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Showing posts from June, 2019

101. The Transformative Power of AI

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Folks, let’s face it. Our classrooms are going to look a little different this year. AI, specifically ChatGPT, is going to change the way we design learning experiences and assess student mastery. I’ll be honest, when I first explored the ChatGPT platform I was terrified. As I have dug deeper into the technology and its capabilities, I realized that while it does pose significant challenges — it also presents us with some pretty amazing opportunities. In this series, we will explore what AI is capable of, its implications in the classroom, and how it can benefit both teachers and students. Let’s start by examining where we have been, where we are currently, and looking forward to where we are going. Whether this is a trip you wanted to go on or not, the AI train has left the station and it is time for all of us to jump on board. From Card Catalogs to Artificial Intelligence I belong to the micro-generation called Xennial. Xennials are considered to be a “bridge” between Generation X a

#19. Harnessing the Power of Retrieval: Purposeful & Effective Reading Notes

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Summer is a time for family, reflection, and ... professional development. This week, I had the opportunity to meet with the other AP Psychology teacher at my school, Mindy Garis.  During our discussion, we identified potential areas of improvement in our classes.  One aspect that we kept circling back to was our weekly reading assignments. My  students have become more and more resistant to completing the assignments and I have not seen any data that suggesting that they are having a long-term, positive impact on my students' learning.  This is a problem.   My Current Practice (aka Reading Notes are the Bane of My Existence) I'll be honest, I am a HUGE fan of Cornell notes.  I was introduced to them at an AVID conference years ago and I was all in (or " pig in " for you "Grey's Anatomy" fans or District 155 folks).  I love that they provide opportunities for spacing, dual coding and summarizing.  The students have to do something with the notes!  

#18 Using EdPuzzle in a Blended Classroom

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Using EdPuzzle in a Blended Classroom Using Ed Puzzle to "Flip" a Class EdPuzzle is one of my favorite blended learning tools. I have been using it to disseminate videos to my classes for the past four years.  I love it because it allows me to embed different types of questions within each video and I can easily track each student's progress.   Plus, I can stop the students from fast-forwarding the video and it prevents them from opening another tab while the video is playing.  How awesome is that?! When I flip lessons for AP Psychology, I tend to use the Crash Course Psychology videos (I love Hank Green!), Khan Academy videos (there are a lot more now that the MCAT is assessing "psychological, social, and biological foundations of behavior") and TED/TED-ED talks.  I like to keep the videos short and sweet.  I'd recommend keeping the videos under 20 minutes. It Just Got Even Better! EdPuzzle is now fully integrated with Canvas. Why is this a big d