August 5, 2022 9:30 am

Your Roadmap to Student Engagement

TEDx speaker and author Weston Kieschnick discusses his new book, The Educator’s ATLAS — a simple, five-point roadmap for capturing student engagement.

The art of student engagement can feel elusive, undefinable. Some teachers seem to have “it” — students with rapt attention, hanging on their every word. Others struggle to capture and maintain student attention throughout a typical seven-step lesson plan. I definitely struggled as a first-year teacher. Researchers (and my administrators!) often told me just how important engagement is to academic achievement. But how do we get it?

Weston Kieschinck’s new book, The Educator’s Atlas: Your Roadmap to Engagement, takes the typical lesson plan and reimagines it — focusing on how students are feeling and giving it a true arc, similar to that of a good story. With five easy steps, he creates a roadmap for teachers to spark engagement and carry it throughout the lesson, making learning not only possible but memorable, too.

In your book, ATLAS, you write, “It’s time to put student engagement first and hold it as our most important objective.” Why student engagement at this moment?

I think kids are more disengaged from school than they ever have been in the history of the modern schoolhouse. There are a couple of reasons for that.

One, during COVID, a lot of kids got to experience what school felt like from home. They liked things like voice and choice and self-pacing. I don’t think they liked the notion of, ‘Hey, all my instruction is the teacher in front of slides talking.’ Then, we brought all of our kids back to school, and they lost the things that they liked. They lost voice and choice, pace and place, but they still retained the thing that they disliked, which was: teacher in front of slides talking. They’re like, ‘Wait, wait, wait. I can do this from home in my pajamas.’

Two, a lot of us viewed school as a vehicle for upward mobility. We bought into the notion that you go to school, work hard, go to college… get a good job, and you get to live a good life. I think a lot of the kids who are currently in school watched the generation before them do exactly that, except they came out with massive student loan debt. Many of them aren’t able to buy houses, and we’re kidding ourselves if we don’t think kids are paying attention to that.

You also point out that “student engagement” is a widely used term but lacks an agreed-upon definition. What is student engagement?

So many people use the word engagement as a synonym for fun. I have no interest whatsoever in helping people become the ‘fun’ teacher. We’re not in the business of entertainment. That’s not our work. Now, do I think learning should be really joyful? Do I think there can be certain elements of teaching and learning that are really fun? Of course, I do, but that’s not the main event. The main event is engagement, and we can’t keep using engagement and fun as though they are synonyms.

Here’s how I define engagement. We know kids are engaged if they are curious, if they are participating, and if they have a desire to persevere, regardless of the level of rigor associated with the task. Those three things have to happen for kids to be engaged.

Tell us the story behind ATLAS.

It was 15 years in the making. In my time as a classroom teacher, people said all the time, “Hey, be more engaging.” I couldn’t help but think, what the hell does that mean?

We know engagement when we see it. It’s very recognizable — like, wow, these kids are wildly engaged. But my question was, how do we understand what makes engagement happen? So, I’ve been doing thousands of observations, just trying to figure out: what do engaging teachers do differently? And I noticed that they do very similar things.

Then, I started looking at other places we seek engagement: in the books that we read, the movies that we watch, the music that we listen to… I noticed that… all of these things follow specific formulas for engagement. Whether it’s joke structure, whether it’s like a Disney movie, whether it’s a really great song… so, why do we not have a formula for engagement?

When we ask a teacher to sit down and design an engaging experience, we’re asking them to do that blank slate every time. That’s not how a person writes a song. It’s not how a person crafts a joke. It’s not how a person tells a great story. It’s not how a person does a screenplay.

So, I started to piece together what engaging teachers were doing differently, and it led me right to the ATLAS model.

“We know kids are engaged if they are curious, if they are participating, and if they have a desire to persevere, regardless of the level of rigor associated with the task.”

Really great teachers start by capturing and holding students’ attention. They’re masters of the transitional phrase. They know how to teach a very clear and very concise lesson. Then, they always follow that lesson with some sort of activity. They understand that it’s not enough just to lay information at children’s feet. Then, there’s a summation. What does that mean? They understand that learning is sticky when it’s tied to emotion, and they are really, really cognizant of how kids feel on the front end and the back end of their lesson.

They understand that the feeling kids feel when they walk into the classroom cannot be boredom, and the feeling they feel when they walk out cannot be failure. Because if those are the two prevailing emotions, they’ll forget everything that happened. The brain will self-select it out. It doesn’t want to remember times when we felt bored and like a failure.

The layering of emotion with the arc of a lesson was the most surprising thing about the book. You’re not just talking about what’s happening cognitively for kids. You’re talking about how they feel throughout the lesson and how that impacts their learning.

It’s profoundly impactful. Learning is sticky when it’s tied to emotion. If you just try to recall your profoundly memorable experiences, they’re all tied to intense emotions — when we felt joyful, when we felt sad, when we felt grief, when we felt surprised, like those things are memorable. Let’s capitalize on that… not ignore it.

You write that the ATLAS method, “Puts teachers in the driver’s seat.” Tell us what that means.

I have always been and will always be a firm believer that the single greatest thing that we can give children is a relationship with a highly qualified teacher who believes with relentless tenacity in their ability to succeed. I think one of the things that we need to do as a collective, both inside and outside education, is seek out ways to empower our teachers.

The ATLAS model puts them first because it recognizes that you can’t outsource engagement to a thing. No matter what it is, no matter what the technology tool, no matter what the product, it will never be as valuable at engaging kids as a really great teacher.

If an engaging teacher is the answer, if it’s the antidote to the problem of disengagement… then we have to help our teachers understand how to be more engaging. ATLAS is a support for the problem of engagement.

One of the more provocative things you write in ATLAS is, “Long live the lecture.” I thought we were supposed to be done with the whole “sage on the stage” thing.

Hell yeah! Long live the lecture. I stand by that statement.

Here’s the thing. Anyone who’s seen a really great TED talk, anyone who’s a church-going person and sees a really great sermon… there’s something profoundly moving about that experience. We like it. We like it when it’s done well and when it is a part of a larger catalog of experiences.

I am pro blended learning. I am pro collaborative learning. And at the same time, that doesn’t mean that the pendulum needs to swing so far that we leave lecture behind completely. Every single one of these things has a place. A person who can give a really great lecture or a really great speech—that person is excruciatingly valuable. We’ve all seen them when they’re garbage, and we’ve all seen ’em when they’re really good. And when they’re really good, there’s profound resonance in that. There’s something about it that rings the tuning fork deep down inside of us.

But a lot of educators will tell you they’re good at lectures, and guess how many for whom that’s actually true? A very, very small percentage. We have to take an honest look and ask ourselves, is this a thing I’m actually good at?

In your earlier book, Bold School, you talk about technology in education. Where do you think the future of edtech is headed now that we’re back in the classroom with all those devices from the pandemic?

When you’re looking at technology and whether it has value in the classroom, it has to do two things. It has to first improve efficacy—improve the quality of what’s happening in your classroom.

Second, it has to improve efficiency. This is the one that gets ignored. We often say, ‘We need to use this tool because this will make us better.’ Well, is this going to add hours upon hours of planning time to an already packed schedule? Because if that’s the case, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell I’m using any of this technology. It’s why so many teachers have resisted and continue to resist.

What about blended learning? Where is that trend headed?

Honestly, I think I’m done saying “blended learning.”

I remember when Jurassic Park came out, it was a profound experience because they were using CGI in a way that had never been done before. Other movies started to use CGI in that way, but nobody distinguished the difference between a CGI movie and one that is not. You know what they all were? Just movies. It’s this weird thing that we’ve done in education where we’re just like, oh, if there’s technology involved, this is blended learning. But if there’s no technology involved, this is just regular teaching and learning.

I think any good teaching and learning that happens from this moment forward is going to include elements of technology.

I cannot tell you the number of ‘Tech Tuesdays’ I’ve seen in schools around the country because teachers have been encouraged to use technology. You can trace that back to how we talk about blended learning as though it’s a separate thing, and it’s just not. It’s just great teaching.

About the Author – Weston Kieschnick

Weston Kieschnick is considered one of the world’s most recognizable and sought-after speakers and educational leaders. He is an award-winning teacher, best-selling author, TEDx speaker, coach, husband, and father. He is the author of, Bold School, Breaking Bold, co-author of The Learning Transformation: A Guide to Blended Learning for Administrators and the creator and host of Teaching Keating; one of the most downloaded podcasts in the United States for educators and parents. Weston has worked in collaboration with innovative tech and publishing companies (Google, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Apple) to redefine teaching and learning in schools. As such, he’s advised educators from every state in the US and more than 30 countries around the world. Districts where Mr. Kieschnick has designed content, implemented initiatives, and trained educational leaders have been recognized by the Learning Counsel as being among the top ten in the nation for their work in blended learning. You can find Weston’s work published in EdWeek, EdTech Magazine, The Spark, and featured on TED, the 10-Minute Teacher, Teaching Tales, Kids Deserve It, and LeadUp Teach. Connect with Weston on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or at WestonKieschnick.com.

About the Interviewer & Author – Carolyn Snell

Carolyn Snell started her career in education teaching first grade in San Bernardino, California. A passion for the way technology and stellar curricula can transform classrooms led her to various jobs in edtech, including at the Orange County Department of Education. Her knack for quippy copy landed her a dream job marketing StudySync—an industry leading ELA digital curriculum. Now, as the Senior Content Marketing Manager for Imagine Learning, Carolyn revels in the opportunity to promote innovative products and ideas that are transforming the educational space for teachers and students.

August 5, 2022 8:00 am

How Admins Can Care for Teachers

Teachers face heavier workloads and low morale due to shortages and peers leaving, so we’ve compiled strategies for administrators challenged with caring for staff who have remained in the classroom.

We’ve all had that coworker who makes a tough job easier — a ‘foxhole buddy,’ if you will. You know that no matter what the day throws at you, at least they’ll understand. When they move on to other opportunities, you’re often left feeling abandoned and searching for new methods for getting through hard days.

With so many educators opting out these days, the remaining teachers face that awful ‘left behind’ feeling. Peer relationships are a big part of the educator experience, and when that social fabric is torn, individual and community morale takes a big hit. Leigh McLean, an assistant research professor at the Center for Research in Education & Social Policy at the University of Delaware, has found that having colleagues whom teachers can turn to for help boosts mental health, so it follows that when teammates depart (especially when due to burnout), it can weaken the wellness of those who are left.

Administrators are already tasked with filling vacancies and addressing staff-to-student ratios. While that’s essential to serving students, caring for their teachers’ frames of mind is also at the top of the ‘must’ list. So, what are some strategies for meeting this challenge?

Time Well Spent

I asked a retired principal who also taught for many years what she thought administrators could do to support the teachers who have stayed on the job. She considered for a moment, then said, “They should spend time with them, one-on-one if possible or in small groups by grade.”

While it may sound overly simple, she stressed that with administrators being pulled in so many directions, giving someone your time is a significant indicator of their value to you. Further, by spending time with individuals or small groups of teachers, administrators will gain better insight into their mindsets and struggles than they would in an all-staff meeting environment. “They’ll open up more,” she said, “it’s easier to be honest when you know someone is focused on you.”

One assistant principal explained that their success with supporting teachers came “not because we imposed what we imagined would serve them, but because we listened when they told us what they needed.” A healthy rapport and more clarity about teachers’ challenges will better position administrators to offer the necessary support.

“If teachers and students have access to counseling and other mental health support, that’s a heavy burden taken off their principals’ backs.”

Madeline Will and Denisa R. Superville

Time Well Spent

In an EdWeek special report, researchers found that despite stress being a major cause of educator exodus, “only a third of district and school leaders said they have made counselors or mental health services available to staff since the start of the pandemic or added to the mental health services already offered.”

That those services prevent burnout is reason enough to include them in a school community’s system, but the benefits extend beyond teachers: “Having structural supports for teacher mental health will ultimately benefit everyone in the school building, including school leaders. If teachers and students have access to counseling and other mental health support, that’s a heavy burden taken off their principals’ backs,” writes EdWeek’s Madeline Will and Denisa R. Superville

One tactic to implement such services is to use some of the school or district’s federal COVID-19 relief funds to establish programs for educators’ mental health. If professional counselors are hard to come by, administrators can take stock of the resources they have, improve systems to make employees aware of them, and ensure they’re available.

Peer-support programs can also help when professional counseling isn’t available. David Shapiro, the program manager for Health Links at CHWE, says educators can learn “how to be an ally or ‘askable’ adult for their colleague to get the support they need.” Turning to peer support when the problem is an exodus of peers may seem uncreative, but it can be a powerful response to peoples’ instinct to withdraw in times of stress.

A Little Flexibility Goes a Long Way

Here are a few more tactics for demonstrating support for teachers:

Look closely at traditional seasonal events and limit the obligation of the teachers — be prepared to get creative or to cut what isn’t contributing to the school community’s well-being. Just because something is a tradition doesn’t mean it’s effective.
Reallocate support staff to data collection tasks to better free up teachers for the more enjoyable aspects of teaching
Beware the temptation to overtry — don’t keep throwing new practices and theories at already stretched-thin teachers

No matter what, be patient with yourself and your colleagues. Everyone is adjusting to changes and challenges, and no single solution will be a cure-all. With time and intentional relationship-building, you can develop a system that inspires a sustainable love of learning for students and educators alike.

About the Author — Kallie Markle

Kallie Markle lives in Northern California with her family of humans, house plants, and dogs. The humans take up the least amount of space. Before joining the education world, she wrote her way through national parks, concerts, tourism, and brewing.

July 12, 2022 8:00 am

Two New Studies Reveal Significant Gains in Student Performance with Imagine Math

Students Using Imagine Math Show Higher Scores and Proficiency Levels

Scottsdale, Ariz., JULY 12, 2022 – Imagine Learning, the largest provider of digital curriculum solutions in the U.S., serving 15 million students in more than half the school districts nationwide, today announced the results of two new studies revealing that elementary and middle school students who used Imagine Math demonstrated significant academic gains on standardized assessments. The studies took place in schools across Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina during the 2020-21 school year.

“As we continue to collaborate with districts, the results of these studies reveal what the future of learning can look like when the power of digital learning is harnessed to support educators,” said Jeff Pendleton, SVP and General Manager of Supplemental and Intervention for Imagine Learning. “Students are making great strides through the use of our adaptive, personalized learning solutions and we’re delighted to see Imagine Math accelerating learning and igniting breakthroughs.”

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE STUDIES:

During the 2020-21 academic year, a public school district in Texas implemented Imagine Math with students in Grades 1-9. Imagine Learning obtained and analyzed Renaissance Star Math® test scores from more than 16,000 Imagine Math students and from a comparison group of students who were matched on their Fall 2020 Renaissance Star Math scaled score, race/ethnicity, and gender. Findings from the study show that after one year using Imagine Math, students demonstrated significantly greater gains on the Renaissance Star Math assessment than their nonparticipating peers. Additionally, the percentage of Imagine Math students reaching Proficient on the Renaissance Star Math assessment was greater than that of the matched non-user group.

During the 2020-21 academic year, a national network of charter schools implemented Imagine Math with 3,048 students in Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Imagine Learning analyzed Fall 2020 to Spring 2021 NWEA MAP Growth Math data among those Imagine Math students compared to a statistically matched group of 3,068 program non-users who were demographically and academically similar. Overall, findings from the study showed that the students who used Imagine Math demonstrated a significantly greater growth rate from Fall 2020 to Spring 2021 than non-users.

Imagine Math combines a rich curriculum with fun, adaptive digital experiences to help students become confident math learners. Ideal as a supplement to standards-based PreK—Geometry core instruction, its two age-appropriate learning environments are designed for student engagement. In grades PreK-2, Imagine Math is designed to inspire a lifelong love of mathematics and is fully available in both English and Spanish. The program immerses early learners in an engaging storybook context that seamlessly teaches young students to see mathematics in their everyday world. In Grades 3 and above, students are invited to a meaningful exploration of mathematical understanding. Rigorous, standards-rich content adapts to the unique needs of each learner to develop essential foundations and conceptual understanding they need to achieve grade-level mastery. Unique to Imagine Math, point-of-need access to live instruction by certified, bilingual math educators is available to make deep learning beyond the bell a reality. More information is available at imaginelearning.com/imagine-math.

About Imagine Learning

Imagine Learning is a PreK–12 digital learning solutions company that ignites learning breakthroughs by designing forward-thinking solutions at the intersection of people, curricula, and technology to drive student growth. Imagine Learning serves more than 15 million students and partners with more than half the school districts nationwide. Imagine Learning’s flagship products include Imagine Edgenuity^®, online courseware and virtual school services solutions; supplemental and intervention solutions for literacy, language, mathematics, robotics, and coding; and high-quality, digital-first core curriculum, including Illustrative Mathematics^®, EL Education^®, and Odell Education^®—all on the Imagine Learning Classroom—and Twig Science®. Read more about Imagine Learning’s digital solutions at imaginelearning.com.

June 21, 2022 8:00 am

New Studies Reveal Significant Increases in Student Performance with Imagine Español

PreK-2 Students Using Imagine Español Show Higher Scores and Growth According to Two New Studies

Scottsdale, Ariz., JUNE 21, 2022 – Imagine Learning, the largest provider of digital curriculum solutions in the U.S., serving 15 million students in more than half the school districts nationwide, today announced the results of two new studies revealing that students who used Imagine Español demonstrated significant academic gains on standardized assessments. The studies took place in two separate public school districts in Texas during the 2020-2021 school year.

“Students are thriving through the use of adaptive, personalized learning solutions and we’re delighted to see Imagine Español helping to accelerate learning while developing the foundational skills essential to bilingualism, biliteracy, and cultural competency,” said Jeff Pendleton, SVP and General Manager of Supplemental and Intervention for Imagine Learning. “As we continue to collaborate with districts, the results of these studies show what the future of learning can look like when the power of technology is harnessed to support educators.”

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE STUDIES

Imagine Español was implemented with Prekindergarten students in a public school district in Texas. To measure changes in Spanish literacy skills, Imagine Learning obtained and analyzed Spanish CIRCLE Progress Monitoring System (CIRCLE) scores of 1,495 Imagine Español students and a comparison group of 1,495 students. Findings from the study show that after one year of using Imagine Español, students’ performance on the Spanish CIRCLE assessment grew 12 percent more than students who did not use the program. Imagine Español students demonstrated greater growth on CIRCLE in Spanish Overall, Rapid Letter Naming, Rapid Vocabulary, and Letter-Sound Correspondence scores.
Imagine Español was implemented with students in Grades K-2 in YES Prep Public Schools in Texas. To measure the impact of Imagine Español on Spanish reading skills, Imagine Learning analyzed Spanish NWEA MAP Growth Reading data from 44 Imagine Español students and 44 nonparticipating peers. From Winter 2020 to Spring 2021, findings from the study show that Imagine Español students demonstrated significantly greater gains on the Spanish MAP Growth Reading test than their nonparticipating peers. Second-grade students who used Imagine Español significantly outperformed their nonparticipating peers, improving by six Rasch Unit (RIT) score points while their peers showed no growth.

Imagine Español is a personalized learning solution that maximizes Spanish language and literacy development for emerging bilingual learners in Grades K-5 (3-5 coming in 2023). Whether used as a dual-language, transitional bilingual, or world languages program, Imagine Español inspires breakthroughs for early readers and language learners while delivering the Spanish language and literacy foundation they need to succeed in school and beyond. Backed by decades of research on the best pedagogical practices for developing Spanish language and literacy, Imagine Español features highly engaging developmentally appropriate game-like activities while providing the foundations for biliteracy through rigorous, standards-aligned activities that promote academic achievement and cultural awareness. More information is available at imaginelearning.com/espanol.

About Imagine Learning

Imagine Learning is a PreK–12 digital learning solutions company that ignites learning breakthroughs by designing forward-thinking solutions at the intersection of people, curricula, and technology to drive student growth. Imagine Learning serves more than 15 million students and partners with more than half the school districts nationwide. Imagine Learning’s flagship products include Imagine Edgenuity^®, online courseware and virtual school services solutions; supplemental and intervention solutions for literacy, language, mathematics, robotics, and coding; and high-quality, digital-first core curriculum, including Illustrative Mathematics^®, EL Education^®, and Odell Education^®—all on the Imagine Learning Classroom—and Twig Science^®. Read more about Imagine Learning’s digital solutions at imaginelearning.com.

June 17, 2022 12:00 am

Find Your Summer Happy

Feeling “the blahs” after a long, exhausting school year? Chase them away with 21 simple ways to feel happier this summer.

How often have you seen something posted on social media that just hit your funny bone and turned your spirits upside down? Laughter, smiles, watching or participating in happy moments have the capability to lift your spirits and “chase the blues away.” For me, I can crank up my old high school or college tunes, start dancing, and the bubble of “the blahs” pops.

“The blahs” may not be a technical term, but it certainly is a reality — especially after a long, trying school year. It can affect your work and your ability to feel joy. It can cause:

Disconnect with your coworkers
Irritability, confusion, or sadness
Inability to get excited about upcoming projects
Difficulty focusing or remembering
Procrastination or lack of motivation
Related feelings in your personal life

You may have heard of the term languishing. It fits right into what we are talking about. The American Psychological Association describes languishing as the condition of absence of mental health, characterized by apathy, listlessness, and loss of interest in life. Languishing is not to be confused with depression and burnout. They differ in cause and severity. On the other end of the spectrum is flourishing and experiencing engagement and joy in your life. Dr. Lynn Soots, a psychologist whose research focuses on a positive learning environment, emphasizes that flourishing isn’t a static trait or something that “you either have or you don’t.” It can be learned — or even better, practiced. The more effort you put into it, the more you’ll flourish. (Are you languishing? Here’s how to regain your sense of purpose.)

If you are experiencing “the blahs” or feeling drained at this moment, you may feel like this is an unbeatable wellbeing challenge but read on. I have done some research, and will highlight ideas and studies that I hope can make today what it can be.

Woman in workout clothes during her workout

Insert happy: increase your positive emotions.

Be around someone with a quick mind and great humor. There are a few people at work that, if I engage with them long enough, I will be enjoying a big belly laugh. I can even cackle on occasion.
Sing a song. Music therapists report that singing boosts your mood, and studies have shown singing also enhances immunity by increasing antibodies that fight sickness. For those of us that are vocally challenged, shut the door, play your favorite happy song, and sing along. Remember there is always singing in the shower to start your day.
Watch a funny video on YouTube, comedy movies, or take a short browse through a hilarious website. Smile, even if it is just to yourself.
Hugs are known to release endorphins, a chemical that helps you feel excitement or satisfaction. A big warm hug from a friend, loved one, or even your pet is one of the best ways to lift your mood.
Change your background on your monitor. So many choices!
Take a break and play with your dog or cat. Or look at pictures or videos of baby animals. If you are an animal lover, it will work for you.
Color around you can make a difference. Go to your closet and find something that says happy to you and put it on.
Follow David Allen’s Two-Minute Rule. Check your to-do list and find something that you can complete in around 2 minutes. Once done, your sense of accomplishment will help dissolve that mind roadblock and get you going.
Get up and move. Here is where I will give a plug for dancing to music that makes you happy. I hope you are not still sitting while you watch this video!
Take a walk outside. Get some natural vitamin D.
Find a swing and get some lift! I am a great proponent of this one. I also love take-off on jets and roller coaster rides, but this one is more accessible. This childhood fun is not only exhilarating, but it can also boost your mood as you enjoy the outdoors.

You are of value.

Practice self-compassion or self-affirmation. Positive statements about yourself can encourage your brain to believe you are or can do something. Your actions often follow. There is magic when we can recognize the individual value we have. Remember, you are great! Take a moment now and tell yourself.
Connect with someone who thinks highly of you. Just talking with someone positive absolutely helps. I have a practice of keeping emails in an Outlook file, where employees expressed their thanks. Rereading my old emails is another blahs popper. Try it!

Notice the good in life.

Find a photo album or pick up your phone and scroll through your pictures/albums. Take a walk down memory lane and see what fun you have had. Focus on the people in the pictures and what they mean to you.
Gratitude goes a long way. One study showed that participants who wrote gratitude letters regularly displayed significantly better mental health than those who didn’t. In fact, brain scans suggested that expressing gratitude might even have the power to rewire our brains for the better.

Pick the right snack.

Grab a handful of nuts. Stash walnuts, almonds, and pistachios in a convenient place for a mood-lifting snack. They’re packed with omega-3 fats that help make people less prone to depression. Plus, studies show that the act of repetitive chewing enhances serotonin production which can improve your mood and help you reduce stress.
Love chocolate? Go for dark chocolate. Because milk chocolate contains added ingredients like sugar and fat, it’s best to opt for dark chocolate — which is higher in flavonoids and lower in added sugar. You should still stick to 1–2 small squares (of 70% or more cocoa solids) at a time since it’s a high calorie food.
Go bananas! Who would have thought bananas! They’re high in vitamin B6, which helps synthesize feel-good neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. When paired with fiber, sugar is released slowly into your bloodstream, allowing for stable blood sugar levels and better mood control. Blood sugar levels that are too low may lead to irritability and mood swings. As a side note, when a banana is still showing green on the peel, it is an excellent source of prebiotics, a type of fiber that helps feed healthy bacteria in your gut. A robust gut microbiome is associated with lower rates of mood disorders.

Having trouble getting out of bed? Try these when you wake up.

Breakfast. Think about something delicious and out of the norm for breakfast. Take the extra time to make an omelet filled with good vegetables or add fresh berries to your cereal. Make a healthy smoothie or your favorite morning drink.
Gratitude. Think of something you are grateful for when you wake up each day. You’re priming your brain with positive information at the very start of your day and placing your attention on the good in your life.
Make your bed. It is a simple action that you can check off in the morning that makes you start your day feeling accomplished. Studies show that this is a common practice with successful people. (And it keeps you from crawling back into bed.)
Something good. Think of something that you are looking forward to. It could be something that will happen today or in the future. It is getting closer every moment. Feel excited!

I hope just reading this article has lifted your mood and/or brought you a laugh. I know researching happiness and positivity certainly helped my day flourish. Have a happy and healthy summer, teachers. You deserve it.

About the Author — Helen Cox

Helen Cox lives at the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains and has enjoyed 10 years with Imagine Learning. As a Wellbeing Specialist she promotes financial, mental/emotional, physical and social wellbeing among her fellow employees. Away from work she enjoys all things outside: hiking, gardening, camping, and even just sitting on her swing taking in the views.

June 14, 2022 8:00 am

How to Create Meaningful Professional Development for Adult Learners

Give teachers what they really want: the opportunity to be active participants in their own learning.

It’s Thursday afternoon, and my students are having trouble concentrating. Their excitement for a 3-day weekend is palpable, but I’m… not off the hook just yet. Tomorrow is one of those dotted-line days on the academic calendar — a student-free, professional development Friday. Now, while a day of no classroom management is nice, I can’t quite share in my students’ excitement for a true day off.

That is because I know what’s coming: a full day of prescribed professional development. I’m already planning the snacks I will eat and the grading I will sneakily get done.

Does this scenario sound familiar?

It isn’t that teachers don’t want professional development, in fact I’d venture to say most educators would describe themselves as lifelong learners. This isn’t what administrators seek out, either, when they carefully plan PD days. Their intentions are good. For any career, continued education should be involved — especially for something as dynamic and important as education.

So what DOES get teachers excited for professional development?

In my attempt to answer this question, I had an ah-ha moment. I learned that ped, the root meaning “child,” combined with gogy, the root meaning “to lead” (or teach), is where we get the word pedagogy, or “teaching children.”

Andra is the root meaning adult, so (I’m sure you’ve arrived here already), andragogy is the concept of teaching adults. So, if administrators are trying to apply good “pedagogy” in professional development, that in itself is the misstep. American educator, Malcolm Knowles, coined the term “andragogy” in 1968. His four principles of adult learning give us some insight into how to tailor professional development to educators.

a group of educators sitting around a table

1. Adults want to be part of the planning process — and the evaluation.

Administrators were teachers once (and some still are actively involved in the classroom), so it is likely that they know what professional development would be beneficial to their teachers — especially because they have a bigger picture of their entire faculty. However, giving them exactly what they need does not always result in teacher buy-in. This is because, as adults, we value and expect independence. Telling an adult what they need to learn is a surefire way to close them off to any new information.

Pre-training surveys are one way to solicit teacher input, but depending on school size, it might be too difficult to try to please everyone. A more realistic strategy might be to enlist department chairs or team leaders to meet with their teams and agree upon one training opportunity they would like. This takes care of the planning piece, but what about evaluation? For that agreed-upon training idea, administrators might also ask for departments to decide how they expect to implement or “show” the knowledge from their professional development day. Though this will still result in a number of different ideas (read on for thoughts about whole-staff vs. grouped PD), getting the teachers involved with the planning process will ensure that they know you have their interest at heart.

2. Tapping into learner experience is essential.

For our students, activating prior knowledge is usually part of the introduction to a lesson. For adults, it’s often overlooked in the interest of getting rid of the fluff and jumping right into the topic. But where our students may only have a handful of years of experience to look back on, adult learners have a lifetime’s worth of valuable, experiential knowledge.

Utilizing this doesn’t mean asking a question and calling on everyone who raises their hand — we all know you may never get to the content. But something as simple as asking tables to discuss topical experiences for 10 minutes, or even just thinking about it individually, can help increase investment. Not to mention when you want their participation later, they will have already activated their knowledge on the topic.

3. Adults are drawn to learning things directly relevant to them, both personally and professionally.

In this day and age, if you’re looking for insight into what you are interested in learning about, take a look at your Google searches. Here’s my last search: “can a baby eat too many bananas?” This is directly relevant to my personal life as a mom of a voracious 10-month-old. (For those curious, Google wasn’t helpful here, but my pediatrician friend was — let them eat bananas!)

Now, this isn’t to say that PD should be on “Pinterest classroom library ideas.” What I’m here to tell you is that if you already incorporated the previous tips by involving teachers in the planning process and tapping into their experience, you can feel safe that the topic is relevant to at least a subset of teachers. That is where the tip for this principle comes in — no PD day is going to be relevant to all teachers. For that reason, consider forgoing the full day of togetherness and utilizing breakout groups instead. These can change throughout the day or stay the same, but meaningful groupings could be by department, grade level, or whatever unique way your teachers work together. That way, rather than knowing the kindergarten teachers are tuning out while discussing upper elementary student engagement strategies, you can ensure that everyone is getting what they need.

4. Problems, rather than subjects, take center stage.

Continuing with the idea that Google searches reveal what we want to learn, I didn’t search my banana question in the hopes that I would learn registered-dietician-level information about the nutritional makeup of bananas and how they interact with an infant’s digestive system. I had a problem that I wanted to solve — did I need to tone down my son’s banana intake?

The same applies to professional development. Lead with the problem you are seeking to solve, and ensure teachers leave with something they can use to solve it. So rather than starting the day speaking generally about student engagement in the upper elementary classroom, start with the challenge teachers are facing — they are struggling to maintain student attention during direct instruction. While you may not promise a solution, you can promise that teachers will leave with strategies they can implement the next day.

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As educators and administrators in the K–12 world, we are experts in teaching students, but that doesn’t necessarily transfer to teaching teachers. By including them in the process, drawing on their expertise, and giving them the information they want and need, administrators can feel more confident that their idea of the mentally stimulating day of PD matches up with teacher expectations.

About the Author — Ally Jones

Ally Jones is a California credentialed educator who specialized in teaching English language learners at the secondary level. Outside of education, she is passionate about fitness, literature, and taking care of the planet for her son’s generation.

June 13, 2022 8:00 am

Imagine Learning Wins Two 2022 SIIA CODiE Awards

Imagine Language & Literacy and Imagine Robotify Earn Top Honors from Education Technology Industry Leaders

Scottsdale, Ariz. JUNE 13, 2022 – Imagine Learning, the largest provider of digital curriculum solutions in the U.S., serving over 15 million students in more than half the school districts nationwide, has won two 2022 SIIA CODiE Awards for Imagine Language & Literacy and Imagine Robotify. The prestigious CODiE Awards recognize the companies producing the most innovative education technology products across the country and around the world.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be recognized with a CODiE Award,” said Sari Factor, Vice Chair and Chief Strategy Officer for Imagine Learning. “We are fortunate to have exceptional development teams who create innovative solutions to advance learning for all. We couldn’t celebrate these successes without all our school partners; these are wins for the many educators across the country who collaborate with us every day to help us develop effective products to achieve greater learning.”

Imagine Learning CODiE Award Winners:

Imagine Language & Literacy – “Best Solution for English as a Second Language”

This is the second consecutive win for Imagine Language & Literacy, which won “Best Foundational English Language Arts Instructional Solution” in 2021. It is the only personalized learning program that accelerates both literacy skills and English language development for students in grades PreK-6. Imagine Language & Literacy’s uniquely combined approach, emphasis on building academic language explicitly, and first language support in 15 languages has proven to accelerate mastery of skills that empower students to unlock learning across all subject areas. As learners explore and practice skills, their individualized learning sequence adjusts dynamically to maximize engagement and progress, accelerating to match a cognitive leap, or adjusting to accommodate unfinished learning.

Imagine Robotify – “Best Coding & Computational Thinking Solution”

Imagine Robotify is a browser-based digital solution designed to teach coding using the world’s best computer science simulator. The platform offers learners the freedom and creativity they need to realize their original ideas and, in the process, develop their capacity for critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration. Imagine Robotify provides students with the ability to master coding skills and apply their critical thinking to robotics, math, science, and coding skills through project- and game-based learning. Students have access to more than 1,000 different coding activities and games, including 24/7 access to the latest virtual robots without having to ever purchase physical hardware.

“The 2022 EdTech CODiE Award winners exemplify the outstanding products, services and overall innovation that enables learners of all types to connect with educators and educational materials,” said SIIA President Jeff Joseph. “We are so proud to recognize this year’s honorees—the best of the best—that provide solutions to many of the critical challenges facing learners today—from access and equity, to personalized and tailored learning and beyond. Congratulations to all of this year’s CODiE Award winners!”

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the principal trade association for the software and digital content industries, announced the full slate of CODiE winners during a virtual winner announcement. Awards were given for products and services deployed specifically for education and learning professionals, including the top honor of the Best Overall Education Technology Solution.

A SIIA CODiE Award win is a prestigious honor, following rigorous reviews by expert judges including educators and administrators whose evaluations determined the finalists. SIIA members then vote on the finalist products, and the scores from both rounds are tabulated to select the winners.

More information about the Awards is available at http://www.siia.net/codie.

About the SIIA CODiE Awards

The SIIA CODiE Awards is the only peer-reviewed program to showcase business and education technology’s finest products and services. Since 1986, thousands of products, services and solutions have been recognized for achieving excellence. For more information, visit siia.net/CODiE.

About Imagine Learning

Imagine Learning is a PreK–12 digital learning solutions company that ignites learning breakthroughs by designing forward-thinking solutions at the intersection of people, curricula, and technology to drive student growth. Imagine Learning serves more than 15 million students and partners with more than half the school districts nationwide. Imagine Learning’s flagship products include Imagine Edgenuity^®, online courseware and virtual school services solutions; supplemental and intervention solutions for literacy, language, mathematics, robotics, and coding; and high-quality, digital-first core curriculum, including Illustrative Mathematics^®, EL Education^®, and Odell Education^®—all on the Imagine Learning Classroom—and Twig Science^®. Read more about Imagine Learning’s digital solutions at imaginelearning.com.

June 9, 2022 8:00 am

THINK Points Add Up to Make Change

Imagine Math’s THINK points program allows students to earn rewards for themselves, their class, and charities by completing lessons.

What motivates you to work harder? I knew I was getting closer to middle age when I realized the harder I worked, the better I’d sleep — motivation level 10: unlocked. Sometimes motivation comes in the form of little bonuses (ahem, dessert), sometimes it’s a healthy sense of competition, and sometimes the prospect of a warm, fuzzy, ‘do-gooder’ feeling is what gets us to tackle a challenge.

It turns out that kids and adults aren’t that far apart in this respect; Imagine Math has demonstrated as much with its THINK points program. This innovative motivation system inspires students to learn by helping develop problem-solving skills, perseverance, and confidence. As students work through their Imagine Math lessons, they earn THINK points. THINK points are awarded for completing lessons, with additional points awarded for performing well. Students can use their points to design and accessorize their Imagine Math avatar, contribute to classroom goals (pizza party, anyone?), or donate money to students in need.

Earn, See, Spend

The points students earn by working through lessons are applied to their total number of points after they have completed the entire lesson, which helps keep them motivated to finish the full lesson before spending their points.

They can view their points on their home screen and the Class Leaders dashboard. Students can see the number of THINK points they’ve earned in the current lesson, the total of the points they’ve earned this year, and the number of points available to spend at the moment (grand total minus points already spent).

867 Average THINK Points Donated Per Student

The points leaderboard shows a hierarchy of who has earned the most THINK points that week and who has completed the most lessons. It updates every 15 to 30 minutes and resets every Saturday evening, only displaying the number of points each student has earned for the current week. It’s designed to continually motivate students and give each student a fair chance to be at the top for that hour, day, or week.

As a reward and part of what makes Imagine Math so engaging, students get to choose how they’ll spend their hard-earned THINK points. Some like to build out their avatars, expressing themselves with different skins, features, and accessories. Others are motivated to contribute to the teacher-established classroom goal, and an inspiring number of students opt to transfer their points into monetary gifts to charity. The charity calendar changes month to month, exposing students to a variety of opportunities to make a difference in their world.

“I wanted to be the No. 1 on the leaderboard in the state of Texas, so I had to do a lot of lessons – and that’s how I racked up the points. It makes me very proud that I can be of some help to the people in need.”

Yash Anand

Imagine Math student, Vista Hills Elementary

THINKing of Others

Imagine Learning is proud to report that 2021–2022’s students donated to 29 beneficiary charities, choosing to transform their math achievements into an impressive $83,060 for worthy causes! (Cue Whitney Houston because we, too, believe ‘the children are the future.’) It’s an incredible testament to their characters and their efforts to advance their learning, and as a bonus, it gives teachers a morale boost.

Tracy Gonzalez, a 4th-grade math teacher at W.C. Andrews Elementary in the Gregory-Portland ISD, says, “it makes me so happy, and I’m so proud of my students when they enjoy donating their THINK points to charities! They are helping towards a great cause every time they do so!”

The American Red Cross Tornado Relief Fund was one of the partner charities this year. Vista Hills Elementary student Yash Anand was the top donor in the nation, earning a remarkable 1.6 million THINK points to contribute to the fund.

“I wanted to be the No. 1 on the leaderboard in the state of Texas, so I had to do a lot of lessons – and that’s how I racked up the points,” said Anand. “It makes me very proud that I can be of some help to the people in need.”

Find What Drives Them

Students should be celebrated for working hard, whether they’re in it for the avatar, the parties, the competition, or the good karma. Their motivation can be as personal as the learning path they’re on, just as long as they also have a meaningful exploration of (and growth in!) mathematical understanding.

About the Author — Kallie Markle

May 31, 2022 8:00 am

Watch Out World, Here They Come

The top 5 electives by enrollment in Imagine Edgenuity this year reveal what students really want – life-applicable skills to prepare for their future.

With lessons like dorm cooking, changing your oil, and saving money while grocery shopping on the syllabus, “Adulting 101” teachers can rest assured that students won’t be asking the ever-frustrating question, “When will I use this in life?” Aimed at teaching life skills like budgeting and maintaining physical fitness after high school, “adulting” classes have recently taken off. Skills such as preparing taxes and learning how insurance works are largely viewed as outside of the academic sphere, but, for that precise reason, young adults are entering the “real” world needing to Google things like “W-2” and “deductible.” While these classes are often hosted at local libraries and attended by recent to not-so-recent high school graduates, a Kentucky high school has proven that there is not only a need but a desire for the class before graduation as well.

Looking at the highest enrolled Imagine Edgenuity electives for the 2021-22 school year, it is clear that practicality is in demand.

When given the option, students choose to learn how to take care of themselves – from their physical health to their finances. Depending on post-graduation plans, that calculus class may or may not be vital, but the most popular electives promise skills that everyone will be able to use.

1. Lifetime Fitness

Only 23.2% of adults aged 18 and over met physical activity guidelines in a recent study. After exploring fitness topics such as safe exercise and injury prevention, nutrition and weight management, consumer product evaluation, and stress management, Lifetime Fitness students leave the course equipped with the skills they need for a lifetime of fitness – including an exercise program designed to meet their individual goals.

2. Academic Success

More than 25% of recent high school graduates wished that their high school had prepared them with study skills for college. Students who took the Academic Success course don’t have that same wish. Offering a comprehensive analysis of different types of motivation, study habits, and learning styles, this course encourages high school and middle school students to take control of their learning by exploring varying strategies for success.

3. Personal Finance

“Nearly a third of young adults in a recent study were found to be ‘financially precarious’ because they had poor financial literacy and lacked money management skills and income stability.” Personal Finance students are well on their way to financial literacy after learning more about economics and becoming more confident in setting and researching financial goals. They learn how to open bank accounts, invest money, apply for loans and insurance, explore careers, manage business finances, make decisions about major purchases, and more.

4. Foundation of Personal Wellness

A recent study found that less than 38 percent of adult participants consumed a healthy diet. Largely, this isn’t due to a lack of desire, but a lack of resources and understanding. Upon completing Foundation of Personal Wellness where they explore a combination of health and fitness concepts as well as all aspects of wellness, students are equipped with the knowledge it takes to plan a healthy lifestyle.

5. Financial Math

86% of teens are interested in investing, but 45% say they don’t feel confident in doing so. That interest explains why students were eager to enroll in Financial Math this year. The course features relevant, project-based learning activities covering stimulating topics such as personal financial planning, budgeting and wise spending, banking, paying taxes, the importance of insurance, long-term investing, buying a house, and more.

Skipping the “flashy” or “fun” electives that we might expect them to choose reveals what students really want to learn: practical, life-applicable skills. These selections help students build a foundation of useful knowledge so that, when they get out into the real world, they won’t be registering for their local “Adulting 101” course.

About the Author – Ally Jones

May 24, 2022 8:00 am

New Study Reveals Significant Increases in Student Performance with Imagine Edgenuity

Middle and High School Students Using Imagine Edgenuity Show Higher Scores and Growth According to New Study

Scottsdale, Ariz., JUNE 7, 2022 – Imagine Learning, the largest provider of digital curriculum solutions in the U.S., serving 15 million students in more than half the school districts nationwide, today announced the results of a new study revealing that students who used Imagine Edgenuity demonstrated significant academic gains on standardized assessments. The study took place in White County Schools (Tenn.) during the 2020-2021 school year.

“Students are thriving through the use of adaptive, personalized learning solutions, and we’re excited to see that Imagine Edgenuity is helping to accelerate learning and ignite breakthroughs,” said Kinsey Rawe, SVP & GM of Courseware & Instructional Services for Imagine Learning. “As we continue to collaborate with districts, the results of these studies show what the future of learning can look like when the power of technology is harnessed to support educators.”

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE STUDY:

In White County Schools, Imagine Edgenuity English Language Arts and Math courses were implemented with students in Grades 7-9 during the 2020-21 school year.
Overall, findings from the study show that Imagine Edgenuity students achieved significantly greater gains than their nonparticipating peers on the NWEA MAP Growth Reading and Math tests.
Ninth grade Imagine Edgenuity students improved by seven Rasch Unit (RIT) score points on the MAP Growth Reading test while nonparticipating peers declined by four.
Eighth grade Imagine Edgenuity students improved by twelve RIT score points on the MAP Growth Math test while nonparticipating peers only improved by two.
Sixty-five percent of Imagine Edgenuity users met expected growth on the MAP Growth Reading assessment compared with 42 percent of nonparticipating peers.
Sixty-four percent of Imagine Edgenuity users met expected growth on the MAP Growth Math assessment compared with 38 percent of nonparticipating peers.

Imagine Edgenuity is a leading online courseware and virtual school services solution to help students in grades 6-12 meet academic goals and maximize their full potential with dynamic, customizable courses. An extensive suite of high-quality, digital-first core, electives, and honors courses can be completed for initial credit and credit recovery. Designed to adapt to the changing classroom environment, Imagine Edgenuity can be implemented in any in-person, blended, or virtual learning model. In addition, courses are shaped by industry experts, research, and educators, and an effective and engaging instructional model includes a robust set of classroom tools and reporting that is integrated at the point of use. More information is available at imaginelearning.com/edgenuity.

About Imagine Learning

Imagine Learning is a PreK–12 digital learning solutions company that ignites learning breakthroughs by designing forward-thinking solutions at the intersection of people, curricula, and technology to drive student growth. Imagine Learning serves more than 15 million students and partners with more than half the school districts nationwide. Imagine Learning’s flagship products include Imagine Edgenuity^®, online courseware and virtual school services solutions; supplemental and intervention solutions for literacy, language, mathematics, robotics, and coding; and high-quality, digital-first core curriculum, including Illustrative Mathematics^®, EL Education^®, and Odell Education^®—all on the Imagine Learning Classroom—and Twig Science^®. Read more about Imagine Learning’s digital solutions at imaginelearning.com.