Podcasts about Newsela

Send us a textJomayra Herrera is a Partner at Reach Capital, where she leads investments in companies like Guild Education and Handshake. She is passionate about diversity in venture capital, serving on the board of SomosVC to promote Latino representation.Lyman Missimer is the former Head of M&A and Partnerships at Newsela, where he led key acquisitions, including Formative. Now at Owl Ventures, Lyman focuses on corporate development and strategic investments in EdTech.

According to the State of Sales Enablement Report from 2024, teams that utilize data-driven training are 36% more likely to decrease ramp time. So how can you ensure your training programs are maximizing sales readiness?Shawnna Sumaoang: Hi, and welcome to the Win Win Podcast. I am your host, Shawnna Sumaoang. Join us as we dive into changing trends in the workplace and how to navigate them successfully.Here to discuss this topic is Lizzy Goldstein, the sales enablement manager at Newsela, Inc. Thank you for joining us, Lizzy. I’d love for you to tell us about yourself, your background, and your role. Lizzy Goldstein: Thank you for having me, Shawnna. My name is Lizzy Goldstein, I am the director of enablement at Newsela and II started my career in education. I was a ninth-grade ELA teacher and I transitioned into tech sales where I was on the new business end for two years. Then I joined Newsela almost six years ago as a customer success manager, working with the schools and school districts that purchase our product. I moved to the enablement team about three years ago and have had a lot of success growing on this team, using both my education background and sales background to really help me navigate through this enablement experience. SS: Amazing. You touched on this a little bit around your prior experience before going into enablement and how you have a background in education—which I have so much respect for those who have been in the teaching field. Thank you for all that you did in that role. I imagine that some of that actually carries over into enablement. How does your teaching experience influence your approach to your enablement strategy? LG: I’m lucky at Newsela in that we are an education platform and so I work with a lot of former educators. Two things that are really top of mind for me when I am creating new enablement materials is outcomes and engagement. That really comes from my teaching experience. Whenever, as a teacher, you start planning a unit you first look at what are the outcomes I want my students to be able to achieve at the end of this time. You say, what do I want them to be able to do? And then everything you teach should be teaching to that outcome. If you want them to be able to identify verbs and nouns in a sentence, we make that our end goal and then we make sure that we teach verbs and nouns throughout the unit. We call that backwards planning where we start with what’s our goal and then what do we want to achieve, how are we going to get there?The way to ensure that students are taking in what you’re teaching is engagement—it has to be interesting, it has to be engaging. Otherwise, it’s going right over—if you are just speaking at a group it’s really hard for that to penetrate and for that to really resonate with your learners. Once you know what the outcomes are, then we talk about how are we going to engage these learners and make sure that the material that we share is interesting and relevant to them. SS: I love that approach. If we take a step back, tell us more about your enablement strategy at Newsela. What are some of the key go-to-market initiatives that you’re focused on supporting? LG: Last year we purchased a company called Formative, which is also in the education space and that acquisition has taken a lot of our focus over the last year. We had to onboard the formative sales reps and CSMs to teach them about the Newsela product suite and also teach them our sales process. Then, we had to look at our existing sales organization and teach them the new product that we had acquired. So, there was a lot of A to B and B to A kind of learning and we also had to discover what was our product strategy for these two unique products that also work pretty well together. How can we ensure that our go to market team understands the value of the products individually and then also the value of the products when paired together? That’s been a large focus of mine over the past year. From an industry standpoint, the education space was really impacted by COVID, and districts are still really feeling that when planning for the 2024 to 2025 school year. Especially because ESSER funds, which are federal funds, were such a large part of funding for the last two years and that ESSER funding has run out. A lot of districts are being much more picky when looking at their product suite than they ever were before because they are tens of millions of dollars in the hole compared to what they were in the previous term. So how do we educate our go-to-market team about this changing landscape? And then, continue to drive value and show our districts the value that Newsela brings to keep our product on their budget for the next year. SS: That does sound like a lot of things that enablement is trying to help make sure you are steering for the organization. What role does your enablement platform, Highspot, play in helping you land your go-to-market initiatives? LG: The word that comes to mind with Highspot for us is accountability. We consider Highspot our source of truth; every marketing collateral that we have for customers is in Highspot, a lot of our knowledge documents are in Highspot. When we talk about the changing landscape of the education field, we post podcasts. We want them to use the results about the education space, and articles about the education space in Highspot, and expect our go-to-market team to find those resources there. We really want them to use Highspot as that internal Google search—if they have a question about Newsela, Formative, or education in general, they know that they can find the answers in Highspot. We use Highspot’s analytics to ensure that our go-to-market team is investing time in those new initiatives so we can track usage of resources that we send. Let’s say we publish a podcast about the changing landscape of education. We then look to see how long our go-to-market team, individuals we also created certification tracks for our go-to-market team and shared weekly reports with managers to broadcast how much time their team was investing and made it a little competitive. Always shouted out, “Great job, Elizabeth’s team for an average of eight hours this week in Highspot learning about the new Formative platforms.” So, we use the analytics to make sure that managers and individual contributors understand that we don’t just throw it in Highspot and not look at it again. We are constantly checking in and making sure that everybody is using the resources that we spend time creating for them, and if they’re not, maybe there’s a problem with the resources, maybe they don’t actually hit the points that are necessary. Maybe we missed the mark. And so we need to know that so that we can then publish new pieces of material. So using that accountability and talking to managers, talking to individual contributors and saying, “Hey, I noticed you didn’t spend that much time listening to this podcast. Was it not helpful to you? Was it just something you didn’t have time for this week? Let me know so that we can then update our resources and make sure that they really do align to your goals.” SS: I love that. Recently, your team had a huge training initiative and I believe you created north of 30 courses. Can you tell us more about this effort and how your team brought it to life using Highspot? LG: Yeah, those 30 courses relate to our new acquisition. We had to create courses for our Newsela go-to-market team about the Formative platform, we had to create resources for the Formative team about the Newsela platform, and we had to create new resources for new products that allowed those two to work together. So, it was a lot of effort and a lot of talking to different SMEs across the organization. What was really important to us was to make sure that in six to nine months, there wasn’t really a difference between a Formative sales rep and a Newsela sales rep. We wanted to make sure that the entire go-to-market organization had the same baseline level of knowledge for our entire product suite. We knew that a person who’s more comfortable selling Formative is going to continue to sell Formative and they’re not going to sell the Newsela product suite and vice versa. So we needed to make sure there was that baseline level of comfort.We used Highspot to both educate and evaluate our sales reps. We built e-learning courses that allowed them to explore the new platforms. And then going back to that accountability, there was always an evaluation. We had formative evaluations throughout the courses and then summative evaluations at the end, to make sure that they weren’t just sitting in front of the screen without a chance to practice what they were learning. We gave them an opportunity and used our managers as reviewers to make sure that they knew where their sales reps were, they knew their comfort level, they could hear their pitches, and they could really get a sense for each one of their ICs where they were through this transition.I think keeping the managers really involved was a big part of our success because, it made enablement feel like it wasn’t some black box, that they would just get these materials and nobody would know if It was looked at. They would record videos and not sure who was reviewing it. There was really a relationship between them and their reviewer, and so I think the expectations were higher because they knew that their managers were involved. They knew that their managers really cared and that they were putting an effort into reviewing their work. So, I think that was a big part of our success was bringing in that management level. SS: What are some of your other best practices? You talked in your intro about how important it is to really engage the learner. So what are some of your best practices for creating effective training programs for your sales teams? LG: As much as I love hearing the sound of my own voice, I know that not everybody loves to hear the same person over and over again. We really try to make sure that with every enablement session, we’re bringing in different voices. We like to really vary who that is—we’ll have executive sponsorship, and we will get C-suites, and I think that really sets the tone in training sessions and to do introductions or to be a part of our videos. But then we also love to leverage our IC's. They’re experts in the field. They have great knowledge. They have great best practices. And so we love to invite IC's to be a part of our trainings as well. And I think that really, people love to hear from their peers—they love to hype up their friends. That makes a huge difference for us when somebody gets on the screen and—we are a Google Meet organization—all the emojis pop up at the bottom and everyone’s cheering, “Love that Craig is here. Good job, Craig. We love hearing from Craig.” And so that really makes a difference for us. And we know that people are engaged when they’re hearing from their peer and it’s not just me over and over again. So I’m having that top-bottom executive sponsorship, and then that bottom-up of really leveraging the IC'ss makes a big difference for us.  Another thing that we’ve done this past year that we found to be really successful is that we have a recurring cadence of enablement events. So, every two weeks we have an hour on Thursdays that is just a hold on everyone’s calendar for an enablement session. And so usually two or three weeks in advance we set the enablement event. We will pare down the invite list to make sure that it’s really relevant to that group of learners. But having that recurring cadence really makes people feel like this isn’t random. I’m not just getting this calendar invite last minute and I’m not sure if I really need to show up for it. We’ve taken time on everyone’s calendar over the year and so they expect that training every two weeks and they know. What they’re going to get out of it, and so that has also made a difference of publishing our schedule far in advance, making sure people understand that, they have dedicated time with us regularly, and that we are, really forward-thinking, that we’re not being extremely reactive and saying, “Oh, in two days we’re going to do a training on something”. But we’re respecting their calendar, we’re getting time on it early, and that’s made a big difference for us this past year. SS: I love those ideas, I think our audience can take some of those as takeaways within their own organization, so thank you. What impact have these new training courses had on your teams and do you have any early wins you can share? LG: I think that one thing that is really valuable at Newsela is that we have a lot of internal movement. You take me for example, I started on the customer success team, I moved to the enablement team, and have moved up within that organization. We really do value our internal transfers and we want to make sure as an enablement organization that we set up everyone for success. And so having that standardized baseline for our go-to-market team is really important. I said that when we merge the two Formative and Newsela organizations, we set this baseline to make sure that everyone had the same knowledge. We do the same thing with our onboarding program. So whether you’re an SDR, a CSM, a professional learning manager, you get the same baseline training and you understand our products. You understand our organization at a baseline level, and that’s created an environment where our SDRs after a year are prepared to move into other role, they don’t need to do more learning—they have this baseline standard set. They understand from an early time how our organization works and they understand where they can take their skills, so that’s been really successful. We had about eight internal transfers so far this year, all that have been successful in their roles, and have stayed in their new roles. So that’s really exciting for us. I think the other thing that our onboarding has been successful at is reducing the time to revenue. In 2023, we reduced the time to revenue for sales reps to 36 days, which was a 15-day improvement over the previous year, and that’s been huge for our organization. Nobody wants to hire someone and wait and wait for them to start generating revenue. The earlier somebody can generate revenue, the better it is for the organization, the better it is for the sales rep. Because, it’s really hard to feel like you’re not really quite ready yet. You’re told that you’re going to take calls, but you don’t feel confident so we really want to set people up early for success and, depending on their role, if they’re a sales executive, to make sure that they understand the product suite, [and] they understand the sales process. If you’re an SDR, to really get that track down early so you can start making calls and booking meetings. If you’re a CSM, to start understanding the way that our customers renew, the cyclical nature of our the industry that we’re in. And, again, we want to make sure that people feel really comfortable. Because if they feel comfortable, they feel empowered, they feel confident, and they show up differently to their job. And I think that the work that we did the past year to really stabilize our onboarding and standardize it, has made a huge difference in our organization. SS: Amazing. And you guys are seeing some incredible results, I think your overall adoption of the platform is at about 88% recurring usage. What are your best practices for driving adoption and how has this helped you improve the impact of your programs? LG: If you could just send over the 12% that aren’t recurring after this call, I’d love to see that. I think that we just expect them to use Highspot, it’s not an option at Newsela. We’re pretty vigilant about we’re only sharing content through Highspot. If I see somebody in a public channel share out a resource that’s a Google Doc, I’ll DM them and say, “Hey, does this already exist in Highspot? If it doesn’t, let’s add it and then can you edit your post to add the Highspot link instead of this Google Doc.” We did that a lot our first maybe two years of adoption with Highspot and set the expectation with everybody that if it’s not in Highspot, it didn’t happen. So now I’ve got a lot less of those kinds of messages like, “Hey, why isn’t this in Highspot?” Because that’s really the standard for us. Some organizations can fall into a pit where they aren’t quite sure what should be in Highspot and what shouldn’t be in Highspot, and maybe we overshare in Highspot, but I would rather that than have knowledge that lives outside of what we’ve told the organization is our standard knowledge base. If we tell sales reps that they can find everything that they need in Highspot, and then they find really good resources outside of Highspot, that really just degrades the trust in the platform. It degrades the trust in the enablement team, so we set a pretty high standard, and we make sure that everything is in Highspot. We also send a bi-weekly newsletter to our go-to-market team with updates from our product team, updates from our data team different marketing initiatives and any content that we share in that newsletter is hosted in Highspot. So we’re always pushing people there. Every two weeks we probably get a big spike in Highspot engagement because if there’s a product release, that’s in Highspot. If there’s a new marketing collateral, that’s in Highspot. So there’s not really an option for us, but if you do have that list of who’s not a regular user, I’d love to know. SS: Absolutely love it, Lizzy. Last question for you. What are some of the key ways you measure the impact of your enablement programs on your go-to-market initiatives, and how do you leverage Highspot to help? LG: I think that goes back to the analytics piece and really continuing to share updates regularly with our managers and our directors. Whenever we have a new initiative we have a due date for, maybe we have a new course and we want people to practice their pitch for a new product or a new release. We’ll update that group regularly on where the go-to-market team stands. We’ll break it down by role. We break it down by the manager. To really build a team. That Hey we’re looking out, we’re watching what’s going on. And that little tiny bit of public shaming. “Hey, Elizabeth, only three out of your 10 reps have finished this course so far. What’s going on?” That does help a lot. We make sure that throughout the learning that people are kept up to date on where we stand, so that it’s not on the due date they say, “Oh my gosh, we’re only 75% complete? Why didn’t you tell me?” We tell them every couple of days leading up so that they really understand where we stand and that they can talk to their individual contributors who have yet to complete the work. Usually, about three to five months after a due date, we’ll look back and say, was this actually helpful? Was the outcome that we asked of our individual contributors, did that align with what the actual goals of this initiative was? So you go back to that teaching experience and say you start with the test, then you teach things that would lead you to that, I want them to be able to identify verbs and nouns. So what did I teach that got them there? And then maybe where did I miss? I had a lot of students that are having trouble with nouns. And so I’ll look back on what we did about nouns and maybe it wasn’t enough. Maybe I didn’t have the right material. Maybe I wasn’t quite checking in on students, doing formative assessments, doing quizzes, and seeing that they were struggling there and adding that extra help. So we do like to look back, [and] call it a post-mortem. We look back on what we did and say where were we successful? We call it, what are we going to continue doing? And then where do we need improvement? What do we need to do in the future? And so that’s an exercise that’s really helpful. Sometimes it can hurt a little bit because you put a lot of effort into something and then to have somebody rip it apart doesn’t feel good, but it makes you better. You look back and I think it’s a really healthy practice to look back at your work and say, where was I successful? And where can I be more successful in the future? SS: Absolutely. Lizzy, thank you so much for sharing such amazing advice and best practices for our audience today. I really appreciate the time. LG: Yeah, anytime.SS: To our audience, thank you for listening to this episode of the Win Win Podcast. Be sure to tune in next time for more insights on how you can maximize enablement success with Highspot.

Hanna Skandera joined the Daniels Fund as a Board member in 2019 and was subsequently selected as president and CEO in 2020 due to her proven track record of transformative leadership and impact in both public and private sector organizations. Hanna is nationally recognized for her expertise in education, with significant improvements in student achievement during her leadership in New Mexico, where she served as secretary of education under Governor Susana Martinez. Hanna has founded multiple education initiatives and leadership programs and has been a visiting professor of Education Policy and Impact at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy, Distinguished Teaching Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, and a research fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Additionally, Hanna currently serves on the boards of Academic Partnerships, Daniels Fund, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, MGT, Newsela, and Philanthropy Roundtable. I'm so excited to have Hanna join me on The Wow Factor this week, sharing her journey from secretary of education in New Mexico to President and CEO at The Daniels Fund. She encourages being bold and inspiring generational impact. We discuss why transparency inspires others to be transparent and how Bill Daniels' approach to relationships was rooted in his understanding of the value of sharing oneself to help others. She shares the eight key giving areas of The Daniels Fund and gives an insight into the stories behind them. Hanna also digs into the value of personal relationships, how mentors have helped her move forward in life, and how working with the people around you can help you change and shape the world for generations. “Everyone is made with a purpose and has the opportunity to give back.” - Hanna Skandera “When you believe that things are not possible, you'll deliver on that belief. When you believe that they are, you will deliver on that.” - Hanna Skandera “You are sowing seeds that can last not just for your life, but for lifetimes to come.” -  Hanna Skandera This Week on The Wow Factor: How Hanna's involvement in running a nonprofit in her senior year at school shifted her career trajectory from business to full-time nonprofit work Why mentors are so valuable and how her mentor has provided wise advice and guidance throughout her career Hanna's experience of the mentorship program at  Stanford University, some of the inspirational leaders she met, and how it led to an invitation to join California Governor Schwarzenegger's administration Why Hanna was so honored to join Governor Martinez as her secretary for education, helping to improve education in the state The importance of changing beliefs and mindsets to achieve success, particularly for marginalized communities Why we need leaders to challenge existing thought patterns and inspire others to believe in the possibility of change Hanna shares her journey with the Daniels Fund, a private charitable foundation dedicated to making life better through its grants program, scholarship program, and ethics initiative.  How Bill Daniels' legacy lives on through his commitment to giving back to communities and individuals, inspiring others to do the same.    Hanna Skandera's Words of Wisdom: Be bold and courageous. You only live once, but live like it lasts for generations to come.    Connect with Hanna Skandera: ● Hanna Skandera on LinkedIn ● Hanna Skandera on X/Twitter   Connect with the Daniels Fund: ● Daniels Fund Website ● Daniels Fund on LinkedIn ● Daniels Fund on Instagram ● Daniels Fund on Facebook ● Daniels Fund on X/Twitter   Connect with The WOW Factor: The WOW Factor Website Connect with Brad Formsma via email Brad Formsma on LinkedIn Brad Formsma on Instagram Brad Formsma on Facebook Brad Formsma on Twitter  

[INTRO MUSIC] HOST (Elle Cole):Welcome to the Cleverly Changing Podcast, where we explore the world of homeschooling, parenting, and education. I'm your host, Elle Cole, and today we're diving into the fascinating realm of artificial intelligence in homeschooling.HOST (Elle Cole):Artificial intelligence, or AI, isn't just about robots and sci-fi movies. It's a powerful tool that can enrich our children's education in remarkable ways. We shouldn't be afraid of technology. It is a tool that we should learn how to use responsibly, and the lessons around technology should be taught in an educational setting or within the homeschool setting. Today, I'll be sharing practical ways families can integrate AI into their homeschool curriculum.I believe learning is about going on a knowledge adventure. STEM is huge in schools and today's job markets, so our children should be early adopters of how to train machines/computers intelligently.HOST (Elle Cole):Let's start with something fundamental—reading. AI-powered reading apps like Lexia Core5 or Epic! Books offer personalized learning paths. They adapt to a student's reading level, providing targeted activities to improve comprehension and vocabulary.SCENARIO 1: MORNING ROUTINEHOST (Elle Cole):Imagine this: It's the start of a homeschool day. You're gathered around the kitchen table, ready to dive into your lessons. But before you begin, why not start with an AI-powered news aggregator like Newsela? This tool provides tailored news articles suitable for different reading levels.HOST (Elle Cole):Next, you can select articles relevant to your curriculum, whether it's history, science, or current events. It's an excellent way to spark discussions and encourage critical thinking while keeping your kids informed about the world.SCENARIO 2: STEM ACTIVITIESHOST (Elle Cole):For those science and tech enthusiasts, AI can be a game-changer. Have you heard of DIY projects like building a voice-controlled robot or coding with Scratch? These hands-on activities engage kids in the basics of AI and coding.HOST (Elle Cole):Platforms like Scratch offer a user-friendly interface that lets kids create animations, games, and interactive stories using coding blocks. It's a fantastic way to introduce programming concepts while fostering creativity.SCENARIO 3: PERSONALIZED LEARNINGHOST (Elle Cole):One of the most remarkable aspects of AI in education is its ability to personalize learning experiences, which should be right in line with homeschoolers self-directed philosophies. Tools like Khan Academy or Coursera leverage AI algorithms to adapt content based on a child's progress.HOST (Elle Cole):So, whether your child excels in math or needs extra help with grammar, these platforms adjust the difficulty level in real time. It's like having a personal tutor catering to each child's unique learning pace.SCENARIO 4: ART AND AIHOST (Elle Cole):When it comes to art, AI isn't just about algorithms. Tools like Google's AutoDraw or Adobe's Sensei can assist budding artists. They provide suggestions and corrections while sketching or designing, making the creative process more intuitive and enjoyable.SCENARIO 5: MATH & SCIENCE EXPLORATIONHOST (Elle Cole):Now, let's venture into the realms of math and science. AI-powered math platforms like Photomath  (which we missed during season 2) or Wolfram Alpha can be incredible aids. They help solve complex equations and offer step-by-step explanations, turning math problem-solving into an interactive experience. These tools can be especially helpful to parents needing a refresher to remind them how to do complex math problems. I used to watch how-to math videos on Youtube, workout the problem, and then use Photomath to ensure my answer and process were correct.HOST (Elle Cole):In science, AI simulators and software like Algodoo or Labster simulate experiments. They allow students to conduct virtual lab experiments, explore scientific theories, and understand concepts like never before. These tools can help level the playing field and save homeschool families money.SCENARIO 6: SOCIAL STUDIES & WORLD HISTORYHOST (Elle Cole):Moving on to social studies and world history, AI-powered resources such as Google Earth and Timeline JS provide immersive experiences. Students can virtually explore historical sites, trace timelines, and understand global events in a more engaging manner.SCENARIO 7: LANGUAGE LEARNING & RELIGIOUS STUDIESHOST (Elle Cole):For language learning and religious studies, AI language apps like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone aid in learning foreign languages. They adapt to individual progress, making language acquisition interactive and fun.[Sound Effect: Reading religious texts]HOST (Elle Cole):Additionally, AI text analysis tools can help students delve deeper into religious texts. They provide insights, interpretations, and summaries, aiding in a comprehensive understanding.HOMESCHOOLING AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE EPISODE SUMMARYHOST (Elle Cole):Incorporating artificial intelligence into your homeschool curriculum isn't about replacing traditional teaching methods. It's about enhancing learning experiences, fostering curiosity, and preparing our kids for a tech-driven future. The possibilities of incorporating AI into our core subjects for middle and high school students are extensive. It's also about using technology as a tool to enhance learning, encourage exploration, and cultivate a deeper understanding of various subjects.[Sound Effect: Outro music begins]HOST (Elle Cole):That's all for today's episode. Thank you for joining me on the Cleverly Changing Podcast. Don't forget to visit our website CleverlyChanging.com for additional resources and join the conversation on our social media platforms. Until next time, keep learning and exploring. Goodbye![OUTRO MUSIC FADES IN][END OF EPISODE] ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This episode is sponsored by Riverside, your all-in-one podcast and video platform. Go to ⁠⁠https://creators.riverside.fm/Anna⁠⁠ and use the code MSM23 for 15% off. Josh Lowman (CCO and Founder at Gold Front) joined me on the show for the second time for this BONUS episode. Check out Ep. 84 “What I've Learned From Category Designing 50+ Startups” where Josh shares how he's helped startups like Robinhood, Newsela, Uber, Bizzabo, and Clari create and own their category. In this episode: Why we leave happiness out of the business equation; Why happiness matters; Josh shares two mind tools that can help; Tying it back to category design (HINT: the world is telling us to be reasonable); Josh and I category design my own business. You can find Josh on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.linkedin.com/in/joshlowman Learn more about Gold Front: www.goldfront.com For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show! And whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. fractional head of marketing and advising for early stage startups >> ⁠⁠www.furmanovmarketing.com⁠⁠ 2. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to get my monthly early stage startup marketing newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ where I'm sharing playbooks and insights and cracking some jokes 3. Sponsor my Top 5% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> ⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anna-furmanov⁠⁠ You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn, definitely say hello >> ⁠⁠www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anna-furmanov/message

Shiren Vijiasingam is the Chief Product Officer at Instructure, the leading learning platform and maker of Canvas. Shiren has built global software products for millions of users, for over 2 decades, with more than half of his time in education. He previously served as Chief Product Officer, both at Newsela, a K-12 content platform, and before that at General Assembly, the pioneer of career transformation education. He has a master's degree in interactive media from Quinnipiac University and a bachelor's degree in communications from St. Cloud State University.Recommended Resources:Instructure.com/aiDr. Jordan Nguyen's website

HR2 Curriculum Service Newsela Bypasses State Bans on CRT | Streaming Services 9-12-23 by John Rush

In this episode KiannaD gives helpful hints and tools to help parents and students for the 2023/2024 school year. Breaking down the spiritual, mental, and physical health needs of students. Followed by tips and resources to help with school work. Apps such as Khan Academy, PBS kids games, Brainpop, Newsela, Dragon Box, Photomath, Duolingo, and DPLA ( Digital Public Library of America)

I've seen a lot of questions about using current events and age-appropriate and motivating materials lately, and there are so many free resources out there that provide news or articles that are relevant to students that are motivating, engaging, and can be used to work on a variety of speech goals! So in this episode of SLP Coffee Talk,  I'm sharing a bunch of them with you and tips on how you can use them today. Topics covered in this episode include:Why kids news articles are great resources for working on speech goalsMy number one go-to news resource for speech activitiesA list of my top resources for free news articles that work in speechTips for using these sites to enhance your speech sessionsThis episode is packed with tons of value and activity ideas. Make sure to tune in! Full show notes available at www.speechtimefun.com/183Resources Mentioned: Check out Newsela: www.newsela.com Check out DOGOnews: www.dogonews.com Check out Time for Kids: www.timeforkids.comCheck out National Geographic Kids: kids.nationalgeographic.com/newsCheck out Scholastic News: www.scholastic.com/kids/newsCheck out KidsPost: www.washingtonpost.com/kidspostCheck out PBS Kids News: www.pbskids.orgCheck out Science News for Students: www.sciencenewsforstudents.orgCheck out TIME for Kids Explainers: www.timeforkids.comCheck out Youngzine: youngzine.orgCheck out Breaking News English: https://breakingnewsenglish.comCheck out Izzit: https://izzit.orgCheck out Teen Kids News: https://teenkidsnews.comWhere We Can Connect: Follow the Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/slp-coffee-talk/id1497341007Follow Hallie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/speechtimefunFollow Hallie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpeechTimeFun/Follow Hallie on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/missspeechie/Take advantage of this podcast exclusive deal for SLP Elevate - speechtimefun.com/podcastelevate

In this episode, I will be sharing all about differentiating for varied proficiency levels in your classroom. You will hear about the four ways you can differentiate, as well as concrete examples of how it might look for you and your students. This episode is part of this month's series where we are talking about lesson planning as part of our short and actionable summer professional development podcast episodes. In episode 70, I shared three mistakes many teachers make when it comes to lesson planning. In last week's episode, episode 71, I walked you through how to write content and language objectives for your ELs.I hope that, just like others, this episode will leave you excited and inspired to begin planning for the upcoming year.What you will hear about in this episode:Four easy ways to differentiate a lesson to cater to the individual needs of students with varied proficiency levels in their classroom.How to differentiate content, process, product, and learning environment to make lessons more accessible for all students.Examples of how to implement these strategies in their own teaching practice and adapt them to different classroom settings.Helpful resources such as Newsela and News in Levels for finding articles with different reading levels and vocabulary words to cater to individual student abilities.The importance of setting clear goals and expectations, establishing classroom routines, and creating a conducive learning environment for effective classroom management and student success.Show Notes:Episode 72 - 4 Easy Ways to Differentiate the Same LessonRelated/Previous Episodes:Episode 71 - How to Write Content and Language Objectives for EL LessonsEpisode 24 - 6 Elements of an Effective Lesson PlanResources Mentioned:The ESL Teaching Roadmap – membership community for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers. As a thank you for listening, use code ESLPODCAST for 10% off when you join. Simply Ieva ESL Teachers Pay Teachers StoreLesson Planning MasterclassNewcomer teaching checklist NewselaNews in LevelsConnect with Ieva:Follow me on Instagram - @simplyievaeslVisit my website - www.simplyieva.com/Join the  - Are you one of the many ESL teachers who struggle with strategically planning their lessons for ESL beginners? If your answer is YES, I have the perfect solution for you. A Lesson Planning Masterclass, Map out for First month with ESL beginners will help you get out of the rut of haphazard teaching of skills and to become a master at mapping out your lessons months in advance.

Research from Sales Enablement PRO found that when enablement teams manage sales training programs those organizations report a 6-percentage-point increase in customer retention. So, how can teams lean on sales training to help drive the behavior change needed to deliver exceptional customer experiences? Shawnna Sumaoang: Hi and welcome to the Win Win Podcast. I'm your host, Shawnna Sumaoang. Join us as we dive into changing trends in the workplace and how to navigate them successfully. Here to discuss this topic is Andrea Leveroni, the senior manager of customer learning and enablement at Newsela. Thanks for joining, Andrea! I'd love for you to tell us about yourself, your background, and your role. Andrea Leveroni: Thank you, Shawnna. As mentioned, this is Andrea Leveroni. I am with Newsela and I have been in the education industry for about 20 years, with the last seven years being in sales enablement. Here at Newsela I direct the team on our Highspot learning platforms. It’s a passion of mine to make sure that our teams have what they need when they need it, and not too much time spent finding it. I really love to talk to Highspot all the time about how we can get materials as fast as possible to our sales reps out there on the frontline. SS: Wonderful. Well, we’re excited to have you on our podcast, Andrea. Now, can you share with us maybe a little bit about what your training programs looked like prior to Highspot? AL: Of course. Prior to Highspot, we used a separate LMS. It was very cumbersome for our managers to have to compile data from both the LMS and then what we were using for our enablement platform, which was Highspot. The way that we were working to develop rep readiness, we were comparing several different reports and something that wasn’t consistent and we were having to link to our Highspot rather than having everything in one place. It was a huge selling point when Training and Coaching came about because we had a higher adoption at that point to have everything in one place. Highspot is a known name around new customer organization of where to find what you need, whether it’s Training and Coaching or any of the reference materials as you’re going through a course, you’ll find there as well and you can go back to after the fact. I think we all have to think about training and coaching as a digestible model, and you want to be able to go back to not just the e-learning, but you want to go back to some of the resources, and being able to have those quickly, readily available in the same platform was game-changing for us. SS: I love that. You’ve talked about this a little bit, but how have your training programs evolved since you began leveraging Highspot's Training and Coaching? AL: We’re very excited about the new upgrade that was just announced with Certification Pass. We are putting four paths in place for certification, and we’re really excited about using the learning paths with these so that we have a progression and we can show that you’re truly certified in an area, whether it be on a product knowledge base or a sales methodology, but we can show your certification in the steps that you took and the learning that you took to get there. We love that we can add the learning directly into plays, so just an added navigation. If you don’t go back to your learning tab, you can always find your stuff easily, and we can organize it by initiative rather than just on the learning site, the Training and Coaching, we can actually link it to a play too, and it just makes it more engaging and user friendly. SS: That is amazing evolution, Andrea. I’d love for you to tell us what are some of the most important initiatives that you’re focused on when it comes to training reps, and what’s an example of how you’ve done this? AL: One of the things I think we have to think about in enablement is onboarding, and this is how long is it going to take for you to be ready to meet with your customers. We just recently overhauled our onboarding process within Highspot, so we really took Training and Coaching to the next level, as mentioned before about certification, but also using these learning paths. We restructured it in a way that you can look at all 12 weeks of your onboarding in chunks so you have a digestible path for yourself but know that you can come back to these things at a later date. Rep readiness is key to making our sales, and it’s also key to keeping our renewals and making sure that people are properly trained before they’re having customer conversations. It also eliminated where we were onboarding a standalone checklist. Now that we have these learning paths, it has eliminated the checklists, which were built into Google Sheets outside for quick visuals. We really have leveraged rebuilding these things in the learning path with the certifications to make our onboarding program even better. SS: Amazing. In your opinion, what role would you say training plays in essentially driving behavior change at scale? AL: We’ve always strived to develop programs that will not only fulfill readiness but also speed to readiness. I know I keep saying this a lot, but it is so important that you’re ready for those customer conversations or those renewal conversations depending on whether you’re an SDR at the very beginning, or a customer success representative on the tail end keeping our renewals. We need to make sure that we have the right training in place so that you have the behaviors that you need to be successful. The other thing that we love to do as part of our training programs is look at the ability to measure these learning outcomes in comparison to the Salesforce data. Can we, using the Kirkpatrick model, from just getting results to behavior changes, want to make sure that our training is developed full-scale and that they really feel successful in the field? SS: I love that. What are some of your best practices for driving behavior change in your training programs, and how have you leveraged Highspot to help? AL: Here what I want to talk about is digestible, bite-sized learning. We all know as learners you have a short amount of time to learn something, first of all, and you can’t digest too much out at once. We talked about onboarding prior, but it can be a firing hose when you come into a new organization. There’s so much you have to learn, so as long as you are building this in digestible chunks, it makes the experience so much better for your new hire and also for your tenure employees. What we will look at is as we’re building in Highspot, we’re going to look at our courses and lessons and make sure that we have these built in a way that you can go in and out of them and it makes sense and you’re not spending hours and hours trying to learn one piece of the puzzle when we know you just don’t have time for it. We are also looking at the engaging content. We love to do videos within our courses, and the imagery, and the ability to use Highspot for this. If we have the time to build an articulate rise, go ahead, use those SCORM files, and upload them. We also have been playing around with some HTML5 content that’s created from another tool. We love the fact that Highspot can digest these things because it just makes our content even more engaging. Then, of course, we like to check for understanding. We are using the video upload or video within for learning and coaching. We want to make sure you have plenty of practice time before you’re in front of the customer and you feel comfortable, and that’s key to success here. Also, the managers just being able to review that, it’s so much coaching that they can provide for their teams, whereas it’s not just coming necessarily from an enablement team member, it’s coming from your managers. Having that visibility from the manager’s perspective to give that feedback is critical. SS: Absolutely. Now, to drill into that a little bit more, you’ve actually driven a 20% increase in active rep participation in your Training and Coaching programs in Highspot, which is, I have to say, absolutely incredible. What are your best practices for motivating reps to not only participate but really fully engage in the training? AL: I think it starts with enlisting the support of the managers from the beginning. Your managers are going to drive the accountability and the excitement. If a manager really believes in something and they believe their teams can benefit from it and they’re going to stand behind it, you are going to be that much more successful. I’d also encourage you to find some champions for learning. They can share their experiences. People love to hear from their peers that are out there in the field doing the same work they are. They have a connection to them and they’re credible, so that’s very important too. Then I would say communicate what’s coming. Communicate the learning plan. Let them know when the courses are going to be available. Let them know when they’re due, and the expectations, and then share those reports with the managers. Here at Newsela, we created a Highspot plate just around reporting for courses that the managers can go to. They can go and pull a report simply instead of having to go through the analytics or rep scorecard, they can pull for their whole entire team and see at a glance where everybody stands. It’s something I update for them based on the key initiatives of like, hey, what are the e-learnings we’re looking at this month or this quarter? It’s just those particular ones, whereas, if they want to go way back, they could go to the scorecard. I think that that’s important to really, I can’t say this enough, enlist your managers and show them how they can support you through reporting. SS: Absolutely. Now, you mentioned scorecards and really the key role that’s played in your strategy. How do you leverage scorecards to understand what good looks like when it comes to training impact on rep behavior and the success of your initiatives? AL: Scorecards really help us identify trends. If we launch something and we see that the play is being utilized, that’s a bonus, but what if we see that there is content that we were hoping they would’ve been clicking on from the session that’s not necessarily being used? That gives us an opportunity to increase the communication around those parts and pieces that might not be fully utilized and remind people that they are there, or it’s a reminder to us when we think about the marketing materials like, did we create the right stuff? Is there room to create something different? Why are they using it? Why are they not using it? Then, finally, really taking the comparison against Salesforce data to say, okay, have we driven revenue or renewal based on this new initiative in response to looking at where we are with the play consumption of how much content they’ve used and what kind of training they’ve completed? SS: That’s amazing. Now, last question for you, Andrea. What is the value that training can have on the business? I’d love to understand how you reinforce that value with your stakeholders. AL: Absolutely. We are all here to drive business outcomes. I think we can all agree on that. Training is made available to help us excel at what we enjoy doing all day long and throughout our customer journey. If you’re not a happy salesperson it’s a problem. Salespeople are the happiest people, they’re outgoing, and really what we want to be designing from a training perspective is usable material. I want to show you the value and what I built for you is going to go out and help you close a deal. It’s going to help you renew a deal. It’s going to make you better in your conversations as far as building relationships. It’s really key to make sure that whatever we have developed in our training really does provide value. If it didn’t, because I know we don’t always operate on a hundred percent cylinders all the time, then what we want to know is your feedback. I think it’s also important to ask for feedback and show them where you have integrated their feedback to make it better. See if you had something that you launched and it wasn’t really showing them the value you were hoping for, you’re like, gosh, they’re really not taking this to heart. I don’t see a behavior change. Why is that? Why did they not feel valued in that? How can I go back and make it better and then show them that I used their feedback and they were valuable in the process of making it better? Really, I can’t say this enough, too is like using your managers, using your peers. You really have to get those champions behind you to make sure that these experiences are shared with a wide audience so that everyone can fulfill their roles even to a higher level than they ever thought possible. SS: Amazing, Andrea. Thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate the insights that you’ve shared. AL: Thank you so much, Shawnna. SS: To our audience, thank you for listening to this episode of the Win Win podcast. Be sure to tune in next time for more insights on how you can maximize enablement success with Highspot.

Malvika brings a wealth of education experience with a particular expertise in assessment design, learning sciences research, and outcomes measurement. At Owl, Malvika leads all portfolio services and partners closely with Owl's 50+ portfolio companies on their impact and outcomes objectives. She also serves as an thought partner to many of Owl's limited partners globally and leads the creation of Owl's annual Education Outcomes Report and Owl Insights. Prior to joining Owl, Malvika was at Emerson Collective, where she led impact and efficacy efforts for a portfolio of EdTech companies, and before that she spent four years as an early employee at Newsela building out their research and assessment teams. In prior roles, Malvika has worked on assessment design across India, US, & Gulf countries, volunteered as a teacher for low SES communities and was on the founding team for Mindspark, an English language learning program for children in India. Malvika has been an invited speaker conferences like ASU GSV, SXSWedu, ISTE and SIIA Education Impact Symposium and currently serves as an advisor on EdTech Evidence Exchange's Industry Council, Google's Education Advisory Council and IES's Council for Scaling Innovations. She holds a M.Ed degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Join us for this conversation about EdTech (education technology) and its role in supporting the future of education for learners of all ages.   IN THIS EPISODE, WE DISCUSS: Malvika's journey in education and an experience that showed her how broken the system was. Learner outcomes and how we can assess if students are really learning. Using scale, access, and outcomes to measure the success of education technology. The role of EdTech in the classroom and some examples. Can social emotional learning be developed using a screen? The impact of EdTech on the future of education. What the journey of an EdTech founder can look like.   RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Connect with Malvika on LinkedIn Sent Malvika an email at malvika@owlvc.com Visit owlvc.com to learn more about their work in support the digital revolution in education Learn more about Rebel Educator, explore our professional development opportunities for educators and students, and check out our project library Visit us at UP Academy to learn more about our personalized and inclusive learning environment Connect with Tanya and UP Academy on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram and learn more about her journey here     Check out my book Rebel Educator: Create Classrooms Where Impact and Imagination Meet: amzn.to/3AcwlfF   Enjoying the show? Leave us a rating and review and help more people find us! bit.ly/RebelEducatorApplePodcasts   We'd love it if you could take a few minutes to fill out this survey to let us know how we can bring you the best possible content:  forms.gle/JcKHf9DHTZnYUmQr6    Interested in being on the Rebel Educator podcast? Fill out this form and we'll reach out to you if we think you'd be a great fit for an upcoming episode. forms.gle/zXR2KGPK3WEmbrRZ6    Want to learn more about opening your own UP Academy? Check out the Rebel Educator Accelerator: www.rebeleducator.com/courses/the-accelerator   MORE ABOUT THE REBEL EDUCATOR PODCAST: In each episode of the Rebel Educator podcast, I deconstruct world-class educators, students, and thought leaders in education to extract the tactics, tools, and routines that you can use as teachers and parents. Join me as we discuss how to shift the classroom, the learning environment, the mindset, and the pedagogy, to resist tradition, reignite wonder, and re-imagine the future of education. This podcast is dedicated to all of the educators who work thankless hours to make our next generation the best it can be.  It was designed to begin conversations on how we can redesign education for the future of work and the success of our students.  It is meant for teachers, students, administrators, homeschoolers and anyone who interacts with and teaches youth.f

It's about time for teachers to start their opinion, persuasive, or argumentative writing units (depending on the grade you teach). Most teachers realize that sample sentences and essays are an important component of any writing unit. But, one of the hardest parts about teaching this type of writing is finding writing samples that are age appropriate. It's easy to look on websites of popular newspaper outlets and find an opinion piece, opinion polls, and someone's personal opinion shared via an editorial. The problem is these newspapers have paywalls set up, limiting access. Also, the writing is written at the high school level and much too complex for say, fifth graders. Plus tools like Newsela and CommonLit require payment. But, I'm here to shout from the rooftops that finding a variety of writing samples is easier than ever with a new tool called Chat GPT and right now it's completely free, but it might not be for long! I recently published a three-part series about how Chat GPT, and future iterations of this tool, are going to have a significant impact on the way we teach. This tool is striking fear in the hearts of teachers worried about plagiarism. But, getting stuck in fear is a mistake! English teachers need to take advantage of its ability to generate sentence examples, opinion questions, persuasive writing prompts, and more. Teachers can use this tool to enhance their teaching and save time, and I'm going to prove it to you right here, right now.

Class discussions are dynamic spaces for students to be meaning makers and critical thinkers, and offer unique opportunities for processing ideas, building new concepts with peers, and internalizing key learning points. But the ephemeral nature of discussions is a challenge, because although discussions ends, the learning components within them should be transferable in future reading and writing practices. In this episode, we're talking with Brian Veprek, a Strategic Curricular Solutions Architect at NewsELA about the connections between reading, writing, speaking, and listening, and how literacy is a bridge to cognition.

In today's resource dive solo episode, we are sharing 7 resources for justice-based curriculum design. You can access them with the links below to dowload and implement as an educator.    Episode highlights: - More about what the 7 resources for justice-based curriculum design are and how to implement them as an educator  - Why these resources are important and how they benefit educators    Tune in on your favorite podcast player and when you're done connect with me here to start a conversation about anything that got your interest.   Liked this episode? Rate, review, and share!   Want more? Follow me on: LinkedIn: @lindsaybethlyons  Instagram: @lindsaybethlyons Facebook Group: Time for Teachership   Free Media Critique Template: https://timeforteachership.lpages.co/media-critique-project-template/    Resources for Justice-Based Curriculum Design:  Call For Change: https://learn.kqed.org/challenges/teachers/call-for-change  KQED Learn: https://learn.kqed.org/discussions?page=1&search=  Do Something | Learning For Justice: https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/student-tasks/do-something  Student Cam: http://www.studentcam.org/  Student Texts: https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/texts  Resource Library | Facing History: https://www.facinghistory.org/topics  Teaching Materials Archive: https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/  Newsela: https://newsela.com/ 

Government schools all across America have partnered with an organization that is pumping extreme and dangerous left-wing propaganda masquerading as “news” into classrooms and the minds of children, warns advocate and expert Marsha Metzger with Protect Child Health in this interview with The New American magazine Senior Editor Alex Newman. The organization, known as “Newsela,” ... The post Propaganda ‘News’ Used in Schools to Manipulate Children appeared first on The New American.

Deborah Lee is the Founder and CEO of Dancing Panda, an SMS-based learning product for parents of PreK to 3rd-grade kids. She joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about building a product that helps parents bond with their kids through fun learning exercises that can connect to what they're learning in class. We begin by hearing Deborah's origin story as a social entrepreneur, working in K12 and then EdTech at Newsela before launching Dancing Panda during the pandemic. We learn how she came up with the idea for Dancing Panda based on her experience as a mom to two young girls. Deborah encourages parents to reach out to their children's teachers to connect about their children's learning in a positive frame. We also talk about reaching families in need by designing a lean, lightweight experience that fits into the busy lives of parents and caregivers today. It's a thought-provoking conversation about helping parents bridge into their children's learning journeys in these challenging times. Don't miss it! Subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at TrendinginEd.com for more sharp takes on where the world of learning is heading.

October 14 2022 - Episode 106The Ignite EdTech Podcast with @mrkempnz1. Introduction2. Question for you - What is your interest and confidence in coding and computational thinking?3. EdTech Tool of the Week - Flip4. EdTech Tip of the Week - Personalisation tools to help you in the classroom5. Interview with John Mikton6. Win a prize by going to bit.ly/edtechwin and completing the short form7. Subscribe, Rate and ShareIf you have a question that you want answered on the podcast please emailinfo@igniteedtech.comConnect with Mark Quinn here or via email markquinn9129@gmail.com Links from PodcastJohn on Twitter and LinkedinInternational Schools PodcastClassKick, Explain Everything, Newsela, KnewtonLearning 2 EventsBooks: Disrupting Classroom, The Human Side of School ChangeIgnite EdTech on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram

The Great Resignation, The Great Renegotiation, The Great Reshuffle… whatever you want to call it, recruiting challenges are alive and well in the B2B world. That's why we brought in 3 savvy, inspiring CMOs to share their approaches to attracting talent via Great Cultures, Great Experiences, and Great Brands… all while the world adjusts to a new hybrid reality. Don't miss this one, featuring:   Allison Munro, Chief Marketing and Ecosystem Officer at Vena Adriel Sanchez, previous CMO at Newsela, now CMO at WalkMe Kristin Fornal, previous CMO at IAM Robotics, now Founder of Brand pH LLC  For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

Welcome to Reimagining Company Culture, a series discussing emerging trends and priorities shaping the future of workplace culture and employee wellbeing. We highlight thought leaders who are constantly evolving their strategy and can provide insight to folks about how to address new business challenges.  AllVoices is on a mission to create safe, happy, and healthy workplaces for all, and we're excited to learn from experts who share our mission.  In this episode of Reimagining Company Culture, we're chatting with Hasan Rafiq, VP of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging at Newsela. With over 15 years of multi-sector experience, Hasan's focus is on how organizations can build equitable systems and embed equity throughout employee lifecycle through evidence-based, data-driven strategies.Tune in to learn Hasan's thoughts on intentional DEI strategy, honoring Pride 365 days, not perpetuating trauma internally, and more!About AllVoices In today's workforce, people often don't feel empowered to speak up and voice their opinions about workplace issues, including harassment, bias, and other culture issues. This prevents company leadership from making necessary changes, and prevents people from feeling fulfilled, recognized, and included at work. At AllVoices, we want to change that by providing a completely safe, anonymous way for people to report issues directly to company leaders. This allows company leadership real transparency into what's happening in their companies—and the motivation to address issues quickly. Our goal is to help create safer, more inclusive companies.

Hasan Rafiq has worked as a senior Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) leader at some of the world's largest companies, including EY (Ernst and Young) and Facebook.Join Hasan and Marco as they explore how to create a culture of belonging in organizations both large and small. Currently, Hasan Rafiq is the Vice President of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging of Newsela, where he drives the company's strategies for the integration of diverse perspectives and experiences into the building of an inclusive culture, and development of equitable policies.In this episode you will learn: - How to build a listening organization where people feel seen, heard, and valued. - How to be a culturally agile leader and build a global DEIB strategy for your organization. - How belonging and the language around it look different around the world.If you would like to start a conversation with Hasan about the incredible work that he does reach out at: coachesforinclusion@gmail.com Articles: - Defining values and value behaviors that resonate across cultures (http://kwx.fyi/values) - The 10 Most Common Organizational Values, An Intercultural Examination (http://kwx.fyi/10-most-common-values) - Four Keys for Building Trust on Teams (http://kwx.fyi/building-trust-teams)-- Brought to you by KnowledgeWorkx.com

Zohra is the author of “Take it with a grain of salt," released in May 2021. The book shares lessons that Zohra learned through experiences like a divorce, losing a parent, navigating her self-worth, managing a disability, and more. While writing is Zohra's passion, her purpose revolves around enhancing people's experiences through programs, strategies, and initiatives. Her portfolio of experiences spans as a people developer, coach, program builder, board advisor, and leader who devises Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive strategies that are executable and enable us to improve the lives of our professionals. Currently, Zohra is the Director of DEIB at Newsela and a board advisor at ArcBound while studying full-time at Vanderbilt for her Doctorate in Education (Leadership & Learning). Her goal is to continue building enriching experiences through programs and initiatives; concepts at her core are a growth mindset, being diverse in everyday actions, being inclusive in everything we do, and making accessibility a must and not nice to have.Connect with Zohra here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zodamani/ Personal Website: www.zodamoney.com 

In our final episode, Gil talks category creation with Josh Lowman, Founder of Gold Front. Josh has worked with leading startups such as Uber, Robinhood, and Newsela to build category-defining brands. You'll walk away from this episode with an understanding of the process involved in creating a new category, from strategy to implementation. BONUS! Josh tells what questions you should ask before creating a new category.

How do you turn a question, a problem, or just a list of needs, into an agenda? At the close of a recent cohort of the facilitation masterclass, the participants were still sitting with some big questions. Which is good, because that's what the closing session is for! But I felt that some of these questions were too big for one conversation. So, I invited four alums of the facilitation masterclass to come together and share some thoughts on a fundamental challenge: turning a question into a conversation, an agenda and an arc.  I'm joined by  Erica O'Donnell, a hybrid professional working at the intersection of design thinking, strategy, facilitation, and innovation, Kyle Pearce, a leader in collaborative change with an extensive background in the health and social services sector. Frankie Iturbe, a Program Manager at Newsela, a K12 EdTech company And Kate Farnady, Director, Chief of Staff, Strategic Technologies at Autodesk, and also the community coordinator for the Conversation Factory Insiders's Group! We only scratched the surface, but there's lots of goodness in here. Just a few of the things we discussed: How stated goals may not always have the whole group aligned with them, and what to do about it. Sharing responsibility for the agenda and outcome with stakeholders and session attendees How good insights can sometimes arise even in spite of (or perhaps because of) chaos Different approaches to facilitating agendas around messy goals and questions If you want to dive deeper, check out my course on the 9Ps of meeting planning. I'd also recommend signing up for the conversation factory insiders group...we ran another deep dive on this question, reflecting on the question "why do I need an agenda?" and sharing our responses together. You can join here and check out that session as a subscriber here. Head over to theconversationfactory.com/listen for full episode transcripts, links, show notes  and more key quotes and ideas. You can also head over there and become a monthly supporter of the show for as little as $8 a month. You'll get complimentary access to exclusive workshops and resources that I only share with this circle of facilitators and leaders. Also: I use and love REV for the accurate transcripts they make for me...it makes making my podcast notes and essays more meaningful and insightful. I love reading the transcript and listening to the session at the same time….it really gets the conversation into my brain! I also use the automated transcription feature for my coaching clients to help them get maximum value from our sessions. Head over to http://bit.ly/tryrev10off to get $10 off your first order. In full transparency, that's an affiliate link, so I'll get $10 too! Links Kate on LinkedIn Frankie on LinkedIn Erica on LinkedIn Good Seed Digital Think: Act Consulting

Welcome back! As you may have heard, I'm intrigued by category design. I've had both Christopher Lochhead and Andy Raskin on the show to chat more on the topic, and those are actually some of the more popular episodes on the podcast. Josh Lowman helps startups (like Robinhood, Newsela, Uber, Bizzabo, and Clari) create and own their category. I wanted to bring Josh onto the show and dig into exactly HOW he helps startups design categories and learn about some specific examples. Josh is Founder and CCO at Gold Front, a category design studio based in San Francisco and LA. He's also the host of the Category First podcast. Here's what we hit on: What does category creation mean to you (HINT: it's a whole company strategy); Exactly how you've helped different brands like Robinhood, Newsela, Uber, Bizzabo and Clari with category design. Where do you start? What does that process look like (HINT: everyone has a different context, but in common is to disrupt the old way of doing things); Why the CEO collaboration is key; What are the pitfalls or watch-outs if you're a startup planning to create and own a category; How does timing play into successful category creation? What needs to click out there in the world for this to work; Can everyone be a category creator (HINT: we're just keeping people honest. As a startup you're not telling your investors that you have something incrementally better); How did you bring category creation into Gold Front's business strategy; What are some goals you want to accomplish (personal, professional) in 2022. You can reach Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshlowman/ Find out more about Gold Front: https://www.goldfront.com/ Check out the Category First podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/category-first/id1601824968 For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify (or wherever you like to listen). You can find Anna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov/message

In this episode of the RevOps Demystified Podcast, Tom Hunt and Alex Freeman are joined by Danny Clune, Revenue Operations Manager at Newsela. They discuss the importance of constructing a deal desk, how to set up and run a deal desk function, and strategies to improve RevOps, and sales performance.

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice!Guest Links:Gold FrontTwitter @JoshLowmanLinkedIn @JoshLowmanCompany LinkedIn @gold-frontCompany Twitter @GoldFrontSF-----About Josh Lowman | Gold FrontAs you may recall from our previous episode with Josh, he is an incredible creative director and entrepreneur. As Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Gold Front, he's a long-term client of Parakeeto,A category design studio, GF is based in SanFran but also has other locations strewn across America. Their primary goal? To help growth-stage startups define and own their own category.How did Josh get into this space? Well, Gold Front started as a Brand Studio before branching out into Category Strategy, with Josh then realizing the need to combine Brand Execution with Category Creation Strategy. This has led to collaborations with Uber, Robinhood, Newsela, plus oodles more to build category-defining brands.When John isn't changing the branding landscape, he's enjoying downtime with his wife, daughters, and his dog!

Quick Links:The Agency Profitability Toolkit - Get the templates, formulas, and frameworks we've used with our consulting clients to help them double their profitability in under 60 days, absolutely free.For more information on our Agency Profitability Systems and Consulting, check out https://parakeeto.comLove the podcast? Leave us a review on the platform of your choice!Guest Links:Gold FrontTwitter @JoshLowmanLinkedIn @JoshLowmanCompany LinkedIn @gold-frontCompany Twitter @GoldFrontSF –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– We're switching things up a bit in this edition of Agency Profit Podcast.Josh Lowman of Gold Front and myself have joined forces to examine the last three years working in tandem. It's been quite the ride, hence we're providing it in two installments…About Josh LowmanGold Front Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Gold Front, Josh is a long-term client of Parakeeto, an incredible creative director and entrepreneur. If Gold Front sounds familiar to you, it might be because their Head of Growth, Liston Witherill, appeared on the show last fall. As you may recall, I'm the COO (fractionally) at Gold Front, and therefore have had the pleasure of working alongside Josh for a number of years. A category design studio, GF is based in SanFran but also has other locations strewn across America. Their primary goal? To help growth-stage startups define and own their own category.How did Josh get into this space? Well, Gold Front started as a Brand Studio before branching out into Category Strategy, with Josh then realizing the need to combine Brand Execution with Category Creation Strategy. This has led to collaborations with Uber, Robinhood, Newsela, plus oodles more to build category-defining brands.When John isn't changing the branding landscape, he's enjoying downtime with his wife, daughters, and his dog! 

A lot of ESL/ELL teachers work with students in mixed proficiency level classes. It is a challenging task, and we always wonder if we are doing the right thing, if we are using the right strategy or the right scaffold. In this episode, I share a bit about how I structure my mixed-level class, and the activities and resources you can use in yours as well. Here is what you will hear:We will talk about the challenges of teaching mixed proficiency level classesWe will touch upon one of the main advantages of teaching this type of classHow to assess your students needsHow to plan for teaching mixed-proficiency level classesHow to group your studentsI will share some resource ideas with youMake sure to subscribe to this podcast so you can find it easily and be informed when new episodes are released!To celebrate the launch of the ESL Teaching Podcast, we are hosting a giveaway! We are giving away three $25 TpT gift cards and a grand prize of one one year membership to The ESL Teaching Roadmap membership community. To enter, follow these steps:Follow, rate and write a review of your favorite episode on Apple Podcasts.Screenshot it before you submit (as it takes some time for it to appear in the feed) and email the screenshot to simplyieva@gmail.com or Direct Message me on Instagram @simplyievaesl. As a bonus entry, share the screenshot of my podcast or your favorite episode on instagram stories and tag me!The giveaway ends on January 25th, 2022. Follow me on:Instagram - @simplyievaeslFacebook page - @simplyievaFacebook group - Helping ESL/ELL Teachers K-12Twitter - @SimplyIevaRelated resources that will help support your ELs and save you planning time!The ESL Teaching Roadmap - membership community for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachersResources from TpT:The Last Leaf by O'Henry Gift of the Magi by O'Henry Grammar with Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald DahlWebsites for reading and speaking:NewsELA (for background building)News in Levels (for reading with beginner ESL/ELL students)Pixabay (for photos)National Geographic Photo of the Day

Our guest today is Amit Patel. Amit is is a Managing Partner at Owl Ventures, a venture capital fund that invests in the world's leading education technology companies such as Byju, dreambox, Newsela, Quizzlet, and more: https://owlvc.com/portfolio.htmlIn this episode, we talk about how the education technology infrastructure investments years ago create the conditions for the EdTech boom today, we talk about a new cohort of learning-science-based startups and much more.Listen and take note of how one of the leading EdTech investors today thinks about education.Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:2021 Education Outcomes Report - https://view.genial.ly/615f5ecf4ec4620d9a6b863cAmira Learning - https://www.amiralearning.comQuizlet - https://quizlet.comWhere to learn more about [Name]:Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitashwinpatelTwitter - https://twitter.com/amitashwinpatelWebsite - https://owlvc.comWhere to learn more about Enrollhand: Website - www.enrollhand.comWebinar - https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.comOur free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Dr. Sarah  Wike earned a bachelor's degree in International Relations from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a master's degree in Romance Languages, Literature, and Linguistics from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a Doctor of Education degree in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in educational technology from the University of Florida. She has been recognized for multiple professional accolades, including Outstanding Teacher (2014) for the North Carolina Technology in Education Society (NCTIES), Teacher of the Future (2014) for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the Blackwell Award (2014) for teaching excellence in the humanities, and Outstanding Teacher (2015) for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).  In 2017, Sarah transitioned to a role as Director of Educational Technology at a PreK-12th grade independent school. In today's episode, Sarah mentions some excellent tech tools to augment the learner's experience, including EdPuzzle, FlipGrid, Peardeck or Nearpod, Newsela, and Quizlet. 

In this episode of Falconcast, Logan will explain the hardships adventurers faced in search for opportunity and land. The episode mainly focuses on one particular story of a pioneer named Lucinda Brown and all that she lost to form the west coast as we know it today.  Sources:  The Oregon Trail Association, History.com, Newsela.org  

Teaching Skills that Prepare You for Ed Tech Success  Teachers looking to transition from the classroom to a position with an ed-tech company sometimes worry about whether they are qualified to make such a big career change. The reality, however, is that #teacherjobs are excellent preparation for ed-tech employment. Your time in the classroom has given you numerous skills that will make you an effective member of the ed-tech field.  Empathy Empathy is central to the teaching experience. As an educator, you do not just help students to develop their intellects. You also help them to develop emotional intelligence, and that means teaching them to understand and model empathy.  Great teachers TEACH empathy to their students in a multitude of ways. Every time you explore a character's feelings in a story, help a student navigate a conflict with a friend, or show your class how to care for their community or their world, you are helping them to use empathy to connect with those around them.  Great teachers also USE empathy themselves as they build relationships with students, parents, colleagues, administrators, and other educators.  When it comes time to transition to the ed-tech world, particularly in the fields of sales, customer support, and customer success, empathy plays a central role.  Research shows, for example, that empathy is one of the most important leadership skills. Empathetic leaders foster greater innovation, engagement, and inclusivity within their environments. You can use your skills in teaching and using empathy to create strong teams and effective communication within your ed-tech corporation. In addition, the school districts and educators with whom you will interact in your new role need more than just facts about the technology options available to them. They need someone who will listen to and care about their needs and who will find ways to support student learning and growth. Your skills in using empathy can help you to build trusting, effective relationships with them as you seek to meet their ed-tech needs.  Documentation Documentation can seem all-consuming in the field of education. A Facebook post that circulated when I was teaching said, "Teaching is at the point that if a student passes gas in class, we have to document it."  While the post was a bit sarcastic, there was some truth to it. A decade later, the need for documentation is even higher. IEPS. Behavior improvement plans. School lunch lists. COVID contact lists. Teachers spend many hours meticulously documenting student progress and behaviors.  When you are ready to transition from the classroom to #edtechcareers, those documentation skills will be a highly valuable skill in any role you take on. From engineers who need to write a postmortem to a customer success manager who needs to document a success story for a case study, to a recruiter who needs to document the outcomes of an interview, great documentation skills are essential.  Organization Most of us remember that one teacher who struggled with organization  - Late test grading, messy classroom, etc. However, most teachers are extremely organized because they have to be. Thoughtful, intentional organization keeps their lives at school less stressful and equips them to teach more effectively.  You can take those same organizational skills and use them to succeed at an ed-tech company. For example, in my first ed tech position, I used my organizational skills to build a tracking system to manage the company's book of renewals and expansions. The system caught the attention of my CEO, who told me at my year-end review that  “I didn't know you had this operational side to you!”  As a teacher looking to move into ed-tech, you too can leverage those organizational skills as the valuable contributions they are to the ed-tech field. And, you can market those skills at the beginning of the application process, rather than waiting until you are in the role to let your operational skills shine!  Differentiation In my opinion, one of the biggest shifts in education over the last 20 years is the practice of differentiating instruction for students. Back in the 80s and 90s when I was a student, education was a one-size-fits-all approach. Every student received instruction in the same way.  When I became a teacher, however, we began learning the importance of tailoring the curriculum to match students' learning styles. Today, teachers are expected to provide an education that meets students' unique learning needs.  As a result, teachers understand the importance of differentiation to student success, and they understand how to implement it in their everyday approach. You are probably very comfortable with using tools and strategies to make a curriculum an effective teaching tool for all of your students.  Differentiation is also at the core of ed-tech curriculum today. Tools such as eSpark Learning, iXL, DreamBox, LearnZillion, NewsELA and ThinkCerca use technology to make differentiation easier and more effective within the classroom.  As an ed-tech employee, particularly in the customer support field, differentiation is also key. We all know the constant conversation that goes on behind doors about customer segmentation and services. Teachers are not only great at understanding the concept that some customers deserve higher-touch care than others, but they can also deliver on it without the urge to over serve the lower-touch customer. The former teachers on my customer service teams were the BEST at executing based on customer segmentation plans. Patience Patience may not be a skill you think to put on your resume, but it is a valuable tool that you can take from education to ed-tech. Those classrooms of busy children that you manage every day have given you a level of patience you would never have been able to imagine before you started teaching.  You have also learned how to read students (and sometimes parents) in order to determine when to push them toward positive change and growth and when to wait patiently in order to optimize their chances for success in the classroom.  That balance is essential in #edtechjobs, particularly in the sales and customer support fields. You need to know when to stretch the thinking of a school district and push them toward a certain solution, but you also need to know when to be patient and wait for a better time.  In addition, you will need patience when dealing with people inside and outside your organization. You are working with human beings, whether they are from the product team, instructional design, engineering, or another department, and successful interactions with others, as you know, often requires patience.  As an educator, you already have many of the skills you need to succeed at an ed-tech company. If you are ready to begin the journey to an ed-tech position, Classroom to Boardroom here at educators 2 educators can help.  In addition to teaching you how to recognize, and promote the critical skills you have, we also offer lots of online content, a #teachercareercoach, connections with others, and more. Here you can network, spruce up your resume, and become part of a community that supports you along the way. Contact us today to learn more! 

This edWeb podcast is sponsored by Digital Promise.The webinar recording can be accessed here.Even though many of us have returned to the classroom, COVID has sparked an intricate and lasting relationship between teaching, learning, and edtech. As a response to the needs of educators to understand how to make their edtech more accessible to all students, Educating All Learners Alliance (EALA), an organization dedicated to equity for complex learners, was formed and stepped up to curate resources. Its free Tech Tool Library, for example, is designed for educators to understand how to turn on the accessibility features that already exist within the tools they are using in the classroom, explore new accessible edtech products, and help schools and families find better solutions to meet their learners' unique needs. This edWeb podcast features two EALA co-founding organizations, Digital Promise and InnovateEDU, as well as Newsela, an edtech tool to promote inquiry-based learning with inclusive content, to discuss the role we are asking tech to play, why it is important to consider the whole child and their learner variability, and how teachers can become part of the school or district's edtech decision-making process. A Learner Variability Project national survey of American public school parents and teachers found that teachers more comfortable with edtech were significantly less likely to say the pandemic has worsened their ability to work with each student's learner variability. Yet, as our speakers address, before developing a comfort with edtech is the need to understand the why within each student—their variability that can change over time and context. In this edWeb podcast, we discussHow equity, accessibility, and supporting the whole learner gives products more opportunities to address the needs of the full diversity of learnersResources for teachers on how they can enable features that make tools they use more accessibleAccess to clear and trustworthy information about edtech to ensure teachers can easily find tools that align with their prioritiesInternal school district decision-making processes for tech tool selectionThis edWeb podcast is of interest to preK-12 teachers, librarians, school and district leaders, ELL educators, and those involved in the edtech community.Digital Promise Digital Promise's mission is to accelerate innovation in education to improve opportunities to learn

Welcome to our spooky special, ft Rosa, Birk, Tamas, Graceson, Mrs Mary, Evelyn, Jessie, Ava, Alyssa, Silvio, Madison, Nick, Evie, Maddie. A big thanks to everyone in this episode!. Our news information comes from Newsela. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/teendebates/message

New segment! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/teendebates/message

This week's show is called "Selling Into the Public Sector: Strategies & Tactics that Work" and our guest is Adriel Sanchez, CMO at Newsela. Join us as we discuss what Newsela does as a company, the difference and similarities between commercial and private-sector marketing, the difference between selling into K-12 and other parts of government sales, and how marketing and sales pivoted during COVID. Listen in now for great insights and/or read the full transcript on the Heinz Marketing Blog starting Mon. 9/6/21 at 6am PST or watch the video here/now!   Thank you to our sponsor, Vidyard. Vidyard is an easy-to-use video solution that makes it simple to create videos, host them ad-free, share them with others, and track their performance. Whether you're recording a video for one person or sharing it with the world on your website, it's easy to manage your video content. The solution offers robust analytics, integrations with top enterprise tools, and customization options. You can find them at vidyard.com/pipeline for a free High Conversion Virtual Sales Playbook.   Sales Pipeline Radio is produced by Heinz Marketing. I interview the best and brightest minds in sales and Marketing.  If you would like to be a guest on Sales Pipeline Radio send an email to Sheena. For sponsorship opportunities, contact Cherie.

It can be a challenge to find materials that are both at a lower reading level and include age-appropriate language skills and concepts.   These materials are so important to find and use though because there is evidence that shows that when we work on age-appropriate language skills with our students, we can boost their reading.   If we bring in materials that are too challenging for them, too simple, or not age-appropriate, our students will have a hard time building their confidence and their skills.   To help you with this challenge, I am covering how to know what materials to bring in to help your students in this episode. I am then getting into how to use them once you have them.   This is another episode in a whole series that I am doing about working with older speech students. Each episode provides helpful tips, advice, and information that will save you tons of time and stress! Make sure to tune into them all!   Full show notes available at www.speechtimefun.com/80 Resources Mentioned: speechtimefun.com/criticalthinkingprobes Readworks.org Newsela.com tweentribune.com   Where We Can Connect:  Follow the Podcast Follow Hallie on Instagram  Follow Hallie on Facebook Follow Hallie on Pinterest

Levi Belnap wants to make this clear from the beginning—artificial intelligence will never replace human teachers, at least not in our lifetime. What he and his colleagues at Merlyn Mind believe is that AI can enhance teachers' work. In this episode, Levi introduces us to his nascent company's offering and provides some insights on how they believe the classroom experience can be better for all involved.The company launched out of stealth mode last month to unveil the first digital assistant built specifically for education that empowers teachers to more naturally use the technology in their classrooms and simplify their work. The company also announces it has closed $29 million in funding to date, led by Learn Capital.The Merlyn Mind team spent the last three and a half years working in tandem with educators to create Merlyn, the first digital assistant built specifically for education. In 2021 alone, Merlyn Mind has piloted Merlyn in over 50 classrooms across more than 20 different schools as the company accelerates the release of Merlyn to help educators take back their classrooms from the complexities of technology. Merlyn gives teachers more natural command of the devices and digital services in their classrooms and untethers them from the front of the room. Responding to both voice and remote control, Merlyn empowers teachers with choices that simplify how they use classroom technology.“We've been investing in education technology companies for more than a decade at Learn Capital, and Merlyn Mind has brought together what is quite simply the dream team,” said Rob Hutter, Founder & Managing Partner at Learn Capital and board member of Merlyn Mind. “Incredible professionals from IBM Watson Labs, HP Education, Amazon Alexa, Google, Facebook, Broadcom, and Roku have come together to work on a unified product experience for an extremely urgent mission--that of reclaiming the classroom for teaching from the complexity of technology itself.”“I've worked closely with the Merlyn Mind team to understand what educators really need from their technology, and what we know is teachers don't just need more technology, they need the right technology,” said Emily Schindler, Associate Director at Creativity Labs, University of California-Irvine. “Merlyn Mind wants to give teachers what they need most, more time and freedom to think about student learning and the ability to better leverage their greatest asset, themselves.”Before COVID-19, teachers already spent half of their time focused on administrative tasks (McKinsey & Co., 2020), managing more than 900 different applications in the classroom according to LearnPlatform. After COVID-19, teachers' jobs have become even more difficult, with more than 97% of K-12 educators reporting learning loss in students over the past year when compared with children in previous years, according to Horace Mann Educators Corporation. Merlyn helps teachers manage the complexity of teaching with technology in the classroom and frees teachers to focus more of their time on the individual needs of their students.The Merlyn assistant is accessed through Symphony Classroom, an AI hub custom-built for the unique needs of education. With Symphony Classroom, teachers can control classroom devices like the front-of-room displays, teacher laptops, the internet browser, and the applications teachers use daily. Merlyn integrates with the apps and devices teachers already use and love, including Google Slides, Google Drive, Classcraft, Nearpod, Newsela, and more to meet teachers where they already are.

The science of learning and development reveals how academic growth is fueled not just by the acquisition of knowledge, but from dynamic relationships between students, teachers, peers and what they experience. So what experiences can education technology offer to support those relationships and spur engagement and motivation to learn? That's what Newsela seeks to create - by tapping into every child's curiosity in accessible and relevant ways. Newsela offers educators and students access to current news stories no matter their reading level - on everything from the mission to Mars, to the Derek Chauvin trial, to the new pets in the White House. And it seems to be working. A randomized controlled trial study found that students using Newsela twice a week doubled their reading scores compared to students taught reading without the platform. Today, Newsela is in 90% of American schools, serving 37 million students and 2.5 million teachers. EdTech funders have certainly taken notice. Newsela recently announced a $100M Series D investment. So how does it work? For the answer we turned to Dan Cogan-Drew, Newsela's Co-founder and Chief Academic Officer. Dan has worked in education for 25 years, as a public, independent and charter school teacher, and with a focus on integrating digital learning technologies to engage students and accelerate learning. For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.

May 21 2021 - Episode 50The Ignite EdTech Podcast with @mrkempnz1. Introduction2. Question for you - How are you looking after your own wellbeing?3. EdTech Tool of the Week - Newsela4. EdTech Tip of the Week - Wellbeing and looking after yourself5. Interview with Jamie Clark6. Win this weeks prize (One Hour of Consultancy with Ignite EdTech) by going to bit.ly/edtechwin and completing the short form (Competition ends 9am SGT on Wednesday 26 May).7. Subscribe, Rate and ShareIf you have a question that you want answered on the podcast please emailinfo@igniteedtech.comConnect with Mark Quinn here or via email markquinn9129@gmail.com - Make a Difference Podcast (Mark Quinn)Links from PodcastJamie Clark on TwitterJamie's Website, Books and ResourcesLou Cimetta and Blueprint LearningTeaching Walkthru BookEveryone Can Create Guides from AppleLoomGoodbye #whatisschool - stay connected for the last 4 chats

Sara Jessee chats with us about keeping education fun and creative no matter the situation, which Sara strives to accomplish every day as the drama director at Evans MS. More at www.teachbetter.com/podcast/sarajessee LeeAnn's and Sara's Recommendations EdTech Tool: Flipgrid Books: Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam Other Words From Home by Jasmine Warga Who do we need to follow on Twitter or Instagram Today? Dr. Shamaine Bertrand (Twitter) What's A Good YouTube Channel, Podcast or Website for Educators? Newsela.com Daily, Weekly, or Monthly routine every teacher should get into? Celebrate the positives! Whether it’s monthly student awards or weekly positive phone calls or e-mails, make it routine to make the wins a big deal! Best piece of advice you’ve ever received? “We’re human beings, not human doings.” Links to Connect With Sara Email: jesseesj@unit5.org --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/teach-better-talk/message

Mark Pan is the Director of HR & Business Strategy at Newsela, an EdTech platform that delivers news-related content to students at different reading levels. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Urban Education, Mark took his knowledge to the classroom, teaching English in San Jose, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. He then brought his teaching skills into the tech industry, where he managed partnerships at Coursera and later joined Newsela in business strategy and now People Operations. In this episode, Mark shares how an acting class helped him become a better teacher, why he's optimistic about the future of EdTech, stories his classroom in Malaysia, and how employees and managers can be more transparent with one another about career pathing. We also reminisce about Summerbridge Hong Kong and our hair dye stories — and break out into a few musical numbers! CONNECT WITH MARKLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markpan/Newsela: https://newsela.com/ RESOURCES MENTIONEDTours of Duty: https://hbr.org/2013/06/tours-of-duty-the-new-employer-employee-compactCONNECT WITH USInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/insideoutwithjane/Website: www.insideoutwithjane.comEmail: hello@insideoutwithjane.com

Alicia Quan chats with Asia Hoe, Senior Product Designer at Newsela. Their discussion includes: - Relating the work of design systems with the work against systemic injustice - Unpacking and refreshing your design process - Tips for designers in the EdTech space - Reflections as a woman of color in tech and design - Newsela’s anti-racist curriculum work

Facebook unveils another experimental app; Atlassian acquires a data visualization startup; Newsela becomes a unicorn

Facebook unveils another experimental app; Atlassian acquires a data visualization startup; Newsela becomes a unicorn

Newsela, a SaaS platform for K-12 instructional material backed by the likes of TCV, Kleiner Perkins, Reach Capital, and Owl Ventures, announced today that it has raised $100 million in a Series D round. The financing was led by new investor Franklin Templeton, and brings Newsela's valuation to $1 billion. The new round is larger […]

The year 2020 has brought a lot of pain and confusion due to the pandemic, but also many opportunities for companies to show compassion and generosity. And that willingness to help others can sometimes reap rewards in the marketplace. That’s exactly the story my guest in this episode of the Modern Marketing Engine, Adriel Sanchez, CMO at Newsela shares. Newsela provides instructional content to K-12 schools in the United States, serving 35 million children.  What do they do exactly? They take content from reliable sources around the web and incorporate changes to make it ready for the classroom. First, they rewrite every piece of content at 5 different reading levels, so in a single class every student can access the content at their own reading level. Then, they surround content with instructional support for teachers, so it would be easy for them to embed the content into their lessons. And finally, Newsela attaches the content to individual grade standards by state (over 130K in the US), through machine learning, algorithms and human intervention. Newsela is both business-driven (they are a for-profit company) and mission-driven (making education better for as many teachers and students as possible). This podcast is brought to you by Postal.io. A Sales and marketing engagement platform that generates leads increases sales and improves customer retention. Request a demo to learn how to integrate direct mail and gift into your existing strategy by visiting Postal.io. Doing What is Right for Your Customer Newsela went from one to four products in January, 2020, with great plans of expansion. Then the pandemic hit in mid-March and education was one of the hardest-hit sectors. Most schools around the US closed. Many teachers and students were unprepared for the shift to remote learning, with some school districts panicking over what to do, as they lacked the resources to implement remote education. Although Newsela has four stakeholders (Education Administrators, Students and Teachers, Investors, and Newsela employees), they could not serve the immediate interests of all four at the same time during the COVID lockdowns.  Adriel says they decided to do the right thing for the schools above the business needs. So they provided their entire product portfolio for free to students and teachers. No conditions, no questions asked. All schools had to do was ask for it. How did they implement the plan? They came up with three phases to their response to the crisis. Provide the product for free and get the word out. This phase included a message from the CEO and social media outreach. Word got out quickly and in the first 7 days 15,000 schools signed up. At the end of the program, two thirds of US schools (about 90,000) had signed up for some component of Newsela. Make sure the product was adopted. Adriel says that it wasn’t enough to give away the product. They needed to make sure people were using the platform and getting value.  During March and April of 2020, virtual classes were new to teachers. So Newsela deployed training 7 days a week and had 1 to 1 coaching for teachers and administrators. A lot of people were exposed to Newsela’s team and people really appreciated the support they provided. If they provided that kind of support for non paying customers, how would it be if they paid? This focus on customer service paved the way for future sales conversations. Start sales conversations. By June 2020, Newsela was preparing to turn some of those free users into paid subscribers. The fact that they had given the product for free, no matter if the schools were open or closed, gave them trust and credibility with their customer base. People really felt supported. “Timing was very important,” Adriel says. “Start too early and you could be perceived as exploitive. Start too late and you could miss out on budget allocations elsewhere, competitors and other priorities.” Sellers had to be situationally aware when they started those sales conversations. So the marketing team at Newsela identified 10 criteria to start sales conversations, analyzing macro and micro leading indicators, state by state. Here are some examples of the indicators they used. Macro leading indicators Had states released a budget? Were schools closed or still open for in-person sessions? How much did states receive from the Federal education budget? Micro leading indicators Had administrators asked about pricing after June 30th when the free period was over? Was there a renewal scenario? All the information was tracked in the system for sales. Sellers were able to track it state by state and account by account, looking for patterns on a weekly basis. Adriel says the effort was a collaboration between marketing, sales and product. “It was a Marketing-led initiative, who owned market intelligence (stimulus funding, budgets, etc.). But sales ops helped to rollout, track, and adjust as they learned things in the field.” The CRM tracked two basic metrics: Rate of account contact (were schools taking the calls from the sellers?) All Systems Go metric (was the account ready for a sales conversation based on the macro and micro criteria?)   Sellers would look for patterns by state in the CRM to see if they were open and ready, so they could be more upfront with their sales conversations. Reaping the Rewards Although 70% of education companies offered something free during the first few months of the pandemic, only 25% saw an increase in paid subscribers. Newsela was part of that 25% and growth surpassed their expectations, reaching their 2020 revenue goal in August 2020. They started with the idea of what is the right thing to do for their customers and the hypothesis that the marketplace would reward them for that, was validated. They now have sales conversations with entire states and school districts that they never had in the past. Listen to this episode to hear more about Newsela’s story and how showing that you care can result in increased revenue.

Newsela’s founders were educators who imagined the equivalent of Spotify or Netflix for educational content in schools. They designed their SaaS offering for the practical realities of classroom instruction, seeded it with teachers across the country, and then leveraged teacher advocacy to win district-level contracts. When it looked like their high growth could be derailed by school closings during the pandemic, they pivoted to giving content away to demonstrate solidarity with their customers – and reached two-thirds of all schools in the country. Now Newsela is firmly entrenched in the new normal for K-12 education. In this fast-moving conversation, TCV’s Dave Eichler joins Newsela co-founder and CEO Matthew Gross to unpack the secrets of the company’s success.

Thanks to Jennifer Carolan and Shauntel Garvey for joining me on the NGPF Podcast recently. NGPF got its start in the Reach Capital offices so I am eternally grateful to Jennifer and Shauntel. Not only did they provide us with space (a table) but they also provided the wise counsel and guidance that we needed. In this podcast, they provide insights into the life of a venture capitalist, what they look for in start-up edtech companies and then share a few war stories from several of their portfolio companies, including Nearpod and Newsela. Enjoy!

In this episode, Tom is talking education venture funding with Shauntel Garvey! Shauntel is a partner and co-founder of Reach Capital, an impact-focused edtech venture fund that was spun out of non-profit NewSchools Venture Fund, in 2015. Since then, they have deployed about $95 million in 61 investments, including some well-known startups such as ClassDojo, Ellevation, NearPod, and Newsela — all while maintaining a focus on education and workplace innovations. Join the conversation to learn more about Reach Capital, how they have evolved since branching out from NewSchools, the amazing companies in their portfolio, what a typical investment process looks like, and all about return, growth, and impact when it comes to venture funding.   Key Takeaways: [:10] About today’s episode. [:45] Tom welcomes Shauntel Garvey to the podcast. [:53] How did Shauntel get to MIT? [2:50] Why did Shauntel decide to go to Stanford and pursue a dual education MBA? [4:01] Was Shauntel aware of how many extraordinary people have gone through this same program when she was going through it herself? [4:49] Shauntel shares about when she first learned about NewSchools Venture Fund and what led her to become involved. [6:35] How and when Shauntel and her co-founder (of Reach Capital) decided to branch out from NewSchools and start their own venture fund. [8:22] About the second fund they’re currently investing in with Reach Capital. [9:04] How Reach Capital has evolved from NewSchools, going beyond K-12 funding. [9:55] Can you run a viable venture fund, looking for both impact and return? How does Reach Capital try to maximize both of those? [11:38] The meaning behind the name “Reach Capital.” [12:08] How Reach Capital is looking to bring more diverse founders into edtech and why Shauntal believes it is so incredibly important. [14:40] Shauntel walks listeners through the venture process in a typical investment. [18:26] What does it mean to lead deals? And do they like to lead deals at Reach Capital? [19:00] After making the investment with a company, what does their relationship look like going forward? How do they continue to support them? [20:54] How many companies in Reach Capital’s portfolio is Shauntel actively involved in? [21:26] The hardest part of Shauntel’s job currently. [21:50] Lightning round of the cool companies in Reach Capital’s portfolio! Shauntel speaks about the incredible work of Abl, BetterLesson, ClassDojo, AdmitHub, Desmos, Ellevation, Hone, Newsela, PeopleGrove, Schoolzilla, Tynker, Nearpod, Outschool, Epic!, and Riipen. [32:12] The gaps Shauntel is currently seeing in education where there’s an opportunity to make a big difference. [35:34] With Reach Capital, do they try to create spaces that can bring together public and philanthropic investments as well as private investments? [37:29] Infrastructure challenges and the inequities that have been amplified during the pandemic. [38:30] Tom thanks Shauntel for joining the Getting Smart Podcast!   Mentioned in This Episode: Shauntel Garvey Reach Capital NewSchools Venture Fund ClassDojo Ellevation Nearpod Newsela Abl BetterLesson AdmitHub Desmos Hone PeopleGrove SchoolMint Schoolzilla WriteLab Julia Freeland Fisher Tynker Outschool Epic! Riipen Getting Smart Podcast Ep. 264: “Ryan Craig on Putting America Back to Work” Raise Your Hand Texas NSBA Getting Smart Podcast Ep. 274: “Rachelle Dene Poth on Charting a New Course”   Get Involved: Check out the blog at GettingSmart.com. Find the Getting Smart Podcast on iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe.   Is There Somebody You’ve Been Wanting to Learn From or a Topic You’d Like Covered? To get in contact: Email Editor@GettingSmart.com and include ‘Podcast’ in the subject line. The Getting Smart team will be sure to add them to their list!  

A night of food, libation, and bidding on all sorts of items you don't need --that's what school auctions are all about. So how does one maximize fundraising to best support our schools? Join us with a special guest, Dabney Lawless, to discuss the most effective way to solicit donations, maximize bidding, and run a successful auction. ----more---- About Deb and Wes' guest: As an experienced public relations professional with a 20-year track record of creating successful communications programs for consumer and technology start-ups, Dabney Lawless has mastered the ability to tell a story that resonates with media and target audiences alike. As the founder of Lawless PR Dabney's clients have included top-tier Silicon Valley start-ups such as Instacart, Eventbrite, ModCloth, Newsela, MyFitnessPal and most recently Outschool.  Prior to founding Lawless PR, Dabney was the vice president of communications for Nextdoor, and prior to that she worked at an integrated marketing agency for nearly eleven years as the VP of Consumer PR. Dabney has a BA from Connecticut College and an MA in Communications from The University of Texas at Austin. She has a nine-year-old child just started a travel blog for her upcoming road-schooling adventure with her family: www.thisboholife.com This show is brought to you by K-12 Clothing. K-12 Clothing is a PTA-Dad created business focused on providing high-quality school apparel while increasing access to educational resources through fundraising in schools. Learn more at k12clothing.com The Multipurpose Room is made possible by support from SquadLocker.

This podcast episode tells you about the book of Harry Potter and the plot as well as the movie here are my credit links to check out and also the 2 theme song video's Please keep Listening to my podcast here is the link https://anchor.fm/gabriela010 To check out H for Home Agata's podcast click on this link https://anchor.fm/agata57 And Shresta's sister shreya is making a podcast called Podcast With Shreya( if you are on the web this name will not show if you want to see this podcast download anchor to your phone if you are a child around 10 and under please ask your parents permission too download that app) To Check out Weekly With Shresta (This podcasts was name Podcast with shresta Shresta the host changed it) click on this link to see her podcast https://anchor.fm/shresta To look at Brains On check this link https://www.brainson.org/ If you want to read on NewSela then click on this link https://newsela.com/ Next you can check the Harry Potter theme song that had no lyrics to it click this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrgqfn37lYY Lastly for the lyrics song check this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y57sYHIDP_Y Stay safe and don't forget to be nice to others around you and treat people the way you want to be treated to anyone --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Each summer I spend time reviewing the tools that I use in my classroom and that I recommend to teachers like you. Today I'd like to share my favorite apps, add-ons, and extensions for the ELA classroom.  This collection of tools will help your students become better readers and writers and will also help you provide better support and feedback on their written work.  Here's a quick list of the tools I review in this episode:  Boom Writer (web app) Hemingway Editor (web app) Cite this for me (Chrome Extension) Grammarly (Chrome extension) NewsELA (web app) Dogo News (web app) Google Dictionary (Chrome extension) Immersive Reader (Chrome extension) Read and Write for Google (Chrome extension) Highlight Tool (Add on for Docs) Page Marker (Chrome Extension) Mote (Chrome Extension) e-Comments (Chrome Extension) Did I leave out your favorite ELA resource? Send me a Tweet (@jrsowash) or leave a comment on the show notes page to let me know!  ----------------------------- Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review!  You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

Don't miss Sara's exclusive clip for Business of Learning Subscribers. Sarah answers What have you learned about proving the efficacy of an EdTech product? Sign up here for access. Today's guest on The EdTech Startup Show Podcast is Sara Potler LaHayne, Founder and CEO of Move This World. Move This World strengthens the mental, emotional, and social well-being of Pre-K to 12th grade students, educators, and families by building a daily practice of identifying, expressing, and managing our emotions in healthy ways. The learning program has impacted over a million students across 30 states for more than 13 years. In addition to projecting the strategic and creative vision and direction of the organization, Sara is an advocate for mental health and social-emotional wellness for all children. Move This World was largely conceived out of Sara's own experiences growing up. It is this personal quality that defines the program's unique approach to learning: Parents and teachers are encouraged to practice Social-Emotional Learning in their own lives; the program is continuously updated as it adapts to the ever-evolving realities of its end-users; and SEL is taught to become an ubiquitous part of schools' learning cultures. Questions for Sara Potler LaHayne What is the vision-mission of Move This World? How does Sara help teachers with Social-Emotional Learning? How did Sara's background lead to the founding of Move This World? What can teachers do to incorporate SEL in remote or hybrid learning environments amid social distancing measures? What are some great resources to learn more about SEL? How do educators and school district leaders currently view SEL programs compared to a few years ago? How can a school make SEL an ubiquitous part of their learning culture? What can teachers and parents do to prepare their children to go back to school? What has Sara learned through the years about the efficacy of an SEL program? Highlights from the conversation Those who apply SEL strategies in their own lives become more effective teachers in the classroom Beyond allying yourself with mentors and advisors in your subject matter, work with builders and creators who have taken their ideas and made them real COVID-19 made parents and teachers realize that resources and exercises must be as easy as possible to use Two of the key components of the Move This World approach is the validation of thoughts, perspectives, and experiences; and making time for processing and reflection. Satisfaction, engagement, and usage, though important for the end-user, does not mean efficacy. Impact is the key. Important links from this episode Move This World Move This World's COVID-19 Resource Center Email: partnerships@movethisworld.com If you liked this episode, then please Subscribe to The EdTech Startup Show in your favorite podcast player Leave a rating. Write an honest review of the show. Share it with an educator, parents, or entrepreneur in your life. Send your feedback to Gerard Dawson on Twitter or LinkedIn Want to hear from other entrepreneurs focused on social-emotional learning? Ami Shah, CEO & Founder of Peekapak Matthew Gross, CEO & Founder of Newsela

Rae Hughart and Tyler Overstreet of Newsela drop in to the Teach Better Team private Facebook group as part of our effort to support you in anyway we can during this unique and challenging time while schools are closed for an unknown period of time as our country tries to fend off the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to reach out on social media or via email at info@teachbetter.com We're here for you! To join the private Facebook group, visit: www.facebook.com/groups/teachbetterteam Learn more at: www.teachbetter.com Follow us on Twitter: @teachbetterteam Connect on facebook: @teachbetterteam Follow us on Instagram: @teachbetterteam Free Online Course: www.teachbetteracademy.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/teach-better-talk/message

Today's guest on The EdTech Startup Show is Monica Brady-Myerov, CEO of Listenwise. Monica Brady-Myerov is a 25-year veteran public radio journalist and host and the founder of Listenwise. Before founding Listenwise, she was Senior Reporter and Assistant Managing Editor at WBUR in Boston and her reports have been heard on NPR, Marketplace and numerous other outlets nationally and internationally. Monica's reporting on education won two 2005 Edward R. Murrow Awards for her stories on closing the achievement gap and First Prize from The Education Writers Association in 2009 for her series on the high school dropout crisis.  Listenwise is an award-winning listening skills platform for students and teachers in middle and high schools. Listenwise, a proud partner of NPR, curates a growing collection of professionally produced podcasts, aligned to state standards in ELA, social studies, and science.   During this episode Monica and I discuss:  What her award-winning company Listenwise is all about, and how it can help all students grades 2-12 build academic vocabulary, and develop background knowledge through listening.  How her company is responding to COVID-19 and offering free support for all Listenwise users  What it takes to be an entrepreneur in the EdTech industry  How Monica was able to take her journalism experience into the EdTech industry and start a company   As a journalist, you are a communicator and an educator and those are the keys to a successful business.  Monica's podcast, Student Podcast Podcast that highlights student work, and gives students and teachers helpful ideas for lessons. Teachers want their students to have an audience. The process of figuring things out and actually doing the work is where you experience deep learning.  What type of students benefit most from audio listening The Lexile Audio Measure and how it relates to reading comprehension The advantages of working with the Boston-based accelerator Learn Launch  Time-stamped overview of the discussion >>> 02:06 : What is Listenwise all about?  >>>04:25  Tell me more about your podcast and what is your advice to people who want to get started in educational podcasting?  >>>08:45  How have you been able to transfer your journalism skills & knowledge to running your business? >>>  12:09 Why did you choose to run an EdTech business publicly? >>> 14:00 What are things like for you right now amidst this international crisis? (COVID-19) >>>20:42  Why do you think listening is an important part of a balanced curriculum? Are there specific types of students that have benefitted from structured listening activities? >>>26:47  Can you explain what is the Lexile Audio Measure and why is it important? >>>30:00   What are some factors that make a listening piece more easy or difficult?  >>>32:26   How are students listening to stories on Listenwise?   >>>35:24  Can you explain the Language Identification Organizer feature in Listenwise?   >>>37:00 Can you talk about your experience with the Boston-based accelerator Learn Launch?   >>>40:30 Based on what you know now, what advice would you give your past self when it comes to starting a business?   >>>41:36 Any final suggestions? Important links from this episode: Lexile Framework for Listening Monica's article:  How One Ed-Tech Startup is responding to the Coronavirus Listenwise Website Listenwise Blog : Support for Schools Affected by Coronavirus NPR's Student Podcast Challenge NAEP Website ( National Assessment of Educational Progress) CAASPP Website ( California Assesment of Student Performance & Progress) LearnLaunch Website  Connect with Monica on Social Media :   Linkedin   Twitter  Student Podcast Podcast Connect with Gerard Dawson on Social Media:  Linkedin Twitter Want to hear more from entrepreneurs working on literacy? Michelle Brown - CEO of CommonLit Dr. Brock Eide - Founder of Neurolearning SPC Matthew Gross - CEO of Newsela

Today's guest on the EdTech Startup Show is Dr. Aditya Nagrath, CEO of Elephant Learning Math Academy. Dr. Aditya Nagrath is the co-founder of Elephant Learning Math Academy, a platform that promises to teach children 1.5 years of math in 10 weeks using the system just 30 minutes per week. Dr. Nagrath holds a PhD in Mathematics & Computer Science from University of Denver. After a decade in University, Dr. Nagrath graduated to found Elephant Head Software where he led a team of no more than 10 engineers to bring over 35 different product lines with over 50 different applications to market between 2009 and 2016. In 2016, Dr. Nagrath co-founded Elephant Learning with Professor Alvaro Arias from the University of Denver in order to bring transformational change to America's education system. Today's episode of the podcast is brought to you by The Business of Learning Letter, the only daily email on the education industry written by a real teacher. And, you guessed it, that teacher is me - Gerard Dawson. Sign up for The Business of Learning and start receiving short daily insights on the education business. Ready by folks at Newsela, Edpuzzle, Nearpod, and more. Sign up here. Links from this episode Elephant Learning Facebook Page Inc Magazine article on the growth of Slack Elephant Learning Math Academy University of Denver produced video on Elephant Learning co-founders Child's home learning environment predicts 5th-grade academic skills Want to hear more from entrepreneurs interested in gamification? Jessica Millstone - The Queen of NYC EdTech Clarence Tan - Boddle Learning If you liked this episode, then please... Subscribe to The EdTech Startup Show in your favorite podcast player Leave a rating. Write an honest review of the show. Share it with an educator, parents, or entrepreneur in your life. Send your feedback to Gerard Dawson on Twitter or LinkedIn

Today, I am sharing how I am navigating digital learning and sharing resources that are offering free trials.  A special thank you to Advancement Courses for sponsoring today's episode. For over 30 years, Advancement Courses has been a leader in professional development, providing expertly-crafted courses to thousands of teachers across the country. To help educators affected by COVID-19, they've launched a free micro course about online teaching where you'll learn strategies for transitioning from an in-person to digital classroom. And you'll earn 3 PD hours at no cost to you. Advancement Courses also offers over 280 graduate credit and continuing education courses in 20 different subject areas for K-12 teachers. Everything is online and self-paced, and you have 6 months to complete. Right now, you can save 20% off with code COOK20      – that's just $120 per graduate credit hour. To learn more, visit:http://advancementcourses.com/aclassoftheirownAccess Advancement Course's FREE Micro Course "Launching Online Learning" By Clicking HereDigital Learning Check In Survey:  https://docs.google.com/forms/u/1/d/1m0rzUtpgPLP9yTNkY522ZaG3p-UT7qIQoeQWFRlVu_0/copy Flocabulary Free Trial:https://www.flocabulary.com/coronavirus/NearPod Free Trial:https://nearpod.com/coronavirusMerge Paper Cube Download:https://mergevr.com/download/file.php?f=paper-merge-cube.pdf Merge Edu Free Trial:https://mergeedu.com/trialNewsela Free Trial:https://newsela.com/about/blog/coronavirus-resources/Screencastify Free Trial:https://www.screencastify.com/blog/our-response-to-covid-19/Zoom Video Conferencing:https://zoom.us/BrainPop Free Access:https://educators.brainpop.com/2020/02/19/free-brainpop-access-for-schools-affected-by-the-corona-virus/GimKit:  https://www.gimkit.com/IXL 90 Day Trial:https://www.ixl.com/membership/teachers/trial/closureFlipGrid Tips and FREE Assignment:https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1ivH8GCWlEmeOV2rwQT5y98PQR4J3v8azlMqu_KSqi1o/copyDisney “Imagineering in a Box”:  https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/hass-storytelling/imagineering-in-a-box

In the first segment about Sacagawea, I briefly explain the important historic events leading up to her important calling. The American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Louisiana Purchase. I also get into the very beginnings or her life. In the second segment, I finish reading the NEWSELA article, CULTURAL PIONEERS: SACAGAWEA, but also introduce several new vocabulary words. Edible and inedible Capsized Cargo Suspicion Suspicious Suspiciously Miraculous Miracle and mint as a verb I also discuss what exactly nouns, adjectives, and adverbs are and how they are used. Link to the article I read: https://tinyurl.com/rn2ym4f --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ThisGuy4/message

Thank you to our guests! Detailed shownotes will be added within a week at www.deskfree.wordpress.com below are links to resources that have been shared by WL teaching community, compiled by Emily Loughlin. Thank you to presenting sponsor Wayside Publishing! https://waysidepublishing.com/inspired List of links for school closures: Request 2 free weeks of Senor Wooly.com The Comprehensible Classroom and Martina Bex 1o+ days of lessons for Spanish class (and other language activity ideas) Instructional video for how to use 9 activities for ANY text in ANY language  Garbanzo app Fluency Matters courses free to closed schools Duolingo mobile app to practice languages Duolingo podcasts to listen to native speakers and stories in French and Spanish Practice the lyrics to your favorite songs with Lyrics Training National Spanish Exam Practice tests and exercises Games/ exercises  Practice tests Edpuzzle, embed questions into videos or use some that someone else has already made Nearpod, interactive learning experiences for students Netflix/ Hulu/ Amazon/ Apple TV, suggest shows for students to watch (maybe even the whole family) or suggest shows that are in English with Target Language audio or subtitles Loteria Google Doodle Game for Spanish teachers Flipgrid ideas, video recording communication tool Newsela resources, news articles in English and Spanish at various reading levels Fluent Key resources, similar to lyricstraining or edpuzzle Sutori Customizable digital graphic organizers Smile and learn, younger learners wanting to practice Spanish and French Free Mundo en tus manos downloads Free access to Basho and friends Free resources from Marina Rose and her department 2 Free Spanish readers from Jennifer Degenhardt Thank you to Joshua Cabral or Wlclassroom, El mundo de Pepita, Jennifer Degenhardt and A.C. Quintero for being regular supporters of Inspired Proficiency. 

We discuss the Coronavirus from the perspective of a new college student, student teacher, looking for jobs, and working in a school district. Then we think about how this pandemic might bring change to the education system. Maybe the answer is to remove subject silos and integrate learning using Newsela and CommonLit. Our biggest breakthrough is that we may be able to literally solve the world’s problems from home using PBL and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Enjoy!

This episode is a little bit different than the typical episode. Often I interview CEOs, founders, and professionals from the world of EdTech startups. However, every day I also write The Business of Learning Letter, which is a short daily email,  sharing my perspective on the intersection of business, technology, and education. It's read by folks from companies like Newsela, Kiddom, Edpuzzle, ThinkCERCA, Nearpod, and more. So if you want to find out more and subscribe to the newsletter you can check it out and sign up here. PS - Here's my favorite testimonial of all time about The Business of Learning:  "I read your email every day, then print it to put in a binder for reference, and carry a couple of my favorites in my bag for rereading during quiet moments. Every one gives me a few new ideas that I can put to use.  One of the emails I carry around is "5 tips for marketing to teachers" because these are tips I need to keep top in my mind. But I realize different folks are interested in different aspects of marketing or building a business. I don't know how you manage to write such an informative email every day, and if it were only once every few days or once a week, it would still be pretty amazing. But I'm not going to complain about too much gold. Your advice is usually very distilled and gets me newly focused. Thank you." You can sign up for The Business of Learning Letter here.

Drew Perkins talks with Dan Cogan-Drew and Matthew Gross of Newsela about the challenges and their processes in providing balanced and non-biased content for teachers and students. Links & Resources Mentioned In This Episode: Newsela.com @Newsela, Facebook, Instagram @dcogandrew @matthew_gross

In this episode of Falconcast you will learn the history of Honduras, as well as the violence and financial issues. You will also hear the thoughts and opinions of an immigrant from Honduras and the answers to many questions you might be wondering. Our sources include Newsela, wikipedia, AJS, and a Honduran Immigrant.

In this episode of Falconcast with Sidney, Ruth, Sonia, and Victoria we explore the immigration story of a St. Mary's teacher. We explore the troubles she faced, why she moved, and the difficulties she faced getting citizenship when moving to America. Our sources for this podcast include Infobase, Newsela, and Stanford CISAC.

Matt interviews Stephanie Canter and Christian Hartjes of Newsela about how they can integrate the new social studies standards and science standards into what they do, how Maine educators are using the standards, and how Newsela can support

Matt interviews Stephanie Canter and Christian Hartjes of Newsela about how they can integrate the new social studies standards and science standards into what they do, how Maine educators are using the standards, and how Newsela can support educators and learners, along with other assorted usual nonsense.

Jim and Maria introduce NewsELA Pro articles and features for personalized student content delivery and interaction. For more information, check out our website at k12ccc.com or send us an e-mail at feedback@k12ccc.com.  

Have you seen Google for Education’s brochure on 60 Tools to Inspire Students with Chromebooks? It’s an awesome resource that inspired me to make this episode for you! I don’t have time to touch on all 60 tools in one episode, but I’ll chat about the highlights. If you want the entire list, just scroll down! If you need any inspiration for tools to use, this is definitely the episode for you. One of the tools I love is Book Creator. So often, kids are given the same presentation tools over and over, and this tool can help educators break out of that box and offer an alternative to the traditional presentation. If you haven’t used it before, I think CoSpaces Edu will blow your mind! It allows students to build 3D virtual environments, that can then be viewed in virtual or augmented reality. In the literacy and numeracy tools category, I particularly love Flocabulary. You might have already seen some of their videos without even realizing it! Another of my favorite tools in this category is Newsela. This is perfect for finding non-fiction articles that are appropriate for your students. They take news articles from reputable sources, and “translate” them into four different reading levels. Can you tell I’m excited about these tools? I wish I had time to talk about all of them, but I can’t wait to highlight at least a few of my favorites! Tune in to hear about even more apps that I love, in four different categories. In This Episode: [00:28] - Welcome to episode 9 of the Shake Up Learning Show! Kasey explains her inspiration for today’s topic. [01:05] - Kasey sends a shoutout to @AlexTravisITRT on Twitter. [03:18] - Today’s question comes from Julie Cobb, who wants to know if Kasey will be doing any on-air coaching for coaches. [05:02] - It’s time to dive into the tools! Kasey starts off by chatting about one of the Content Creation category tools, Book Creator. [08:15] - Kasey shares another reason that she likes Book Creator so much. [09:16] - Next, Kasey chats about CoSpaces Edu, which allows students to build virtual 3D environments. [12:58] - We learn about another application, Explain Everything. [14:38] - The last content creation tool for today is Adobe Spark. Kasey talks about how powerful it is. [17:48] - Kasey shifts into talking about tools in the Literacy and Numeracy category, starting off with Flocabulary. [20:11] - The next tool that Kasey will chat about today is Newsela, which is great for finding age-appropriate news articles. [23:02] - Kasey talks about EquatIO, which may be perfect for math teachers. [24:50] - We shift gears back from math into reading as we hear about the next tool, Fluency Tutor. [26:03] - The last tool that Kasey wants to talk about in this category is Read&Write for Google. [27:18] - Kasey moves on to talking about the next category, STEAM Tools, and discusses Tynker. [28:24] - We learn about Flat.io, which allows you to collaboratively create sheet music. [29:44] - Code.org is one of Kasey’s favorite coding websites. [31:33] - Kasey talks about Edpuzzle, a tool from the Communication & Understanding category. [33:07] - We hear about Flipgrid, which is now completely free for everyone! [35:08] - Kasey shares her thoughts on Pear Deck, which is a favorite tool of hers (and this episode’s sponsor!). [37:59] - The last communication tool that Kasey will talk about today is Screencastify, which is a Chrome extension that lets you easily record your screen. [40:48] - Ready for the question of the week? Here we go! What are three tools from this week’s episode that you want to try in your classroom, and how will you integrate them into your curriculum? Post your answers on your favorite social media platform using the #ShakeUpLearning hashtag, or share them in the Shake Up Learning Community! [41:44] - Have you thought about getting Google Certified? Kasey can help! She helps educators get certified through her three online courses: The Google Certified Educator Level 1 Academy The Google Certified Educator Level 2 Academy Become a Google Certified Trainer Online Course If you’re interested in taking more than one of these courses, get a bundle to save big! Enrollment only opens twice a year, so sign up when it opens on May 21st or you’ll need to wait until November. If you’re ready to learn more, head to this link! [44:12] - Kasey thanks listeners for tuning in, and offers a way to give back: leave a review (using the word “y’all” if you can squeeze it in!). This helps other teachers find the podcast, and might get you a shoutout on a future episode! List of 60 Tools to Inspire Students with Chromebooks: Content Creation Tools Adobe Illustrator Draw Adobe Photoshop Mix Adobe Spark Book Creator Buncee CoSpaces Edu Explain Everything Kami Lucidchart Soundtrap Squid Stop Motion Studio Toontastic WeVideo Literacy & Numeracy Tools BrainPOP CK-12 Foundation DOGO News Epic! Frontier Flocabulary (just acquired by Nearpod) Listenwise Motion Math Newsela Plotagon Education Reflex Math Scrible EquatIO Fluency Tutor Read&Write for Google STEAM Tools Autodesk Tinkercad BlocksCAD Code.org Tynker Flat.io GeoGebra Communication & Understanding Tools Classcraft Edpuzzle Flipgrid Pear Deck Screencastify Links and Resources: The Shake Up Learning Show The Shake Up Learning Community on Facebook Join the Shake Up Learning Book Study! Shake Up Learning: Practical Ideas to Move Learning from Static to Dynamic by Kasey Bell Education Podcast Network Pear Deck (this episode’s sponsor!)

In this episode of The Suite Talk, Brian Tupper from The Kindness School, will go over his global reading initiative that supports teaching kindness and empathy.  Brian uses a variety of technology tools to target ELL, Special ED and diverse learners by having his materials available in five different languages!  Plus, he uses Newsela to target a range of readers on different levels.  You can check out my website www.thesuitetalk.com for more information about my show.  Click on the ‘Episode' page to browse through and watch past shows or read the show notes for helpful information.   Click on the ‘Subscribe' page to stay up to date on the latest episode on my YouTube channel, newsletter or podcast.  My show is available on Podbean, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Play Music. Click on the ‘Episodes' page to read the show notes and watch past or current episodes. Click on the ‘Schedule' page to see who will be a guest on the show. Click on the ‘Guest' page to be a guest on my show. Please fill out the form and I will get back to you as soon as I can.  

Newsela: https://newsela.com/ ReadWorks: https://www.readworks.org/ Alison's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DIS_MissSchlo Please Subscribe to this YouTube Channel Seth’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SethPonder Seth’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-ponder109/ Seth’s Website: https://www.sethponder.com Seth’s Email: sethtponder@gmail.com EdTechHeroes Website: https://www.edtechheroes.com I am always looking for new guests, please contact me on Twitter or email. Thanks for watching. Music: Energy from www.bensound.com

Today on the EdTech Startup Show, I talk to Matthew Gross (@matthew_gross), founder and CEO of NewsELA. NewsELA is an instructional content platform that solves "the problem of reading engagement holistically for students, teachers, and principals." Many teachers will recognize the company for its powerful text-leveling features, though they do much more. Matt showed a sincere dedication to improving education during this conversation, and he shares stories and observations that both educators and EdTech industry folks will find fascinating. Highlight include: How poetry taught Matt he shouldn't skip his college classes. "I really don't think about technology at all." Matt explains this surprising statement. Why Matt and NewsELA reject "sit and get" EdTech. Expectations Matt has for Newsela and his peers in EdTech. The #1 pain point Matt hears from school and district administrators (and how he addresses it). The amazing transformation Matt has noticed in schools since 2012. "Good news" results from Newsela's surveys of teachers and principals. Remember to checkout NewsELA at www.newsela.com Like the show? Please give it a rating on iTunes and don't forget to subscribe. You can also give me your feedback by tweeting @GerardDawson3 with the hashtag #EdTechStartupShow – thanks for listening! How to get your free book If you like the show, please subscribe and leave a rating. In fact, the first 5 people to leave an honest review of the show on iTunes will win a free book. Just listen to the show, leave your honest review and email a screenshot of the review to contact [at] gerarddawson [dot] org. Then, I'll mail you a real physical copy of Hacking Literacy or The Best Lesson Series: Literature. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the show. -Gerard Dawson PS – More episodes are coming soon, and I publish new articles regularly. To join the group of readers who get the latest updates first, click here.

Megan Forbes (@toocoolformiddleschool) is discussing all things social studies, being an ethical fashionista, her YouTube channel, and answering your questions from Instagram.  Follow Megan on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/toocoolformiddleschool/?hl=enFollow Megan on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/toocoolforschoolblog/Subscribe to Megan's YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUC_22Y1A_uHZ9kEXSRPCKARead Megan's Blog:https://toocoolformiddleschool.com/Shop Megan's Teachers Pay Teachers Store:https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Too-Cool-For-Middle-School

In this episode, we interview Laurence Hall. Laurence is a good friend and experienced tech sales guru. Laurence is a Sales Representative at Newsela. Newsela is education tech startup dedicated to transforming the way students learn and improving literacy rates around the world. In our conversation, we discuss what to look for in a good sales organization and what skills are vital to being a great sales person. We also dove into philosophy, martial arts, and making the tough transition from college life to the real world. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/secret-sauce/support

See why Newsela helps with differentiated reading. http://aced.tech/14 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Listen to January 2019 G suite Updates and Tech News. Tech news will now be features from Newsela to share with your classroom. Visit: http://aced.tech/13 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In this podcast we will be informing you about the immigrants from the 1845 Irish Potato Famine. We learn how hard their life was before and after they came to America, but they eventually came through and did amazing things. Main sources: History.com; Newsela.com; crf-usa.com

While I was at ISTE in June, the big talking point on everyone's minds was digital citizenship. How can we prepare our students, in a world surrounded by technology and connectivity, with access to more information than is imaginable, to support safe and responsible technology use? For some, that means getting students knowledgeable about how to discern fact from fiction, or fact from exaggeration, online, especially in hard news. But how do you create a platform for students to read about current events, whether troubling or exciting, that is both age-appropriate and matches each students reading level? It's a daunting task, but not one that's being ignored. JJ Janikis (Newsela Team Lead of Educator Communities) and Tami Flood (Teacher and Newsela Certified Educator) came on the podcast to give their in-the-classroom and EdTech-provider points of view on digital citizenship, empowering teachers to take command of personalized technology, the importance of current events for a young audience, and how to "unlock the written word for everyone." In the spirit of Newsela's mission, the two also duke it out in 5 Word Summaries over a Starbucks Gift Card. Tami's skilled with her appositives.

Sandy and Kelly talk about two web tools they started using years ago, and are now full of awesome updates! Newsela is a great resource to bring news articles to your classroom, and Kahoot has multiple options to create engaging review games for your students. Listen to this episode to hear Sandy and Kelly discuss ideas and share the best features of each.

This week, I am joined by Dr. Sean Smith, Professor of Special Education at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Sean speaks about technology options that students with disabilities can access in the classroom. Sean presents a very thorough, research-based, and applicable way that students can access technology in the classroom no matter the budget level of the school. For more information about Sean, please email him at seanj@ku.edu. For more information about the programs or apps Sean discusses please visit Google Classroom (https://classroom.google.com/signup), Google Docs (https://www.google.com/docs/about/),  Chrome (https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/desktop/index.html), Newsela (https://newsela.com), CoWriter Universal (https://cowriter.com), Khan Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org), Inspiration or Kidspiration (http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration), Start to Finish (http://donjohnston.com/stfonline/), and Flocabulary (https://www.flocabulary.com).

Newsela super bowl ads

Intro Hi everyone and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who loves middle grade books.  I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a 5th grade teacher, a mom, and a HUGE Guardians of the Galaxy fan! I just saw the second movie last weekend, and I loved how the writers constructed a story to make me love a character I had previously hated. And I loved how this story shows how an empathic character can be deeply powerful without toting a gun or fighting. Plus - my favorite band is Fleetwood Mac! This is Episode #24 and Today we are discussing lots of ideas for summer reading and I’ll be chatting with author Nanci Turner Steveson about her new novel Georgia Rules. Main Topic - Summer Reading Our main topic today is summer reading! For me,  my school year up here in New York doesn’t end for another five weeks but lots of my friends are already wrapping up their school year so I thought it would be a good time to discuss this topic. And whether you are a parent, or a librarian, or a teacher there will be something in today’s show that you will find useful. First, we’ll talk about defining the purpose of summer reading and the importance of planning. Then we’ll talk about ways to ensure access to books for kids and end with some fun summer reading ideas. Purpose The first thing to really think about is what purpose summer reading should serve for kids. In my view, summer reading should be all about fun and free choice and continuing to build a community of readers. And not earning trinkets. The prize should be the book, the shared experience, not some cheap piece of junk from a chintzy looking treasure box.  Whatever you decide to do to encourage summer reading, please keep the focus on fun and not guilt tripping kids into reading. As we approach the end of the school year and kids dive into busy or unpredictable schedules, maintaining that reading momentum is key. If you are like me and saying good-bye to outgoing students, it feels a little like they are fledging and you’ll be encouraging more reading independence. Or, maybe you are thinking about activities with incoming students. In that case, your goal might be to welcome them into a new community of readers and to start to build or maintain those relationships heading into a new year. Planning One of the most effective things that you can do to get kids reading over the summer is to help them make some reading plans before school ends and to fill up their To Be Read list with titles they are excited about. Suggested book lists can be nice - especially if they are created by other students. (You know how it is - kids are going to listen to each other way more than they’re going to listen to us!) If there are some movies coming out over the summer that are based on books, definitely mention those and maybe show the trailers. For example, I know there’s a new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie and Captain Underpants and then Wonder is coming out in the fall. One thing that I like to do is to try to get kids hooked into a new series right at the end of the year so they are motivated to read the rest of the books into the summer. My school has started using the Units of Study from the TCRWP and our final unit in 5th grade is Fantasy Book Clubs. So they are totally getting hooked on Gregor the Overlander and Wings of Fire and Warriors and already starting to research the sequels. And - speaking of Fantasy, have you seen the new Wizarding World Book Club being launched this summer through Pottermore? That sounds awesome and every year I have three or four kids who are just getting started in the Harry Potter series so I feel like I relive reading that series every year.  I’ll include a link in the show notes for all of my fellow Potterheads to check out.  So making a great TBR list is one major part of planning summer reading. Another part is to think about some Summer Challenges. Maybe share the Reading Without Walls Challenge which encourages readers to expand their reading horizons by reading a book about a character who doesn’t look or live like you, a book about a topic you don’t know about and a book in a format you don’t normally read for fun. Scholastic also has a Summer Reading Bingo Card that might be fun to print out and try with spaces like Read With a Flashlight, Read Outside, or Read Aloud to an Adult - those are fun but what might be even cooler would be to have kids design their own Summer Reading Bingo cards! One last word about planning. Definitely share your own summer reading plans with your students and your kids. They are really more likely to follow through if you join them and make your commitment public. Access Alright so you now know your purpose and you and the kids have a plan. Let’s talk about helping them have access to those amazing books they want to read. One great idea that I know a lot of teachers and librarians are doing is to coordinate a Book Swap at the end of the year where kids bring in books from home, share them in some central spot and then take what they want. Another idea for teachers is to give each child in your class a book as an end-of-the-year present.  I did this for the first time ever last year. I went to my local Scholastic Warehouse during their year-end sale, and I picked out a book that I knew the child had not yet read but I thought they would really like. And I brought with me my clipboard of Status of the Class sheets from the entire year so I had a record of exactly what they had read and I had a decent idea of what they would like. Then I added a personalized note inside, wrapped each one up, and added a Krazy Straw and a some ribbon. Now, depending on your class size or your budget, that is not always an option. When I taught in a middle school with over 60 students, I just couldn’t do that.  Now, I have just one class and also I don’t buy lots of other things so I can splurge a little at the end of the year.   Another way to get more books into kids hands over the summer is to open up your classroom library or the school library over the summer. Some schools I know have library hours once a week. Some handle the issue of access by letting each child take out ten books over the summer. If you can do this, I think it’s a fabulous idea. Why let the books just sit around?   However, if that is not possible or you’re not there yet another thing you can do is send home a resource sheet to let parents know where they can get books over the summer. List the locations of local libraries, of any Little Free Libraries in the area, and also the links to online places where they access books and articles. Definitely don’t forget about digital reading. Places like Wonderopolis or Newsela or any other online databases or subscription site they use during the school year. Often those passwords will work right over the summer. And don’t forget to plug the audio books! Sometimes a summer trip is the perfect time to try out an audio book.   Bringing books out into the community is another fantastic way to get more books out to more kids. You could set up one or more Little Free Libraries near the school. A lot of my local libraries are placing satellite Little Free Libraries around in various parks. If you’re up for a bit of planning - and maybe it won’t happen this summer but put it in the back of your mind for next year - a bookmobile would be another great method of outreach and making sure that every kid can bump into some books over the summer! Julie, a librarian friend of mine, took a bookmobile out to a local breakfast spot on the weekends. A local ballpark where they have summer rec games going on would be another great spot. I’m thinking of summer festivals and 4th of July spots or the Farmer’s Market!   Basically, you want to make sure kids have books in their hands before they leave school and know exactly where to go to get more.   8 Summer Projects & Activities Let’s talk about some cool summer projects and activities that you can do with students or your own kids. Here are eight ideas for summer reading projects: Have students write a letter or postcard to you over the summer telling you about a book they loved. You can supply a template if you want and a pre stamped and self-addressed envelope before the end of school. Do a Library Crawl! I chatted with you about this back in January on Episode 14, but my daughters and I challenged ourselves to hit 16 libraries during the summer of 2016. And we posted pictures on social media along the way, included some Little Free Libraries, and it was a lot of fun. This idea is more geared toward parents but you might find a way to do something similar as a teacher or librarian. Host a meetup at your local library or bookstore. Set a few dates ahead of time and join your students for a quick get-together to share what you’ve been reading and pick out some new titles. Usually libraries have summer programs going on, so you could time those meetups to match the library schedule. Meet at school for a Breakfast & Book Swap! Make some pancakes, chat about books, and get some ideas of what to read next. Share your reading on Social Media. You could encourage kids to share pics of their books on Snapchat or Twitter or Instagram and maybe use a school hashtag. Also - if you use Google Classroom or Seesaw, often students can still log-in to use those over the summer. So, why not take advantage of that and continue to share what you’re reading through June, July, and August? Summer Book Clubs! If you have multiple copies of the same book, put together a book club that meets a couple times over the summer. Is an idea called Books on Blankets that I first saw on Stacey Reidmiller’s site Literacy for Big Kids. And basically, they host a get-together once a week over the summer with a read aloud, popsicles, and kids get a free book! Families bring a blanket and sit out on the grass and enjoy a great story together. Is a similar idea but instead of having a read aloud at your school, do a read aloud station at, say, your local Farmer’s Market. It doesn’t have to be for the whole day - maybe just half an hour! Or really, any place where lots of kids gather over the summer. Just gather some books in a totebag, lay out a beach blanket, put up a sign, and start reading! You may not be ready to take on some of these ideas, yet. I am definitely not quite ready for some of them. But, every year I feel like I’m adding another piece. But - please keep in mind that you don’t have to do everything yourself. I certainly would find it hard to commit to going to my school once a week for the entire summer. But, I could get together with some my colleagues and some PTO members and we could each take one week.     My challenge to you and to myself is to find one area where you could encourage more pleasure reading this summer. And I know you’ll get just as much out of it as your kids will.   And of course, I want to hear about your summer reading plans and ideas. You can tag me on Twitter, Instagram, and now Facebook - our handle is @books_between or email me at booksbetween@gmail.com and I’d love to see what you’ve got going on this summer. Interview - Nanci Turner Steveson   Today I am excited to welcome Nanci Turner Steveson to the podcast. She is the author of Swing Sideways and the newly released Georgia Rules.  We chat about why she set her new middle grade novel in Vermont, the theatre, and her favorite kind of pie. Take a listen.   Welcome to the podcast! I heard that your first novel, Swing Sideways, was nominated for the Wyoming Indian Paintbrush Award! Congratulations!   Georgia Rules Your second middle grade novel, Georgia Rules, is released today.  I am so honored to be chatting with you on your launch day! Tell us about Georgia Rules - what is this story about?   At the beginning of the book, the catalyst that prompts Maggie and her mom to move to Vermont is that her step-father has decided to divorce them and have a boyfriend move in. And I just want to say that situation of a family breaking up and one of the parents moving on to a same-sex relationship is becoming more common - or at least more openly acknowledged. And I am glad that it’s in this book - I think Georgia Rules is the first book I’ve read that’s shown a breakup in that way. There is this tension between the more formal “Georgia Rules” that Magnolia has been brought up with in Atlanta and the more casual, country vibe of Vermont. Which one is more in line with your upbringing?   I loved the Vermont setting - it reminded a lot of Central New York actually. Have you ever lived in Vermont?   The Parker family is known for their pies. What is your favorite pie? Your Writing Life You’ve mentioned that you got a late start in publishing and that your first novel, Swing Sideways, wasn’t published until you were older. Were you writing all along and just stuck with it until you had a breakthrough or did you also come to writing later as well?   What drew you to writing middle grade?   Theatre I’ve noticed that you are involved in the theatre! = What do you do - act? Or more technical aspects? What sort of chapter books did you like to read when you were a kid?   What about have you been reading lately?   Thank You! Closing   Okay - that wraps up our show this week. If you have a question about how to connect middle grade readers to books they will love or an idea about a guest we should have or a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.   Also, this past week I was honored to be a guest on the What Book Hooked You? podcast where I chatted with Brock Shelly about The Book Whisperer and lots of other things. I’ll link to that in the shownotes if you want to check it out.   Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can find an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of the show along with all of our previous episodes at AlltheWonders.com.   And, if you are liking the show, please help others find us too by telling a friend, sharing on social media, or leaving a rating on iTunes or Stitcher.   Thanks again and see you in two weeks!  Bye!   https://www.pottermore.com/news/wizarding-world-book-club-coming-soon-to-pottermore   http://www.cbcbooks.org/reading-without-walls/ http://oomscholasticblog.com/rules/2017ScholasticReadingBingo.pdf   https://littlefreelibrary.org   https://newsela.com   http://www.literacyforbigkids.com/blog/summer-reading-the-authentic-way  

  Scott Johns is a former high school CTE teacher, and now works for Education Elements, former educators and administrators who are passionate about education. Student Reflection and Ownership Students need to understand their role in their learning. The power of setting goals. Self-directed learning. Small structured choices. Integrated Digital Content Computers/tablets/screen time is not all this is. Lily pad, too much on one corner causes you to drop. Integrated digital content allows personalized learning to scale. Digital tools can increase ability to perform at higher levels. Newsela.com and achieve3000 How to not meet just the needs of the middle. How to meet the needs of the high and low. How to be a transformative Principal? Design thinking process. Empathy. Get students’ input. Are you feeling like you are always behind at school? Do you feel like you need about 2 more hours each day to accomplish everything? Here’s how I help principals work manageable hours: Create your ideal week, so that you can leave work at work and enjoy your life! Join my group coaching program Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.   Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators Survey

Intro Hi and Welcome to Books Between - a podcast to help teachers, parents, or librarians connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love. I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a 5th teacher, a parent, and after taking the new Pottermore quiz, I discovered that my Patronus is a…..hedgehog. WHAT?  I was totally expecting something mighty and fierce like a panther or an eagle! But - a hedgehog? I guess it could be worse - it could have been a salmon. This is Episode #7 and today we’re discussing Tips & Resources for talking about the Presidential Election, three election themed books, and I’ll answer a question about picture books for middle grade students. Main Topic - Tips & Resources for Discussing the U.S. Presidential Election So, in case you haven’t noticed, we here in the United States are in the midst of  rather lengthy presidential election season. And even my international friends are following this election with much interest. This will be my twelfth full year teaching so the 3rd presidential election that I’ve experienced with students.  And I have never seen kids so…. passionate about the two main candidates: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Even last spring when it was still the primaries, my 5th graders wanted to talk about it.  The emotional intensity toward these two candidates are sometimes tricky to navigate in the classroom and in your own home. If you are planning lessons or some reading around the elections and candidates this fall, here are some resources and some thoughts about how to guide those conversations which seem to be uniquely charged this election. We’ll discuss why you should consider talking about the election with children, some tips on how to make those discussions go more smoothly, and then finally some print and online resources to anchor those conversations. Why talking about the presidential election is important. First let’s talk about why discussing the presidential election is even necessary. So maybe you’re thinking - why even go there? Politics is always cited as one of those topics that you really shouldn’t bring up in polite conversation. In my view, we have an obligation as parents, teachers, and citizens to make sure our children are as informed as possible about the system of government in their country. Not only do we owe them that knowledge, but honestly it’s in our own self-interest. I don’t know about you, but I want a well-informed public in charge of the society that I’ll grow old in.  One that knows at least the basics of the electoral system and has had a little experience researching candidates and examining claims made by campaigns. Also, those skills are transferable to lots of other arenas in kids’ lives way beyond what happens in school. And honestly, you can’t assume they are getting the information anywhere else. In the U.S., presidential elections are only once every 4 years so harness that excitement while you can. And boy is there excitement this year! Tips for Political Discussions So now for a few tips about how to handle those discussions in your class or library or even at home. Even under the best circumstances, talking politics with one person can seem like a minefield. So attempting to channel the conversation of 20+ kids with widely differing viewpoints and backgrounds can be challenging. My first suggestion is try focusing the discussion more on issues rather than personalities. So, start the conversation more broadly. For example, you might ask “What a makes a good leader?” rather than “Do you like Clinton or Trump?” so they can hopefully express views that are grounded in what they truly value and think beyond preconceived ideas. A second suggestion is to set some ground rules about how to debate a topic without getting nasty. And then, practice with a less emotional topic first, like what animal makes a good pet or best pizza toppings. A third suggestion is to include the third party candidates in your discussions so that it doesn’t turn into such an “us” vs. “them” but acknowledges other voices and viewpoints. And the fact that there is a lot less coverage of Jill Stein or Gary Johnson or the dozens of other presidential candidates is a lesson in and of itself. And a final thought - try try try not to reveal who you are voting for or telegraph that information through your tone or body language. Mainly because it doesn’t matter what WE think. It’s been said before, but it’s worth repeating - It is more important to teach children HOW to think rather than WHAT to think.  Also, we should model open-mindedness and a willingness to change our point of view when we learn new information. And especially don’t bash a candidate (as much as you may need to bite your tongue). As a parent, I would be upset if a teacher was doing that in my child’s class, and I want to make sure that every kid feels welcomed in class and that we have an environment where we can examine issues and disagree without being disagreeable to each other. Because this election will end, but these children will have to work together for many more years. Resources On to some presidential election resources for you! I am going to say up front at as far as books go - there isn’t much on the middle grade level for Donald Trump. I have been hunting and searching all summer, pestering all the librarians I know, and the only kid focused Trump book I found turned out to be a spoof book! So, I’m really glad I realized that before buying it. However, there are some workarounds for you. First, let’s talk about books. For Hillary Clinton, there is the new biography in the “Who Was” series titled Who is Hillary Clinton?. I’ll be talking more about that in our Book Talk segment later. For students wanting something more in depth, there’s a new middle grade / YA biography called Hillary Rodham Clinton: Do All the Good You Can by Cynthia Levinson. That was just released this summer. There are also a couple picture books worth checking out like Hillary Rodham Clinton: Some Girls are Born to Lead by Michelle Markel. An interesting side note about that book. Almost every single one of the 104 reviews on Amazon for that book are either 5 stars OR 1 star. Interesting. There is no middle ground there. For Donald Trump, one way to work around the lack of middle grade biographies available is to provide excerpts of the adult biographies. So there’s his famous The Art of the Deal and the newly released autobiography, Great Again, which would contain more up-to-date information for students. Obviously, you will need to read those chapters yourself first to make sure the content is okay for kids. Of course, instead of focusing on the candidates, you could focus on the election process with books like Honest Abe’s Guide to Presidential Elections. Or you could focus on presidential history with a book like National Geographic’s Our Country’s Presidents or Presidential Pets by Julia Moberg. Or, maybe you could focus on some fun reads like Bad Kitty for President, Dan Gutman’s The Kid Who Ran for President or a huge favorite of mine The Tapper Twins Run for President. (More on that one later in the Book Talk segment.) Biographies are just one avenue for learning about elections and current candidates. Scholastic has Election Skills Books for various grade levels. And I’ve ordered the Grade 4-6 version for my class. They also have lots of activities right on their website - linked right in the show notes for you. PBS also has a really great website called Election Central 2016 with video and other resources to help you examine the elections. I did notice that the PBS website is geared for grades 6 and up. And finally, Newsela has a Students Vote 2016 Teacher Guide where you can find articles. And the great thing about Newsela is that you can adjust the reading level of the articles so everyone gets the same content but at a level comfortable for them to absorb the information. I am really excited about harnessing my students’ energy and enthusiasm this year to help us all learn something new. Book Talk - Three Election Themed Books In this part of the show, I share with you a few books centered around a theme and discuss three things to love about each book. This week, we have three election themed books: the picture book When Penny Met Potus, the biography Who is Hillary Clinton? and the novel The Tapper Twins Run for President. When Penny Met POTUS When Penny Met POTUS is a picture book with words by Rachel Ruiz and illustrations by Melissa Manwill. It is a cleverly constructed story about a young girl, Penny, whose mother works in the White House. And Penny is super excited because today she gets to go to work with her mom, and try to find a way to meet this mysterious POTUS. She imagines him as a friendly suit-wearing monster and practices what she’s going to say and do when they meet until finally in her wandering through the White House, she comes face-to-face with POTUS. And the ending is so cute and clever - I’ll leave it for you and your kids to discover together.  But, here are three great things that I can say about When Penny Met POTUS:   The real-life basis of the illustrations. While Penny is searching in the White House, she imagines meeting POTUS in his own airplane, having a tea party together, and helping him solve the world’s problems.  And in each case, the drawings are accurate. From the paint on Air Force One to the inset cabinets of the China Room where they have tea, to the famous intricate carvings of the desk in the Oval Office, it’s all authentic. The only detail I couldn’t quite confirm was the fish tank. How the author and illustrator worked together to really show you how kids can sometimes fill in the gaps of their knowledge with the most imaginative things. You and I who work with kids a lot or have children of our own, know how those misunderstandings over figurative language or in this case definitions of acronyms can lead to some pretty hilarious results. The ice cream at the end.  I know it’s a small moment but I just loved that final page when Penny and POTUS are together and you catch a glimpse of this fully stocked freezer that is top to bottom packed with an awe-inspiring assortment of ice cream. I am a huge ice cream fanatic so if that’s what a White House visit is like, count me in! Who is Hillary Clinton? A second election themed middle grade biography is Who is Hillary Clinton? by Heather Alexander.  This is a new release in this really popular series and it just came out on August 2nd. It starts off with Clinton’s dream at age 13 of some day becoming an astronaut. She writes a letter to NASA and they flat out tell her, “We’re not interested in women astronauts.” From that formative experience, the biography steps back in time and covers her birth, her difficult family life as a child, her education and social justice work, and her tough political experiences as First Lady and then later Senator and Secretary of State. This biography goes all the way up to her winning the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States.  Here are three things that my students and I loved about Who is Hillary Clinton?: How the same format of this series makes them all easy to read. You already know the layout and text features before starting. As a teacher, I truly appreciate non-fiction series like that and as a reader, I feel like I can absorb more of the info since my mind isn’t working on the side to decipher the organization of the text. For example, all the chapter titles are between two thin horizontal lines. In the back, there’s always a one page vertical timeline of the person’s life right next to a one page vertical world timeline so you can place their life events in context. All of the illustrations are black and white sketches - and no photographs. It’s not too long. It’s a slim book and when you pick it up, you don’t feel like it’s going to be a major time investment.  I think most children could read this book in a few hours. And if they are inspired to know even more, there’s a great bibliography in the back. Even though it’s a short biography, Who is Hillary Clinton? is packed with great information for students. I especially like the side articles about the Equal Rights Amendment, Political Parties, and previous Women Who Ran for President. So not only are we learning about Hillary Rodham Clinton, we are also getting lots of other great history as well. The Tapper Twins Run for President And finally - The Tapper Twins Run for President! I think this one might be my favorite of the three - it just SO FUN to read! So, this novel is Geoff Rodkey’s third book in the series and was released a couple weeks ago. But you don’t have to have read the other two to really enjoy this one. And - I don’t know how he did it, but somehow this books touches on many of the same notes that the current Clinton/Trump election is hitting. It’s uncanny!  If you’re not familiar with the series, essentially it’s about 6th grade twins Claudia and Reese, who are very different from each other. Claudia is studious, intensely focused, and has been building her school political career since Kindergarten to run for 6th grade class president. (Qualities not unlike Clinton.) Then there’s Reese - popular, soccer jock, no political experience at all, and insanely competitive. (Qualities not totally unlike Trump.) So when Claudia and Reese get into an argument about playing soccer on the roof of the school, Claudia says, “If you don’t like the way I’m representing you as president, there’s an election coming up.” Meaning - you should vote for someone else. Well, Reese, viewing things in a competitive way, took that as a throw down to run for president himself. And things get hilariously crazy from there. Here are three things I just loved about The Tapper Twins Run for President: Side Characters: There’s Ashley, their incompetent baby-sitter who is always on her phone. Then their well-meaning but sometimes frazzled parents who send these frantic and funny text messages back and forth to each other. And my favorite - Xander Billington. As Claudia says, he’s from a “very-old, very-rich, and very brain-dead family” that came over on the Mayflower. And he talks likes he’s in a rap battle. If you ever seen the TV show Parks & Rec, just picture (and hear) Jean Ralphio. That’s Xander and he’s Reese’s running mate. It is wonderfully hilarious! You actually learn a lot about political campaigns in this book. But - not in an educational and didactic kind of way. It’s always primarily about fun. So for example, when talking about the difference between a democracy and a dictatorship, Claudia says, “Two good examples of dictatorships are North Korea and our apartment.”  Reese also gets a campaign manager and tries to stay on message. The two sides work out the details of a debate - which goes horribly wrong. Claudia and Reese are each trying to get the media to write about them in a favorable way and convince voters to show up on election day. It’s really clever and well crafted. Illustrations & Drawings: This is what made me fall in love with this series - the realism and the variety of the pictures. There are screenshots of chat logs when they play MetaWorld (a Minecraft-like game where some of the events happen) and pictures of hand-drawn campaign posters. My favorite photographs though are the ones of real locations in New York City. So there is a picture of the Shake Shack and the Hot and Crusty pizza joint on 86th street where the twins have campaign meetings. Photographs of the back seats of the M79 bus and a yogurt shop called 16 Handles. This series makes me want to take a Tapper Twins inspired road trip to New York City.   So if your students or children like this book, the second book, The Tapper Twins Tear Up New York is all about a scavenger hunt gone wrong through the streets of New York City. It is fabulous! So those are three different styles of book that you could include in your election themed discussions or displays in your class, home, or library. Q & A Our last segment of the show is Question & Answer time. Question: A few conversations that I’ve had lately in real life and on Twitter have essentially boiled down to this question: “What about picture books for middle grade readers?” Answer: To answer that quickly - YES! Please don’t dis the picture books when recommending titles to your tween children and students. And when you are selecting read alouds for home, school, or library, make sure you’ve got some great picture book options. I’ll admit that my classroom library is weak in that area but I’ve been inspired to improve. And I think in the future, I’ll do a longer segment about picture books because I’ve been learning a lot lately that I’d like to share with you. But a couple quick points: Older kids still love them! They are great reads for smaller time slots or in between longer books. Older readers bring a more sophisticated eye that notices more than if they had read that same book even a couple years ago. In a shorter amount of time, you can expose them to a huge variety of genres, plots, characters, and themes for them to build their background and later connect those ideas to their other reading. So, definitely don’t skip the picture book section the next time you are at your library or bookstore. Closing Okay - that wraps up our Q&A section this week. If you have a question about how to connect children between 8-12 to books they’ll love or some thoughts about why we should all still read picture books, I would really love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between. Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can find a full transcript of this show, and all the other episodes, at our website - BooksBetween.com  with links to every book and resource I mentioned today. And, if you have gotten some value out of this show, please tell a friend or share it on social media so others can find us as well. Thank you again and see you in two weeks!  Bye!

In this Episode, Ricky and Kristy talk about Newsela, Ed Tech in India, and a facinating interview from EdSurge On Air.

Hope your summer (or winter) is starting off fabulously! Here's a new listen for your road trip or for when you're sipping tea by the pool. Expresso http://www.expresso-app.org/ VideoNot.es http://www.videonot.es/ Kidtopia http://www.kidtopia.info/ Braille Bricks http://www.fastcoexist.com/3059588/this-brilliant-toy-turns-lego-bricks-into-a-tool-for-learning-braille 5 Apps to Transform Teaching and Personalize Learning http://www.edutopia.org/blog/apps-transform-teaching-personalize-learning-ann-feldmann Draw Your Own Illustrations, Clipart & Avatars http://learninginhand.com/blog/draw ClassKick Update http://www.classkick.com/ Schoology http://schoology.com Tricider http://www.tricider.com/ http://www.tricider.com/brainstorming/35YT8M8SKZp Osmo Coding https://www.playosmo.com/?r=5903871977193472 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge http://www.scholastic.com/ups/campaigns/src-2016 Other challenges: Pizza Hut (http://www.bookitprogram.com/summer/) Barnes and Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/summer-reading/_/N-rs9) Newsela (http://support.newsela.com/hc/en-us/articles/208874926-Camp-Newsela) For adults: Penguin/Random House Summer Reading Challenge (http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/book-club-summer-reading-readingchallenge1.jpg)

Listen to Morgan Sleight's interview of Co-Founder and Chief Academic Officer of Newsela.com, Dan Cogan-Drew.

Tony, Tim and Patrick get together and babble about some great ed tech issues. Check out the talking points below and happy Groundhog day. The Future of Big Data Analytics in K-12 Education by Benjamin Herold of Education Week a. Link: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/01/13/the-future-of-big-data-and-analytics.html?qs=ALTSCHOOL b. This is a LOT more data that is being "captured" c. altschool - https://www.altschool.com/ d. A lot more going on there than just gathering data e. Year long projects - each project is different from child to child based on data collected f. How much of this will be adopted by mainstream education? g. Apple acquires LearnSprout - http://www.macrumors.com/2016/01/28/apple-acquires-education-company-learnsprout/ by Juli Clover of MacRumors h. Link: http://www.learnsprout.com/ i. Newsela - https://newsela.com/ Microsoft says it’s not the Surface’s fault your team lost a. Link: http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/26/10835238/microsoft-surface-nfl-network-issues-response b. Is the NFL a good place to road-test tech for schools? c. As an IT director, how do you budget in damages to school devices? d. Should students, teachers or parents be responsible? e. Microsoft said the network was the issue here, not the Surface itself. How many learning hours do we loose each week thanks to inconsistent networks? Is it always worth it?

This episode we went over our 5 maybe 6 memorable apps or moments that were our favorite Check This Out moments. We covered moments like CUE Rockstar Tahoe to Newsela. Even came up with a few ideas for future episodes.

This episode we went over our 5 maybe 6 memorable apps or moments that were our favorite Check This Out moments. We covered moments like CUE Rockstar Tahoe to Newsela. Even came up with a few ideas for future episodes.

This week, we are joined by a special guest. We cover what we are up to from Homecoming to Prepping for Fall CUE. We decided on #ctomoment and we went over: The Wonder App, Notability, Newsela.com, Tinkerplay, AOL.On, and Tag Clouds. Make sure you check out what we are listening to!

This week, we are joined by a special guest. We cover what we are up to from Homecoming to Prepping for Fall CUE. We decided on #ctomoment and we went over: The Wonder App, Notability, Newsela.com, Tinkerplay, AOL.On, and Tag Clouds. Make sure you check out what we are listening to!

This week, we are joined by a special guest. We cover what we are up to from Homecoming to Prepping for Fall CUE. We decided on #ctomoment and we went over: The Wonder App, Notability, Newsela.com, Tinkerplay, AOL.On, and Tag Clouds. Make sure you check out what we are listening to!

This week, South Dakota Teachers share their favorite websites and apps that relate to quizzing. These sites allow teachers to prepare for or implement class quizzes.  The teachers also share some examples of how they use these websites and tools for learning activities. Here are the websites discussed in this podcast:Quizlet.comQuia.comNewsELA.com

This week on EdGamer 136 we are joined by John Keilman a reporter with the Chicago Tribune. John wrote a piece on Minecraft in our schools and this article appeared on the front page. It is nice to see a positive education article get some spotlight! He interviewed many important people (including Zack) about Minecraft’s use and potential. Join us for another insightful episode of EdGamer. Tune-in and level-up! John’s Minecraft article from the Chicago Tribune Chicago Tribune – Video game ‘Minecraft’ finds a home in schools (registered account needed) Article from Newsela Please go to the Show Notes for all of our links.… Read the rest

Dave Burgess       US History, author, workshop/seminar presenter (West Hills High School -- San Diego, CA)            Resource of the Week: www.newsela.com (Bethany Whinnem, Fairhaven High School) NewsELA provides high interest nonfiction articles about current events that are updated daily. There are several benefits of the website: 1. The same article can be adjusted to various reading levels. 2. At least one article each day has a four question quiz attached, which is tied to specific reading standards indicated by the anchor in the corner. (The questions are also worded differently depending on the reading level selected. 3. When students log in and create an account with the teacher code, it corrects and keeps track of the questions for each student. So, teachers can track problem areas for the class. 4. They usually send out a monthly progress email to the teachers. (email me your favorite resource talkswithteachers@gmail.com)    Segment I – Background and Inspiration   Tell your story. Where are you from and how long have you been teaching? What classes have you taught?  – Dave has taught US History at West Hills High School in San Diego, CA for 17 years. He came to the school first as a basketball coach and a teaching job soon ensued. He is currently on a one-year leave to promote his book, Teach Like a PIRATE: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator.  Who has helped you in your journey to become a master teacher?   – Dave worked for three summers at the John Wooden basketball camp. To learn from such an extraordinary coach and man of character has benefitted him. Wooden's idea of success, the piece of mind arising from doing your best, has influences Dave's teaching. He tries to embed LCLs (life-changing lessons) into everything that he does in the classroom.   It is important for other teachers to know that we all have had setbacks in the classroom. Identify an instance in which you struggled as a teacher and explain what you learned from that experience. – Dave created a whole lesson around the War of the Worlds. He had the classroom in complete darkness and wanted students to listen to the radio broadcast. There were behavior problems and the students were disengaged. He was very discouraged. Through reflection he realized that the broadcast is flat-out boring. Good teaching is like a heat-seeking missile.  Any time it is off course is has the intuition to return to its proper direction. Through reflection we can get ourselves back on course.   What role does literacy play in a U.S. History class? – Dave believes there should be an emphasis on primary sources. Also, writing forces students to get clear about their thinking. Both enables students to become more critical as thinkers. What is one thing that you love about the classroom?  – Dave loves the day-to-day interactions and relationships with students. It is something that is missing right now while he is on this year-long book/workshop tour.  Segment II — Digging into the Teacher Bag of Goodies    What book do you recommend to a developing teacher?  -- Teach Like a PIRATE: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator is about embracing the spirit of a pirate -- to be a maverick and sail into unchartered waters without guarantee of success. They also embrace diversity. Their crews reflect a broad range of abilities and backgrounds. There is also the whole idea of trying to hook students and draw them into content. One of the key lessons of the book is encouraging teachers to find what is unique about themselves and draw on those talents and energies and bring them into the classroom.