#innercityschools – Page 6 – Bearded Tech-Ed Guy

SPS Digital Learning Hour featuring Erin Demarest

October 8, 2021 Mike Thomas

Welcome Back to the 2021-2022 School Year. To kick off this year’s podcast we meet with Erin Demarest from Milton Bradley Elementary School here in Springfield. During our conversation you can hear all about what it was like to teach 2nd grade and then how she made the move to Springfield’s new CS/TC teacher position. This position was created this school year to ensure that Computer Science is taught at all grade levels here in Springfield. As you listen to…

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Wrapping Up the 2020 – 2021 School Year

June 21, 2021 Mike Thomas

We made it! The end is near, and we can all take a collective sigh of relief that we have done the best we could. I am reminded of a song by Michelle Branch called “Breathe”. A couple of lines from the song really resonated with me over this past year and a half. While I know the song is not about being a schoolteacher (I’m pretty sure the song is about unrequited love although you might feel that way about your school year) heck the song is almost 20 years old, but the phrasing of these words resonated with me. For…

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SPS Digital Learning Hour featuring Kathryn Chace

June 10, 2021 Mike Thomas

In the penultimate episodes of the 2020-2021 for the SPS Digital Learning hour, I interviewed Kathryn Chace from Springfield Conservatory of the Arts Middle and High School. She is an Instructional Leader and an AP Statistics teacher. Throughout many of her years teaching Kathryn always seemed to be a step ahead with Technology, you might even say she was an EdTech DIYer (not sure if that’s a thing but it’s a great way to explain her mindset). Being a part…

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SPS Digital Learning Hour featuring Alex Freedman

May 27, 2021 Mike Thomas

In the latest episode of the SPS Digital Learning Hour I met with Alex Freedman from John J Duggan Academy. This award-winning teacher is doing exceptional work in his school. Pre-COVID-19 he was already preparing the teachers he works with for Digital Learning. Microsoft Teams was the tool of choice at his school. Come and learn all about everything he’s doing at his school, along with some awesome tech advances at his school. COVID-19 has been difficult for everyone but…

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How Templates Can Save You (Time)!

May 19, 2021 Mike Thomas

Have you used templates before? Templates create layouts for documents for you to use with your students which can enrich the activities you are doing in the classroom. Using templates can save you loads of time. Templates can also be thought of like graphic organizers, many of them are designed for assignments and help deepen understanding of topics and units. You might be saying wait a second, “I thought graphic organizers are only for organizing a student’s thoughts”, and you’re right. The basic definition of templates means that they are reusable files…

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SPS Digital Learning Hour featuring Alyson Santerre

May 14, 2021 Mike Thomas

We’re back! In the latest episode of the SPS Digital Learning Hour I met with Alyson Santerre from Milton Bradley Elementary School. Come and learn all about her journey with technology in the classroom and her growth as a classroom teacher to be a leader in her building with the use of technology. Hear some great ideas for teaching reading remotely and ways that you can continue to use best practices developed through COVID that you can use even when…

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Episode 105: Digital Learning Playbook Module 3

April 28, 2021 Mike Thomas

With this week’s episode we jump into module three of the very popular book, The Distance Learning Playbook, Grades K-12: Teaching for Engagement and Impact in Any Setting by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, John Hattie. With the SPS Digital Learning Hour podcast, we are talking our learning out loud. If you do not own this book, get it now and join us on the journey of discovery. You will also hear my thoughts and takeaways from each module. This week’s…

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Saying Goodbye to a Friend

April 27, 2021 Mike Thomas

Back in January of 2020 I wrote about this exceptional tool, Skype in the Classroom. Just a quick recap of that article:  Skype in the Classroom is awesome!  Skype boasts six ways that you can connect to the world:   Virtual Field Trip   Skype Collaborations   Mystery Skype   Guest Speakers   Theme Collections/Lesson Plans  Special Events  Fast forward to December 2020 and this tool is changing. As Microsoft has continued to invest in Microsoft Teams and Flipgrid, they are discontinuing Skype in the Classroom during the summer of 2021. You might remember…

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Creating Balance

April 20, 2021 Mike Thomas

It’s Sunday Night. A year ago, you would have been finalizing your plans for the next week and finishing up your grading so you can give work back on time. For most of us, we would have had some time for ourselves to read or watch a show, maybe we would have gone for a hike, or had a nice dinner with family and friends. That would have been 12 months ago before we entered this uncertain time. In today’s world of teaching, we are isolated at our homes…

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Episode 104: Minecraft Full Teacher Interviews

April 14, 2021 Mike Thomas

If you missed it, in Episode 103 we meet with various teachers, students and parents from Liberty Elementary School in Springfield to discuss Minecraft in the classroom. When I was talking with everyone, I quickly realized that I needed to share the whole interview with the teachers, as they gave me so much good stuff, but I did not want to make a 2-hour episode, I’m not Joe Rogan. So, I am producing two separate podcasts with the full interviews…

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