Issue 1 – April 30th, 2021
Purpose of the Newsletter
The purpose of Navigating Education – The Newsletter is to provide all educators in K-12 and higher education with resources to help amplify their instruction and leadership. My goal as the author of this newsletter is to curate and develop a helpful resource of strategies, podcasts, blogs, research, and tips to navigate the present and future of education. Additionally, the goal of the newsletter is to amplify the voices of educators from across the United States and the world. Many educators are doing amazing work within classrooms and schools that can help us in our practice as educators whether we are in or outside of the classroom. In this newsletter, it cover the following topics:
- Helpful Resources form April 2021 to Help your Practice as a Teacher and Leader
- Introducing Navigating Educating – The Podcast
- Update: Navigating the Toggled Term: A Guide for K-12 Classroom and School Leaders – Pre-orders Now Available!
- Amplifying the Voices of Educators
Ultimately, the goal is to have the newsletter release at the end of each month with a monthly issue. If you find this resource helpful, please be sure to ask your professional learning network and colleagues within your educational organization subscribe, which can be done by completing this form.
Helpful Resources from April 2021 to Help your Practice as a Teacher and Leader
The goal of this section of the newsletter is to provide teachers and leaders with research articles and blogs that can help their practice as educators. Take a look at each resource as it’s been placed here to help amplify your practice!
Research Article: Reducing Extraneous Cognitive Overload during Learning While Using Multimedia Learning – Learn about how to reduce cognitive overload during learning when multimedia is involved. Cognitive overload is an important concept as instructors to be aware of as it relates to the capacity of our working memories to take on more information to process. If our working memory is overloaded with tasks and information, it makes learning difficult. Therefore, understanding strategies that help prevent overload are imperative in our learning environments for our students to learn effectively.
Blog Post: Teacher Feedback and Coaching During the Toggled Term: EdTech Tools to Help Teachers and School Leaders Observe Online & Blended Learning Classrooms – Within this blog post, several strategies are discussed relating to observing teachers within online and blended learning classrooms. Additionally, EdTech tools like SIBME and Edpuzzle are discussed as tools that can be utilized to provide teachers with feedback on recorded lessons. This is a great blog for instructional leaders and coaches who want to provide feedback to teachers as well as coach teachers throughout the year to improve their instructional toolkit.
Lectures & Panels
During March and April, I had the opportunity to host three panels sponsored by Paper learning for the Teacher Discussion Series. Themes related to the chapters in Navigating the Toggled Term: A Guide for K-12 Classroom and School Leaders, which focused on discussions centered on teaching in diverse environments and EdTech infused pedagogy from teachers around North America. Check them out by clicking on the links below.
Teacher Discussion Series 3: Six Ways to Address Learner Variability—For “Roomies” and “Zoomies” Alike
Teacher Discussion Series 2: Enhancing instructional strategies with ed tech
Teacher Discussion Series 1: Modern instructional strategies for the “toggled” term
Introducing Navigating Education – The Podcast
In April 2021, Navigating Education – The Podcast was launched with the goal and focus on discussing relevant issues in education that help teachers, school leaders, policymakers, and community members navigate the present and future of education. The podcasts are available on all major podcast playing applications such as Anchor, Spotify, Breaker, and Google Podcasts. New episodes launch each Monday in three different formats ranging from individual bite sized professional learning monologues with the host Dr. Matt Rhoads, guest interviews, and spouse education talks featuring Dr. Matt and Alicia Rhoads.
Check out the six episodes so far as well as the landing page for the podcast: Navigating Education – The Podcast
If you are interested in coming on as a guest to the podcast, please complete this form. Episodes in the calendar are already filling up for the late spring and summer. Fill out the podcast guest form as I am excited to have conversations from educators across the world.
Update: Navigating the Toggled Term: A Guide for K-12 Classroom and School Leaders – Release Date in July 2020
As we get closer to the summer, we are closing in on the release date of Navigating the Toggled Term: A Guide for K-12 Classroom and School Leaders. We’ve had some early reviews of the book, which are detailed further on the books landing page at matthewrhoads.com. This book is a playbook for the present and future of K-12 education from the instructional and leadership lens as it’s practical, filled with research and how-to integrate instructional models and EdTech, and provides perspectives in the form of case studies from educators throughout the country on how to navigate our current times in education.
Reviews
“The Teacher Training Manual for Post-Pandemic Teaching” – Phillip Culter, CEO Paper
“An Essential Resource to Navigate Our Changing Education Landscape” – Alfonso Mendonza Jr. Host of MyEdTech Life, District EdTech Coordinator, & Google Innovator
Pre-Orders – Purchase Your Copy for a Great Summer Read Before Next School Year
Peter Lang International Academic Publishing
Release Date: July 20th, 2021
Amplifying the Voices of Educators
In this segment of the newsletter, the goal is to provide recommendations regarding blogs, podcasts, and resources educators from around the world are producing.
Blogs: This month I recommend the following blogs to check out:
Dr. Catlin Tucker – In Dr. Tucker’s blog, you will see a wide variety of articles related to blended learning and technology infused instruction. In each post, she provides easy access to free resources that can help your instruction.
Dr. Janet Ilko – In Dr. Ilko has been in education for many years and has experience teaching almost every single grade level K-12 education. She is an advocate for student voice and agency, which is expressed in her blog. As a member of the National Writing Project and the San Diego Writing project, Dr. Ilko reflects in her blog relating to student agency, writing strategies, and amplifying the voices of her students.
Podcasts: For podcasts, I recommend:
3 Caffeinated Coaches – This podcast aims to enhance the practice of instructional coaches, educators, and leaders by discussing research, interviewing experts in the field, sharing experiences, and engaging in unique book study experiences. The hosts Shannon, Becky, and Georgina provide a diverse range of expertise ranging from coaching, instruction, and research, which provide educators opportunities to always learn new practices to help amplify their instruction, coaching, and leadership. I highly recommend this podcast as the dialogue between each host is entertaining and insightful, which makes for engaging episodes.
Dr. Will Podcast – This podcast aims to provide Edupreneurs and entrepreneurs a forum to discuss their business and ventures within K-12 education. Dr. Will Deyamport is the host who is also an Edupreneur in his own right, sits down and meets with a diverse set of edupreneurs who are making waves in education. From authors to consultants, each episode provides an excellent summary of their ventures and how they are conducting their business. Episodes are informative and can help any educator wanting to get involved in setting up their own education related businesses or building their business. I highly recommend it!
Navigating the Present and Future of Education 