Billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 recovery funds are flowing to American schools.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted how we have approached educating children.
In the era of big data, social studies classrooms are being transformed in different ways. For starters big data is blurring the lines between the social sciences, the humanities, and higher mathematics. By unlocking the deep data on civics, history, sociology, and other areas, the field of big data is enabling streamlined data processing and analytics in modern social studies classrooms. But before we dive deeper into that, let’s take a closer look at the growing field of big data itself.
Are you looking for a way to promote professional development for teachers in your district at a time when face-to-face meetings are becoming increasingly complicated, if not impossible?
January 2021 marks the fifth anniversary of the annual For-Teachers-by-Teachers Conference presented by our district, the Houston Independent School District. This conference allows the teachers who make up our secondary social studies teacher leader corps program the space and time to authentically exhibit their new learning content, instructional strategies, district instructional resources, and the skills needed to successfully create and execute professional development.
The pillars of good research include accuracy, good data, good methodologies, and great communication skills. That last part is often overlooked. The idea that research speaks for itself is a myth. If that were true, only scientifically valid information would gain traction.
Burnout is a word being used quite a bit these days. It’s no wonder, with the colossal shifts in education that we all had to undertake without much notice eight months ago. Between learning the alphabet soup of available digital products and platforms, managing new models of instruction, and WFH (that’s “working from home” for those of you born before 1995), it is enough to make our heads spin. Feelings of frustration, anxiety, and being overwhelmed are understandable during this time of transition.
Teaching is as much a learning experience for educators as it is for students. The challenges of the pandemic have made people more aware of the need for educators to continue to grow and evolve to meet the needs of the changing world and its changing students.
For the majority of children in the United States, formal and required schooling begins in kindergarten, at approximately age five or six. Yet research tells us that the years prior to children entering school are a cornerstone phase of development for all human beings.
Whether the school year is in person, fully remote, or a hybrid of the two, teachers, administration, and school support staff are collectively navigating uncharted territory. As we enter a brand-new normal, educators are bound to face new challenges in the classroom.
