February 2023 – Bearded Tech-Ed Guy

SPS Digital Learning Hour featuring Victoria Ellis

February 16, 2023 Mike Thomas

In this podcast, Victoria Ellis shares her journey of 15 years in education, starting as a paraeducator. She is now working as a Middle School math teacher at the Springfield Virtual School for Springfield Public Schools. She talks about how she found her calling as a teacher and the challenges she has faced in her journey. Victoria emphasizes the importance of striking a balance between using physical and virtual tools to teach Middle School Math. She shares her experiences of…

Music in the Classroom

February 8, 2023 Mike Thomas

I wrote about this in 2019 but it’s as relevant as ever today. As the seasons change here in New England your favorite music in the classroom will be coming on. You know that song, “Putt, Putt, Putt, Clack, Clack Clack” created by the school heater. Once that song starts, you’ll get that warm burst of air in the classroom and if you were lucky, you would only hear that song once a day. In my case the song was…

Reading Progress

February 3, 2023 Mike Thomas

Last year I wrote about the greatest educational tool Microsoft has ever created; Reading Progress. The tool was in its early stages, and I approached it as an overview of the program. Today’s post is going to focus on how to use it in your classroom. For those of you who don’t want to go back and read my previous post on Reading Progress, here is a quick refresher Reading Progress is a free tool built into MS Teams and is…