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Showing posts from November, 2022

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...

#86: Building Tenacity: It's All About the Goals

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This is Part 2 in a series about building academic tenacity in our students. Throughout this series, I will explore empirically-validated interventions shown to promote long-term learning and achievement. This post will focus on the purposeful use of goal-formation.  Academic tenacity consists of the mindset and skills that allow students to focus on long-term or higher order goals and withstand challenges in pursuit of these goals. It's about working hard, working smart, and working for a long time. It allows students to look past their immediate wants and needs and focus on long-term goals. It gives them the will to withstand challenges and persevere in pursuit of their goals. In this post, we will dive into how setting goals can affect a student's academic tenacity and overall well-being. The Importance of Goal-Setting At their most basic level, goals encompass our hopes for our future. They direct us to where we want to be. The types of goals we construct impact our tenaci...

#85: Building Tenacity: It's All About the Mindset

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This is Part 1 in a series about building tenacity in our students. Throughout this series, I will explore empirically-validated interventions shown to promote long-term learning and achievement. The COVID pandemic radically changed the landscape of education. I think many educators expected things to go back to "normal" as soon as the students were back in the classroom. We were, in many ways, unprepared for many of the challenges facing our students as the result of having their education disrupted for 2+ years. A common refrain that I have heard is that many students no longer know how to "be a student." Test scores are down, absenteeism is up. Student sense of belongingness is down, mental health concerns are on the rise. Many students seem to be lacking the skill-set necessary to be successful. In the past, educational research focused on the influence of cognitive factors on student achievement. However, we are now seeing that these interventions alone are...