LET’S TALK ABOUT CYBERBULLYING Over the past couple of months I’ve been peppering in conversations about digital citizenship. Every few weeks or so, I’ve focused on different aspects of digital citizenship. We’ve discussed helping our students understand the concept of media balance , how to teach them about privacy and security online, and how to be mindful of the digital footprint that they are leave behind . These are all great topics of digital citizenship to weave into our every day convers...
Apr 25, 2022•11 min•Ep. 117
MONITORING STUDENTS WORKING JUST GOT EASIER! I’ve got a super cool Google Slides tip to share with your today. I want to share how you can easily get a quick view of your students all working on THEIR own digital device from YOUR device. Whether you’re an avid user of Google Slides or just use it here and there - you’re going to LOVE this tip. And, here’s the cool thing - your students don’t even need to have a Google account. You don’t even need to be using Google Classroom in your classroom. T...
Apr 18, 2022•13 min•Ep. 116
PLAYING IS LEARNING Over 10 years ago I started a blog called The Classroom Game Nook blog. I started it because I am a big fan of finding ways to make learning more fun for students. When learning is fun, motivation, engagement, and student success often follow. On my blog the Classroom GAME Nook, I shared all the ways that I used fun and games in the classroom. And, although over the years I dropped the word “game” from my title, and am now just The Classroom Nook, I certainly did not stop str...
Apr 11, 2022•20 min•Ep. 115
NO ONE LIKES CHANGE It’s no secret that I am a big fan of shaking things up in the classroom and swapping out old, stale ways of teaching and replacing them with modern 21st century teaching practices. Now, you would think that I welcome change with open arms because of how often I talk about applying and trying out new teaching methods, or a new cool classroom technology tool. And of course, you might think that I’m quick to abandon traditional teaching methods by how often I talk about LINKtiv...
Apr 04, 2022•25 min•Ep. 114
CHOICE IS A POWERFUL MOTIVATOR. Studies have show the benefit of giving students choice in their learning. One of the ways teachers do this is by implementing the use of choice boards in the classroom. A choice board is simply a collection of activities (they can be digital, nondigital, or a combination) , usually formatted visually on a grid. Students are then invited to choose one or more of those activities to complete. They are the ones choosing which activity interests them. So - right away...
Mar 28, 2022•17 min•Ep. 113
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS LAST FOREVER. And that’s not an exaggeration. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that one action online can impact you for a long time. One comment on social media (good or bad) can go viral and become impossible to stop. Once the internet gets a hold of something, we can quickly lose control. We’ve seen this in both positive and negative situations. We’ve seen the hilarious cat videos go viral or a feel-good story spread from coast to coast. But - we’ve also seen situations wh...
Mar 21, 2022•12 min•Ep. 112
Are you committing one of these technology mistakes in your classroom? I know I sure have from time to time. As our classrooms become more and more digital-friendly and as we integrate more and more technology instruction, we’re bound to run into a few snags along the way. We try sooo hard to provide students with 21st century learning experiences; experiences that often include technology and multimedia with all the other bells and whistles. The intention is good, but the execution sometimes hi...
Mar 14, 2022•15 min•Ep. 111
DON’T YOU JUST LOVE A GOOD TEACHER HACK? I sure do, and in this episode of The Classroom Commute podcast - I’ve got a good one! If you have ever used a Smartboard before, the you’re likely familiar with the concept of an infinite cloner. This feature allows you to have an object or image on the screen that students can reproduce, or clone, over and over and over - as many times as they’d like. This feature comes in handy in a lot of scenarios. However - this feature is NOT available inside of Go...
Mar 07, 2022•8 min•Ep. 110
EFFORTLESSLY DESIGN CLASSROOM RESOURCES! We’re back with another installment of a fun new series that I’ve started here in 2022 called “H(APPY)” Hour. That’s happy with an emphasis on APP. In this series I’m sharing a must-try app that teachers can use for themselves or with their students. And in today’s APPY Hour, I’m going to share about an app is use absolutely every single day without fail! It’s called Canva and it's one of the best apps out there for creating amazing resources for students...
Feb 28, 2022•12 min•Ep. 109
HAVE YOU BEEN WONDERING IF LINKTIVITIES ARE RIGHT FOR YOU & YOUR STUDENTS? Back in September of 2021, I embarked on a new journey and for the first time I opened the doors to LINKtivity® Learning . It’s a membership designed to give teachers an unlimited all-access pass to my entire library of LINKtivity® interactive learning guides. LINKtivities support teachers who want to give their students a multimedia learning experience that not only helps them develop 21st century skills, but also ef...
Feb 21, 2022•25 min•Ep. 108
How much digital learning is too much? Does using pen and paper still have a place for the classroom? The truth is - digital and printable, more traditional instruction can live harmoniously… together in the same classroom, even! It’s all about striking a healthy balance between the two! If you’ve been around for a while, you’ve likely picked up on my love for integrating technology into your daily instruction and I do think that using multimedia activities is essential for a 21st century classr...
Feb 14, 2022•18 min•Ep. 107
PRIVACY AND SECURITY ARE TWO WORDS THAT CAN HAVE A MASSIVE IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ ONLINE INTERACTIONS. Digital citizenship has a lot of moving parts. Teaching our students to be responsible digital citizens is the job of all the important adults in their lives, including their classroom teachers. Here on the podcast we’ve been breaking down this larger idea of being a good digital citizen into small, more manageable chunks and in this episode we’re talking about a super important aspect of digital ...
Feb 07, 2022•10 min•Ep. 106
WHAT MAKES SOMEONE A GREAT READER? Ask any elementary student and you’d likely hear responses like: “Great readers can read fast.” “Great readers use expression.” “Great readers can read all the words correctly.” These answers are all correct, however, we want students to understand that reading is more than just being able to read the words on the page. What we really want students to be doing while they read is thinking ! That’s where reading comprehension strategies come in. Reading strategy ...
Jan 31, 2022•24 min•Ep. 105
This is the YouTube Hack You’ve been Needing! YouTube can be an amazing learning tool for students. Need a video on teaching nonfiction text features ? There’s a video for that. How about a fun science video on phases of the moon ? Yep - there’s one (or a hundred!) of those, too! With all the free content that is available on YouTube, there is NO shortage of topics to find. However, with a free platform like YouTube comes annoying ads that show up before your video, distracting sidebars with vid...
Jan 24, 2022•6 min•Ep. 104
READY TO GET YOUR TEACHER LIFE IN CHECK? We all have our favorite apps and digital tools that we can’t live without. Tools to keep us organized. Tools to remind us of tasks. The list goes one. I love sharing my favorite digital tools and apps for teachers AND students, so I’m starting a new series on the podcast called H(APPY) Hour! And since it’s January and we often focus on organization and productivity this time of year, I thought a great place to start this new series would be with my favor...
Jan 17, 2022•15 min•Ep. 103
HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH (OF A GOOD THING)? We’ve talked so much lately about cultivating a 21st century classroom and the components that make up a modern classroom. And although it’s fun to talk about all the bells and whistles and shiny objects that can come with a 21st century classroom - powerful and engaging components like technology and multimedia - it’s also important that we explore the other side of what it means to use technology and raise students in our digital world - and that is digi...
Jan 10, 2022•12 min•Ep. 102
The time for positivity is Now. It only takes turning on the news for a few minutes to have a negative outlook on life. Young students don’t always know how to process negative situations and experiences. Just like students need to be taught math skills, science concepts, or reading strategies, they need to also be taught the skill of positive thinking. The ability to think positively allows students to feel more in control of their own mindset, even when the situations around them feel out of t...
Jan 03, 2022•26 min•Ep. 101
MAKE THE MOST OF LINKTIVITIES IN YOUR CLASSROOM It’s no secret that both teachers and students LOVE using LINKtivity® Interactive Learning Guides with their students. I hear from upper elementary classroom teachers daily just how engaged and motivated students are when they use a LINKtivity ® to learn a new skill or strategy . And, when you start using LINKtivities with your students, it’s kinda like a train you can’t stop coming (nor do you want to!). So- when you start using them on the regula...
Dec 20, 2021•33 min•Ep. 100
WE OFTEN THINK THAT ALL TECH IS CREATED EQUAL… It’s not. I love using tech in the classroom as a way to engage and motivate student learning. Tech provides opportunities to support our students in ways that other learning methods can not . These opportunities include things like adding audio support to read text to our students, or allowing students to record their responses rather than writing something. Technology often helps us to eliminate barriers to learning success. But - just using class...
Dec 13, 2021•14 min•Ep. 99
WANT TO CREATE A MULTIMEDIA CLASSROOM? A better questions to ask would be: HOW do we create a multimedia classroom? Over the past couple of weeks we have been exploring what it means to be a 21st century classroom. We talked about how a 21 century classroom… includes creating a collaborative and creative environment and encourages students to reflect on their learning takes the focus away from a teacher -directed learning approach, and puts students in the center of discovering and exploring the...
Dec 06, 2021•17 min•Ep. 98
Nov 22, 2021•14 min•Ep. 97
ALL SUCCESSFUL LESSONS HAVE A FEW THINGS IN COMMON. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been guilty more than once of making myself the star of the show - meaning - as a teacher - I often made the lessons more about me . Me — standing in front of the classroom with my anchor charts, doing all the talking, inviting minimal participation. When I did invite participation, I was sure to call on those students that I know would have the answers. Guilty, as charged. But - I’ve noticed, and I’m sure YOU’V...
Nov 15, 2021•19 min•Ep. 96
WHAT IS A 21ST CENTURY CLASSROOM?If you have been tuning in to the podcast the past few weeks, you may have picked up on the fact that I’ve been putting a lot of focus on the modern classroom, and what’s actually working right now. I’ve also been challenging some of the teaching ideas and practices that have dominated in the classroom for the past decade or so, and have really been questioning whether or not they are relevant anymore. We first talked about whether or not learning styles are a my...
Nov 08, 2021•15 min•Ep. 95
RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR STUDENTS SUCCEED. 🙋🏻 OK, I think I already know the answer to that question, but it’s worth asking out loud. Of course you want your students to succeed! It’s likely one of the main reasons you became a teacher (that and to have holidays and summers off, if we’re being honest) But actually GETTING our students to be successful is certainly a challenge. Well, I’ve actually been doing a lot of research lately on the causes of student success and what actua...
Nov 01, 2021•22 min•Ep. 94
Students don't just need to grow academically. As teachers, we aim to teach the whole child, right? This of course includes helping our students learn to read and write and everything in between. But - we also want to help our students learn that they have control over their ability to learn . They can train their brains to push through when things get challenging. Students have the ability to see failures as learning opportunities , to see struggles and successes in the making. This is at the h...
Oct 25, 2021•26 min•Ep. 93
SO, YOU WANT TO TRY INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOKS, EH? Of course you do! They’re super cool and students love them. But, they aren’t just something you can start without putting a little thought into it. In fact, launching into using interactive notebooks with your students without thinking through the process from start to finish could leave you in puddles of glue and up to your elbows in paper scraps. And no one has time for that! So, come along with me in this episode. I’ll be sure to help set you up...
Oct 18, 2021•20 min•Ep. 92
ARE STUDENT LEARNING STYLES A MYTH? I remember very few things about what I learned in my college education classes. Most of what I learned about being a successful teacher I learned through my actual experiences in the classroom. But - there is one things I DO remember. Does multiple intelligences ring a bell, anyone? How about learning styles? In college you, too, likely learned all about the different ways your students interact with and process new information - we refer to these as learning...
Oct 11, 2021•9 min•Ep. 91
PODCASTS ARE THE *NEW* LISTENING CENTER… (& SO.MUCH.MORE) I can still remember. It was 2006 and it was my first year of teaching. One of my friend’s mom wanted to help out a first year teacher (me) by sponsoring my classroom. She asked what I needed and I told her that I desperately wanted a listening center for my classroom. Being the new teacher, I got last pick on supplies. All the good stuff was taken and the only thing that resembled a listening center was a super old tape player. Imagi...
Oct 04, 2021•14 min•Ep. 90
REFLECTION FUELS GROWTH. In September of 2011, I started a journey and had NO IDEA where that journey would bring me. Well, let me tell you, it been a journey. And I have learned so much about myself as an educator and as a person. I believe that we go further when we stop often to reflect upon where we’ve been. If we want our students to reflect on their progress and their journey, then we must also develop those same habits. In this episode, I’m sharing 10 of the most valuable lessons that I’v...
Sep 27, 2021•19 min•Ep. 89
GROWTH COMES FROM GOAL-SETTING. We can teach until we are blue in the face, but often, we take the one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to reading . We teach everyone the same skills and strategies…at the same time. But the problem is, students are often in different places when it comes to their most immediate need. And while it’s fine to teach a reading topic to the whole class, we must also make sure that we are giving equal instructional time and attention to the individual reading needs...
Sep 20, 2021•13 min•Ep. 88
