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August 15, 2024
It's back-to-school time! From AI tips and tricks to building classroom community, learn about free lesson plans, professional development and self-care to support you and your students this school year.
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It’s back-to-school season, and we’re all getting a bit giddy—and also maybe a bit overwhelmed—with the promise and potential the year ahead can bring.
At Share My Lesson, our educational partners, staff and educator bloggers are busy creating content and curated collections to help teachers, paraprofessionals, school staff, parents and caregivers start the 2024-25 school year off strong. Here are essential resources that are available right now to help with lesson-plan prep, building a sense of community, and supporting your own mental well-being.
First and foremost, it’s worth emphasizing: Please take care of yourself! It’s going to be a wild ride this fall. We’re already thinking about how we can fortify against absenteeism, incorporate new artificial-intelligence tech tools to save time, weave in teachable moments from a grinding breaking-news cycle, and safeguard our own and our students’ mental health amid the slippery slope of social media and mis- and disinformation.
Share My Lesson is ready to support you on all of the above and so much more. Not sure where to start? Here are my top new resources for Back-to-School 2024:
Finding joy may not be at the top of all lists, but it’s definitely at the top of mine. Be sure to read Amber Chandler’s new blog post, “Is Joy the Hero We’ve Been Looking For?” And, if you’re ready to “fill your cup” even more, watch Nicholas Ferroni’s summer webinar, YOU Are an Amazing Educator. If you want to learn new ways for colleagues to support one another, be sure to see the latest from All It Takes, too.
Our curated collection, First Day of School and Beyond, is your gateway to HUNDREDS of resources to support setting up functional learning spaces, building community among students, and engaging families. Plus you’ll find ideas for managing student groups, including this new blog post from Barbara Blackburn, “4 Tips for Managing Your Classroom.”
Fostering a welcoming environment is another hot topic we’re hearing a lot about. Learn about “The 3 C’s of Inclusive Education” from Amber Chandler for teaching teams and students alike. And read this important call for supporting special educators’ dedication in this recent blog post from Heidi Goger. You should also check out ideas for centering disabilities in the K-8 classroom in this summer webinar from Lee & Low Books, and take a look at this new back-to-school reading list from Andy Kratochvil to foster inclusivity for the upper grades.
Bolster social-emotional learning by helping students make connections with one another. We have some super-fun bingo cards as elementary icebreakers from Megan Ortmeyer and well-being bingo for older students. And students will get a boost of self-confidence with these character strengths cards from Proof Positive: Autism Wellbeing Alliance. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t share one of our top summer webinars, Disrupting the Cellphone Situation, for invaluable strategies; be sure to thank Amber Chandler later.
July 24, 2024 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM EDT
Artificial intelligence in education has no doubt tracked you down—unless you’re an early adopter who sought it out this past spring. The AI Educator Brain team of Kelly Booz, Sari Beth Rosenberg and EdBrAIn have been BUSY creating easy ways for you to dip your toe into (or dive into the deep end of) using AI tech to save you time and engage students in learning. If you haven’t seen them yet, watch these quick how-to’s for creating a chatbot teaching assistant with ChatGPT, creating lessons from educational YouTube videos via Gemini, and trying three cool new AI tools. If you’re still wanting to push the brakes on AI until you know more, be sure to read this blog post from Ami Turner DelAguila, “6 Strategies for Teaching Digital Citizenship and Balance in the Era of AI.”
Just-in-time professional development may be just what you need at this time of year. We often hear that mandated professional development doesn’t give teachers and school staff a choice of topics; what would YOU like to learn about? Share My Lesson has added more than 50 new webinars to our free, for-credit, on-demand library so far this year. Check out this curated collection for back-to-school topics that matter most.
A treat: If you’re looking for something surprising, definitely check out a new video lesson series we kicked off this year with history teacher Sari Beth Rosenberg. You and your students will delight in learning the histories and legacies of people like March Fong Eu, Judith Heumann, Billie Jean King, Grace Murray Hopper and Florence “Flo-Jo” Griffith Joyner.
And, as you probably know, we love to host sweepstakes! So be sure to enter the Realize the Dream Sweepstakes for a chance to win a school grant fueling a service campaign in your classroom, school or community! Companion resources are available from Education+. Enter soon and collect your bonus points because this sweepstakes closes Sept. 3.
Here’s to a healthy, happy new school year. If you have feedback on how we can support you in the year ahead, please let us know. Thank you for all you do. YOU all are amazing!
Join the team from the AI Educator Brain, which includes AFT’s Share My Lesson director Kelly Booz; New York City Public Schools teacher Sari Beth Rosenberg and EdBrAIn, our AI teammate (yes, it named and designed itself!). In this community, we will dissect the pros and cons of AI tools in education. Our mission: to determine how AI can support teaching and learning, and when it might be best to stick with tried-and-true methods.
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