I Cannot Believe It’s August 2021!
I cannot believe we are moving into August of 2021. More than half of the year is already over. It’s hard to imagine that we are also starting a new school year. Within this issue, I am providing a number of resources ranging from books, blogs, podcasts, and educational research to help teachers and school leaders prepare and start the school year! Review this newsletter and see what can help you. Then, determine how you can take action with the information you learned to help amplify your teaching and leadership!
Subscribe and Share! Be sure to ask your professional learning network and colleagues within your educational organization to subscribe to receive this newsletter, which can be done by completing this form. Also, connect with me on Twitter @mattrhoads1990 and check out more content on my website www.matthewrhoads.com. Last, if you have any content you would like amplified in future newsletters, please contact me at mattrhoads1990@gmail.com.
Personal Career Update – I Am Now An EdTech Trainer, Integrator, and Coach!
A short personal update. I will be taking on a new position as a Technology Trainer and Coach overseeing EdTech integration among eight different schools. With a focus on Career and Technical Education along with Adult Education within online and blended learning settings, I am looking forward to working with teachers and school leaders to amplify how we can best serve their students. I can’t wait to get started in this new role!
Navigating the Toggled Term: A Guide for K-12 Classroom and School Leaders is Now Available Worldwide
On July 15th of July 2021, it was the worldwide release of Navigating the Toggled Term: A Guide for K-12 Classroom and School Leaders. Writing this book was a labor of love with the goal of impacting teachers, school leaders, and most importantly, our students as we navigate the present and future of education during this challenging time. Overall, this book provides a playbook to how to navigate online, blended, and traditional in-person classroom settings as well as toggling between each instantaneously, integrating research-based instructional strategies with EdTech tools to amplify student learning, and a variety of other topics ranging from differentiating instruction, Special Education, communicating with the students and families, and educator self-care.
North American Retailers: Amazon.com, Books A Million, Indie Bound
International Retailers: Amazon.com (UK/EU), Booktopia (AUS), Dymocks (AUS) Waterstones (UK), Indigo (CAN), Dussmann (GER/EU), IBS.it (ITA/EU)
Order Directly from Publisher: Peter Lang International Academic Publishing
Learn more by going to the book’s landing page. Additionally, be sure to check out Bonus Episodes of Navigating Education – The Podcast that feature the contributing authors of the book who take a deeper dive into their case study’s they authored at the end of each chapter in the book.
Featured Blog Posts to Prepare for the 2021-2022 School Year
Three Blogs from Alfonso Mendoza on Creativity, Connected Educators, and EdTech Leadership (@MyEdTechLife and @Techteacher1381)
We wanted to share three podcasts from Fonz Mendoza who has been writing extensively this summer on topics related to creativity, connected educators, and EdTech Leadership. Each of the following blogs discusses how we can exercise our creative muscles to amplify what we create as well as building your network as a connected educator followed by the four characteristics of becoming an EdTech Leader.
Within this article, seven strategies to help flex your creativity muscles are provided. After reading it, it will leave you feeling empowered to flex your creative muscle on a project!
Throughout this blog post, Mr. Mendoza provides a short synopsis on what it means to be a connected educator and its power towards amplifying your work.
4 Tips for Becoming An EdTech Leader
Mr. Mendoza provides four tips for becoming an EdTech leader. Each step acts as a foundation to help you lead your students, teachers, and school leaders in your capacity as an educator to integrate EdTech and lead.
Technology in the 21st Century ELA Classroom: Data-Driven Instruction and Student Success by Samantha Shaffner (@samanthasaffn2)
In this article, Ms. Shaffner provides an overview of the Edulastic platform for the use of formative assessment and how to utilize it as a platform to track student data to help us drive instruction. Take a look and read the article here.
New Podcasts to Help Build Your Teaching and Leadership Toolkit
Navigating Education – The Podcasts episodes from July 2021 to watch
In the month of July, four episodes of Navigating Education – The Podcast were released. So many important topics we discussed ranging from EdTech coaching, rural education, restorative justice, and bias within algorithms of the technology tools we utilize. Each conversation outlines great nuggets of information to build your teaching and leadership practices!
Episode 19 – EdTech Coaching & Making Learning Stick with Debbie Tannenbaum
Episode 18 – Rural Education and How to Best Support Rural Educators with Casey Jakubowski, Ph.D.
Episode 17 – Restorative Justice & Teacher Trauma and Retention with Dr. Malikah Nu’Man
Episode 16 – Music, Learning, and Racial Bias Algorithms with Dr. Malik Boykin
Also, Navigating Education – The Podcast released eight bonus episodes related to its Navigating the Toggled Term Series. Be sure to check them out by clicking this link here.
The Innovator’s Mindset (The Podcast)
The Biggest Barrier to Innovation – An episode on George Couros podcast, which outlines barriers to innovation. He discusses the barriers we see in education and outlines how we can overcome them.
Edu-Cashin Podcast
Edu-Cashin – A podcast by Kevin Leichtman, Ph.D., discusses tips and tricks for educators to build their side hustles as edupreneurs. For educators interested in learning how to start their own business, this is a great podcast to begin following!
Research on Teaching and Learning
Predictive Analytics Are Coming to K-12 – Big Data on Campus Putting Predictive Analytics to the Test
Colleges and universities have invested in predictive analytic models to determine which students are most likely to complete programs of study based on a variety of different metrics. This is in its infancy in K-12 education, but it will likely be a trend that will continue to grow in the upcoming years. An article produced by Education Next outlines how colleges and universities are doing this as well as how effective the practice is in determining student success. View this thought-provoking research article here.
Big Data on Campus Putting Predictive Analytics to the Test
Paul Kirshner’s Blog 3 Star Learning Experiences
Within this online blog that summarizes research related to teaching and learning, Paul Kirshner provides an immense number of articles summarizing the research in easy-to-read short articles. This is a blog you will have to favorite as the research and practicality of the instructional strategies associated with the research are immense.
Navigating the Present and Future of Education 