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Mike’s Top 6 Microsoft Word Updates

Mike’s Top 6 Microsoft Word Updates

I love fall, while fall means summer is wrapping up (which I don’t love) it means that all our favorite systems get some fancy updates! This will kick off a whole series of posts about the main tools we use and the updates they get. The first one of those systems that we will explore is Microsoft Word. Word has come a long way from when I was using it in high school. Every year updates come to Word but, as a teacher, I think this is the best year yet. We are going to look at my Top 6 new…

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My, Oh My! Welcome to the New Year!

My, Oh My! Welcome to the New Year!

I know I ended last year with a quote from a Michelle Branch song, and it is only fitting that we start the year off with one too! This one happens to be from when she formed a band called “The Wreckers” with Jessica Harp. This band, for their time, was awesome and I still listen to the live album all the time.  My, Oh My Look How the Time Flied For many of you the summer was a welcomed reprieve from the hard school year. You took solace in knowing that we have made…

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Wrapping Up the 2020 – 2021 School Year

Wrapping Up the 2020 – 2021 School Year

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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How Templates Can Save You (Time)!

How Templates Can Save You (Time)!

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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Saying Goodbye to a Friend

Saying Goodbye to a Friend

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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Skype in the Classroom

Skype in the Classroom

​Have you ever thought “my students would love to talk to an author like Cressida Cowell, Jane Yolen, Jacqueline Woodson, Kathryn Erskine, D. J. MacHale, Richard Peck, or Jacqueline West?” They might also like to go the Redwood Forest, visit an animal rescue in the UK, talk to a sea turtle expert, visit the Coral Reefs, learn about the Geology of Yellowstone, hear from Dr. Jane Goodall, meet an expert from Australia in the Great Barrier Reef, visit Joshua Tree National Park, or meet a doctor from any…

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