Curated Microlearning Resources for You.
Below is a list of all current opportunities to improve your craft at your own pace through short, curated videos featuring seasoned educators offering practical wisdom for real-life scenarios and situations.
Recent Resources
Chunking a Text: Supports for Accessing Grade Level Texts
Join Carisa Barnes, a seasoned Literacy Instructional Coach, to unlock the secret to conquering challenging texts with her strategy, “Chunking a Text.” Perfect for teachers in grades six through twelve, this technique can elevate reading comprehension in various subjects. Learn how to set reading purposes, craft engaging questions, and make sentences more manageable.
Fun Visual Math Puzzles
Join Cassandra Hayes, a math teacher in Fortuna Elementary School District, Fortuna, California, and a teacher consultant for the Redwood Writing Project, as she introduces an exciting math lesson to build algebraic thinking skills using “Visual Emoji Math Puzzles.” Suitable for third grade through high school, this math lesson fosters algebraic thinking. Replace variables with emojis for a fun twist.
Four Corners
Discover the “Four Corners” activity with teacher leader Jennifer Schafran. This versatile classroom technique encourages active engagement and builds trust and community. It can be a quick five-minute exercise or an extended lesson based on debatable statements. Watch your students discuss, listen, and even change their minds while making learning interactive and enjoyable.
Counting in a Circle (Sparkle)
Learn the engaging “Counting in a Circle” or “Sparkle” activity from teacher leader Kara Holtzman. This versatile routine is perfect for practicing counting and can be adapted for all elementary grade levels. Discover how to use it for multiplication, skip counting, spelling, vocabulary, and more. Keep the pace fast and fun to boost fluency while building classroom camaraderie.
Did You Know That…?
Robin Walker, an educator from the Santa Maria-Bonita School District, shares the “Did You Know That..?” activity, a powerful tool for connecting with students from second grade to high school. In this simple exercise, students write freely in small notebooks, sharing thoughts, concerns, or experiences. The teacher responds, fostering open communication and building trust. It’s about giving students a voice and nurturing meaningful connections in the classroom.
See, Mean, Matter
Chris Lewis, an educator at Mountain View High School in El Monte, introduces the “See, Mean, Matter” strategy for analyzing political cartoons. This approach guides students through three steps: understanding the historical context, dissecting artistic techniques, and deciphering the cartoon’s message. This strategy enhances media literacy by helping students decode visual messages.
Listening Word Games
Julie Kanel, a reading specialist, shares three interactive “Listening Word Games” for young learners, promoting phonemic awareness. These games, suitable for grades TK to 2, help improve students’ reading and spelling skills. The activities include “I Spy” for beginning and ending sounds and rhyming, “Guess My Object” where students deduce the object based on clues, and “Rhyming Categories” to reinforce rhyming and sound discrimination. These games make phonics practice engaging and enjoyable.
Sentence Stretchers
Kate Bowen, an experienced Elementary Consultant, shares an effective strategy called “Sentence Stretchers” to enhance students’ writing skills. Using four sentence strips labeled A, B, C, and D, students construct detailed sentences by adding descriptors and rearranging the strips for variety. This approach improves writing quality, engages students in creative sentence construction, and suits various grade levels.
Managing Classroom Noise Levels
Maria Montes Clemens, an elementary school Spanish teacher at Prospect Sierra, shares three classroom management strategies to help you create an orderly learning environment: the “Voice-O-Meter”, the “Give Me Five”, and the “Classroom Bell”.
Connecting to Emotions Using a Student-Generated Playlist
Charity Tanaleon, former band director at Norwood Junior High School, uses student-created music playlists as a way to learn more about students and engage them to reflect and express their emotions through music.
Ask Small Questions First
Kyle Dimla, a high school environmental science and
biology teacher, shares how he generates engagement and discussion in the classroom by asking small questions and using the see, think, and wonder framework.
Three Reads Protocol
Gloria Hurtado, 8th grade math teacher at Hillsborough Junior High School, tells us how to utilize the “Three Reads Protocol” to help students better understand what a math word problem is asking them to do.
Middle School P.E.
Kimberly Steffen shares best practices and tips for anyone wishing to teach Middle School P.E. (This is the third video of the four-part Physical Education video collection.)
Elementary School P.E.
Danielle Della Gala shares best practices and tips for anyone wishing to teach Elementary School P.E. (This is the second video of the four-part Physical Education video collection.)
Teaching Physical Education
Terry Piper kicks off the four-part Teaching Physical Education video series by sharing best practices and tips for anyone wishing to teach P.E. in schools.
For tips specific to Elementary, Middle, and High School, watch the other videos in the collection.