Winter Break

 As Thanksgiving approaches, I find myself thinking back to my classroom days. It seems like the days of December flew by with choir performances, band concerts and general excitement over celebrations during the month. How quiet it must be in schoolrooms and hallways today.

There was also the anticipation of a winter break, a time to relax with a good book, time to spend with family. Like quite a few other teachers, I also took time to begin preparation for January. I always felt renewed walking back into the classroom with some fresh ideas.

Is it the same this year? I hope so. I hope teachers can take this time away from zoom and classroom responsibilities to re-energize - to investigate ways to make their online classrooms more accessible and desirable for students. In that vein, I'm going to mention The Teaching Channel, which is connected with The Learning Channel, that I've mentioned before. The following is a clip of upcoming free webinars with video clips of actual online classrooms. Take time to go to the Teaching Channel website and find out more.

"School closures around the world have launched us into the largest unplanned experiment in the history of education. Doug Lemov and the Teach Like a Champion team have analyzed hundreds of hours of online teaching footage to identify best practices and provide a clear guide for educators and school leaders to effectively teach online. 

Each 45-minute webinar will feature clips of real educators teaching students remotely as we explore the most effective ways to engage and educate students in an online classroom."

Teacher Webinars

• Thursday, November 19th: Boosting Engagement, Rigor, and Connection Online, Part 1 (watch recording)

Again, this is just a clip...there are many more options to help you with effective online teaching.

This will be our last post until January. We hope your Thanksgiving and winter holidays as well as the time off are energizing and will give you a chance to rest and prepare for the important months ahead.