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I have shared in the past how BrainPOP is much more than a movie site and is great for providing a broad range of learning opportunities. I want to focus on the way it allows teachers to differentiate learning opportunities for students. My background in New York City’s District 75, citywide special education, makes personalizing … Continue reading Differentiation With BrainPOP
Challenges The past year has been filled with so many challenges. We lost many friends and colleagues in NYC and there were challenges with inequitable and meaningful learning, especially for our students with disabilities. But I had the idea of creating a challenge that was fun. Out of that came my idea for Reimagine your … Continue reading Differentiated STEM Challenges: Remote Learning Style
This post provides an overview of the differentiated instruction (DI) model. For more insight on DI, see my posts Is Differentiation a Dirty Word? or The 4 Ways to Differentiate Instruction. An Overview There seems to be a lot of confusion about what differentiation actually entails. There are problems with conflicting definitions. In one sense … Continue reading What Is Differentiation Really?
This post addresses many of the challenges presented by those who oppose the differentiated instruction model. For an overview of differentiated instruction, see my post on What Is Differentiation Really? and The 4 Ways to Differentiate Instruction. Having worked with some of the most severely challenged students for the vast majority of my teaching career I have found … Continue reading Is Differentiation a Dirty Word?
This past year has been both eye-opening and made want to close my eyes and hibernate until all the tragedy subsides (P.S. that will never entirely happen). It’s been hard. In different moments I have been leading tens of thousands of teachers forward through training and advocacy and in other moments I’ve been trying to … Continue reading Events At the End of the World: Making Meaning In a Pandemic
Equity Having met educators from around the world, I’ve found that creating equity of access has been one of the key issues facing both large and small school districts. I have spoken in the past of the particular challenges and efforts for creating equity in New York City, a city that was literally designed with … Continue reading Remote Learning in Special Education
So on the evening of the 31st, I presented on 21st-Century Learning at the 2019 New Visions Innovation Throwdown along with other educators. I will attempt to link the actual recording if that’s possible, but here is what I covered. Below is additional information on related topics 21st-Century Learning: The 7 Cs, 3 Rs, and … Continue reading Sailing the 7 Cs of 21st -Century Learning: A New Visions Innovation Throwdown
Related: Check out the post on Accessible Add-Ons & Extensions. You can also learn more about Apple Accessibility, Microsoft Accessibility, and An Overview of Differentiation. I’m glad to see how much effort Google has put recently into making accessibility a key part of its mission when developing its products. They have a whole series of … Continue reading Google Accessibility: All That’s New & All That Needs Work
There are so many things outside of our control as a teacher. We can’t control the poverty level of our students, or the education level of their parent, or whether that parent is too busy working to feed their kids to meet with us. We can’t change any of the tragedies that may have happened … Continue reading 12 Ways To Create A Safe and Effective Space For Student Learning
Multimodal Learning Lectures may work for some students on some topics, but many others need to connect to content differently for it to be meaningful. That might mean using accessibility tools to help struggling learners, engaging reluctant students through game-based learning, or challenging students to think critically through project-based learning. You don’t have to completely … Continue reading 8 Tools For Visual Learners (and Others Too)