Teacher Playground

I recently spent some time reflecting on the book The Power of a Positive Mom by Karol Ladd, and it got me thinking beyond parenting. What if the lessons we learn at home are actually shaping how we show up at work every day?

The book focuses on encouragement, patience, perspective, and the power of small, consistent actions, and those same qualities are just as impactful in our professional lives. Encouragement builds confidence, patience helps us navigate challenges, positivity influences culture, and being present matters whether you are in a meeting or at the dinner table.

For me, the biggest takeaway is that balance is not about doing everything perfectly; it is about being intentional in both spaces. The way we support, communicate, and lead at home does not turn off when we log in to work; it carries over in meaningful ways. When we lead with empathy, encouragement, and positivity in one area of life, we naturally strengthen the other.

Feeling very honored to receive a National Finalist badge from the H5P Awards! Being among amazing innovators from Norway, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Australia, and so many more countries is such a blessing. Out of 240 entries worldwide, only 25 finalists were selected, five in each of the five categories, and I am excited to have been a finalist in Outstanding Visual Design for Case Study: Epidemiology, created by myself and Dr. Cheryl Bardales from Louisiana State University-Alexandria, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, representing LSU Online & Continuing Education in the national spotlight.

H5P allows us to create interactive, engaging, and accessible learning experiences, and being part of this global community inspires me to keep leveling up and doing even more wonderful things with it. The best is yet to come!

https://openbadgefactory.com/obv3/credentials/9b4910b50e986875294eed7dc84d6182b49a1a50

H5P Award Finalist 2026 H5P Award Finalist 2026 This badge recognises individuals or teams selected as finalists in the H5P Awards 2026. Recipients demonstrated outstanding creativity, innovation, and impact in their use of H5P to design engaging and effective interactive learning experiences.

Bringing back this cutie I made years ago! 🐰🥚🌸 Have fun playing this with your students. You can add your own content questions to make it extra fun.

Download it here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dGq0ICmFCNS688Mp2wzZkVjt162Iw7FuW5H55yhww7g/edit?usp=sharing

One of the most rewarding parts of being a Learning Experience Designer is partnering with subject matter experts and turning their knowledge into learning experiences that work. Good design isn’t just about content. It’s about how the brain learns. From managing cognitive load to building active engagement and practice opportunities, understanding how people learn changes everything we do.

Want a peek behind the design process and why it matters? Read my latest blog post: http://www.teacherplayground.com/2026/03/designing-with-brain-in-mind.html

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Designing with the Brain in Mind The site to meet your needs as an educator living in a technology world. Great freebies and resources!!

Are your students struggling to make abstract concepts click? PhET simulations in Wayground let them experiment, explore, and apply knowledge in a fully interactive, safe digital environment. Students can manipulate variables, test hypotheses, and see results instantly turning tricky concepts into hands-on learning experiences.

Wayground now has the 60 most popular PhET simulations fully integrated, complete with instant feedback, auto-grading, and tracking. Whether you teach physics, chemistry, biology, or math, these ready-to-go activities make application-based learning easy and meaningful.

Check out all 60 free PhET activities and see how interactive learning can transform your lessons:

PhET Simulations in Wayground: Bringing Interactive Learning to Life The site to meet your needs as an educator living in a technology world. Great freebies and resources!!

Hi all! I just wanted to share some awesome resources from EduGems: https://www.edugems.ai/

These are called Gemini Gems which are tools and resources for educators and students. Here is a quick overview of some highlights:

𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 (https://www.edugems.ai/gem/act-math-practice)
Sample problems, explanations for incorrect answers, and performance summaries to help students prep for the ACT Math section

𝗔𝗜 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 (https://www.edugems.ai/gem/ai-prompt-architect)
Build high-quality AI prompts from scratch with clear roles, tasks, and interaction rules

𝗔𝗜 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 (https://www.edugems.ai/gem/ai-prompt-doctor)
Analyze and improve your AI prompts to make them more effective and aligned with your goals

𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆z𝗲𝗿 (https://www.edugems.ai/gem/assessment-data-analyzer)
Analyze student assessment results to spot areas of struggle, mastery, misconceptions, and quick wins for reteaching

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗿 (https://www.edugems.ai/gem/career-explorer)
Help students explore career paths that match their interests, skills, and values

𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 (https://www.edugems.ai/gem/coloring-page-maker)
Create custom, school-safe coloring pages tailored to student ages and curriculum themes

Sharing in case it is helpful to others.

EduGems Welcome to EduGems! This is a growing collection of pre-made prompts ("Gems") for educators to use with Google Gemini. 💎 Click on any item below to get details on that Gem, with options to use or copy the Gem. 💎 When you click to use a Gem, it will open in Gemini. 💎 Before you begin interac...

𝟏𝟎 𝐅𝐮𝐧 & 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦

Need some quick, plug-and-play ideas to make Thanksgiving engaging for your students? Ditch That Textbook has you covered!

In this post, you’ll find tons of ready-to-go activities, including:

🦃 FREE Turkey Trouble Escape Room
✨ “What Am I Thankful For?” Google Slides Template
📚 Thanksgiving Traditions Read-and-Respond Activity
🎈 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon Google Slides Template

And that’s just the beginning as these activities are all designed to be fun, interactive, and easy to use!

Check it out and make your Thanksgiving lessons extra memorable this year!

Tech-Giving: 10 interactive Thanksgiving activities for the classroom Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and what better way to celebrate in the classroom than with some fun, techy activities! These ideas will have

Middle school Science teachers check it out!

Most Popular Science Activities on Wayground (Formerly Quizizz) - Middle School

Check it out!

This resource has also been getting a ton of attention on Kyle's Twitter/X, so we wanted to make sure we shared it here with you all as well!

Social Studies and History teachers, it's every single Crash Course YouTube SS/history video with a formative assessment, worksheet, and interactive video to go along with each one. All organized nicely into a Google sheet you can save into your Google Drive!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I_pj5KfMPdeeVf7iAla9f5uvoxWpKzex5v6EIeoctd4/edit

*If you're having issues accessing links on a Mobile device, there is a link inside that will let you easily email to yourself so you can access on your desktop 😀

Enjoy!

Calling all my library and reading teacher friends… I am absolutely loving this!

A School Librarian’s Guide to Using ChatGPT’s Book Scout – TCEA TechNotes Blog Librarians wear a lot of hats... take a load off with ChatGPT's Book Scout! Explore four top ideas for using this software in your library. Explore this and more at TCEA TechNotes Blog, your go-to source for educational technology and teaching innovation.

Accessibility is such an important part of good design, and it touches every part of our lives. It’s not something extra we add at the end. It’s something we think about from the start because it affects how people experience the world around them.

In online learning, accessibility matters even more. The design choices we make can either open the door for learners or quietly shut them out. Simple things like using clear headings, writing meaningful alt text, choosing readable colors, and keeping content organized make a huge difference for learners who rely on assistive technology.

What I love about accessibility is that when we design for people with diverse needs, we end up helping everyone. It makes learning smoother, clearer, and more welcoming for all learners, not just a few.

To me, accessibility is about care. It’s about making sure every learner has a fair chance to succeed. It’s about creating courses and digital spaces where people feel supported, not stressed or left behind.

If we want online learning to truly work for everyone, accessibility has to be part of our everyday design practice. Not an afterthought, not something we fix later, but something we lead with.

Accessibility is good design. Accessibility is inclusive design. And accessibility is simply the right thing to do.