REALity Check

This episode is a recap of a synchronous professional development session offered on November 2nd in which we discussed the importance of allowing choices for your students and different ways to start incorporating choice into your classes. Hopefully, this episode will hit the highlights for those of you that couldn’t attend the session and be a good review for those of you that were able to attend. Here are links to the session slideshow and agenda if you would like to view the resources provided. Here is a link to the Student Choice section of our REAL Hub website. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

In this episode, we interview English teacher Maureen Ritter, one of our pioneer BlendEd teachers who recently presented at Central’s Professional Development day. We were so happy to talk with her more about her presentation on an instructional model that’s become more and more popular at the secondary level: the Station Rotation Model. Listen as Maureen gives a brief overview, explains why the model is so compelling, and provides some guidance for starting. Find her Station Rotation HyperDoc here. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

In this episode, we interview department chair and Democracy School Committee leader Jason Janczak who recently presented at our PD day with the help from Loyola University. In this episode, Jason explains the importance of having difficult conversations with students, what it means to "make the space," various self-reflection matrices, how to plan ahead, and the importance of setting up house rules with students. Find Jason's presentation here, and house rules template here. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

In this episode, we interview Grayslake District Department Chair of EL and Equity, Gabrielle Devlin, and English and ESL teacher Chelsey Hernandez. Join us as we discuss some important terminology, guiding philosophy, and practical tips to help support our multilingual learners. Learn more about content and language objectives here. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

In this episode, Vic digs into some video lesson research to explain just how important video lessons are for our students, and presents some tips on doing them well. Check out this Playlist Hyperdoc for more on creating effective video lessons. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

In this episode, we check in with French teacher Maggie Shore with the ups and downs of eLearning. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

Join us as we speak with GCHS alumn and English/Fine Arts teacher Lauren Tracy. She highlights the power of the HyperDoc, the challenges of making connections with students, her joy of dabbling in video editing, and how she's finding balance with work and life. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

During this last year, we have been forced to learn all new tools, to completely adjust the way we build relationships with our students and our co-workers, and to be “at the mercy” of the technology working when we need it to work. We are really proud of how so many of our teachers have taken this opportunity to reflect on their teaching practices, to model what it means to be a life-long learner, and to adjust on the fly to whatever the day throws at us. But we also understand that this can be exhausting, frustrating work. Join me as I chat for just a bit about this new reality that we find ourselves in, discuss some practical solutions for when things don’t work, and encourage you to find a balance between school and not school. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

Making connections with students is harder than ever, but as we all know, it’s the foundation for everything that happens in the classroom. Engagement doesn’t happen, academic success doesn’t happen unless students feel connected. Join me as I build on the work of educators John Spencer and Dave Stuart to help us make those important connections in the classroom while we teach remotely. Articles to check out: "The Power of Student Check-Ins During Distant Learning and Hybrid Courses" by John Spencer "Creating Moments of Genuine Connection Online" by Jennifer Gonzalez --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

We're (finally) back! Welcome back to REALity Check, Season 2. Our first season was short-lived, but we're back with philosophical conversations and quick takeaways. In this episode, Jen interviews Shanna and Vic on their experiences teaching and coaching in this new normal. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

As we venture into these weeks of eLearning, many teachers are planning to include video lessons to help their students stay on track with their learning. Some of these teachers have been incorporating flipped video lessons for years, however, there are many teachers that will be implementing this strategy for the very first time. No matter your experience level, we want to help make sure that your efforts in video lesson creation are as effective as possible for both you and your students. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

In this episode, hosts Victoria Lobb and Shanna Piggott discuss the key reasons teachers should be grading work in Schoology and tracking the grades to PowerSchool. Also discussed are the many different types of grading that you can do with Schoology to help improve student/teacher feedback, foster student engagement, increase efficiency, master organization, and move to a more paperless classroom. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/central-coaching/message

In this episode, hosts Victoria Lobb and Shanna Piggott discuss the key reasons teachers should be grading work in Schoology and tracking the grades to PowerSchool. Also discussed are the many different types of grading that you can do with Schoology to help improve student/teacher feedback, foster student engagement, increase efficiency, master organization, and move to a more paperless classroom. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

In this episode, Shanna Piggott and Victoria Lobb discuss six strategies and related tools for personalized learning as a follow-up to the previous discussion about the three Ps of personalized learning. For more information about each of the strategies, check out the REALity Check blog post. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

We were originally introduced to the three Ps through our district BlendEd work, this idea that we can modify Path, Pace, and/or Place for our students as we design a BlendEd curriculum. More broadly, this idea of modifying or providing choice in path, pace and place is at the core of personalized learning. We don’t need to have a BlendEd course to provide these opportunities for our students; they can work in any classroom at any level of instruction. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

In this episode, Rachel Lesinski and Shanna Piggott discuss why it is important to respect the students in our classes as individuals and how differentiation and personalized learning can help motivate and engage our students. This conversation is intended to help frame much of the work that we are encouraging our teachers to engage with. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

In the most recent episode of REALity Check, I talked about differentiation more philosophically. Here's I'd like to quickly address five specific, research-based strategies to addressing differentiation in the secondary regular education classroom. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

Join Instructional Coach, Victoria Lobb, as she provides quick reminders about what differentiation is, and what it isn't. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

In a few of our previous episodes, we discussed using podcasts and videos as products for students to share their voice and demonstrate their learning. In this episode, we are going to highlight five other types of products and tools that students (and teachers) can use to create. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

In the previous episode, we discussed a bunch of ways to use podcasts as a listening tool to explore passions, hear from authentic presenters, improve literacy skills, and learn content. In this episode, we are going to discuss how students can create their own podcasts to share their voice and demonstrate their understanding. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

Creating a culture in the classroom of student choice and differentiation can be tricky. We want to keep instruction motivating and fresh but we still need to ensure we are providing quality resources. Let’s begin by reminding ourselves that text is more than words on paper and we can take a multimodal approach to content and instruction to ensure choice and differentiation for our students. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

Listening to educational podcasts is a great way to engage in that professional conversation on your time. Here are 6 great teacher podcasts to tune in to! Cult of Pedagogy 10 Minute Teacher Podcast House of Ed Tech Teaching Keating with Weston and Molly The Creative Classroom Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

In "Upping your Twitter Game, Part I," I shared the three educators you should be following on Twitter. So today, in "Upping your Twitter Game, Part II," I’d like to respond to my colleagues who expressed interest in participating in EdChats. Join me as I discuss the purpose, logistics, tips and a list of edchats to help you successfully participate in your first edchat on Twitter. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

We began this semester by asking teachers to try something new, and a lot of responses we received were about following three new educators on Twitter. So today, in Part One, we’d like to present you with the Three Educators You Should be Following on Twitter. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

In our previous episode, you heard about many of the ways project-based learning can benefit students from our guests. If you’re on board with the concept, here are seven steps to incorporating project-based learning into your curriculum. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

Hear about why project-based learning is important for our students from the people in our building who experience it every day. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

With the weather being unpredictable in January, it seems fair that we should discuss what to do on the inevitable e-learning day. So here are five tips to get creative on an e-learning day. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

We know that WeVideo can create nice videos and do voice-overs. We want to highlight 5 things you might not know about WeVideo and how you can leverage it for your classroom. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message

Twenty-five years ago teachers were asking students to create in a very different way then teachers do today. In another twenty-five years, how we ask our students to create will probably look different still. Join us as we discuss the evolution of creating, where we were, where we are now, and where we think we'll end up. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/central-coaching/message