!

Students at Sutton Middle School use online research to answer questions during a lesson in history class. Photo by Allison Shelley for American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action