Stride Talent Development and Community

We're kicking off a 4-week series about world languages with ! Today’s post highlights a handful of the many benefits of foreign language learning. 🌎🗣️

Do you speak any languages other than English? Tell us below! 👇💬

Do you have to renew your certification this year? Need credit hours? Stride employees can take FREE graduate-level courses in online teaching or earn FREE micro-credentials through Stride's partnership with Southern New Hampshire University! Sign up for our next informational webinar on March 22nd in K12 Training today! 💻🎓

👩‍🏫 Ready to take your teaching to the next level? Try reflective teaching! 🤔✨

Reflective teaching is an essential part of professional development that starts right in your own classroom. By examining your teaching practices and their impact on your students' learning, you can improve your skills and create a more effective learning environment. 🏫💻

Here's how to get started with reflective teaching:

👩‍🏫 Teach
🤔 Self-assess the effect of your teaching on learning, backed up with specific examples of evidence 📊📝
🤔 Consider new ways of teaching that can improve the quality of learning 🤓👨‍🏫
👩‍🏫 Try these ideas in practice

And remember, reflective teaching is an ongoing process that never stops. No matter how long you've been teaching, there is always something new to learn and improve upon! 🔁📚

Take a moment to reflect on your teaching practices and identify one area that you can improve upon. Then, try implementing a new strategy or technique in your classroom and see how it impacts your students' learning. Share your experience in the comments below! 👇

#ReflectiveTeaching

Happy International Happiness Day! ✨ Take a moment to reflect on three things you can do today to make it a good day. Grab a sticky note and jot them down, then stick your note on the monitor in front of you as a reminder. Let's plan on having a great Monday together! 😉💻

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🌸🌷 Spring break is here or coming soon for many of us in the Stride community! 🌞 As Stride teachers and staff, we've worked hard to make online learning a success, and we couldn't be prouder of all we've achieved. So, whether you're on break now or looking forward to it, take this opportunity to recharge and refresh by soaking up the sun, trying new hobbies, or simply taking some well-deserved rest. 🏖️

For those already on break, we hope you're having a great time! For those who haven't started yet, hang in there! Your break is just around the corner. 😎

What are your plans for spring break? 🌺🌻

For the last part of this mini-series with Dr. Ashleigh Franco, we share some interesting tidbits from studies that used gamification for assessments. 🎯

Share below how you integrate gamification into the curriculum! Also, Stride staff, watch for a full infographic about gamification in next week’s Signal newsletter! 🎮👀

Our PBL expert, Sarah Perroy, shares her bimonthly tips on implementing PBL in online classrooms. 🤝

👉Project Management is a Key Component of Online Project Based Learning (PBL). Without project management tools, like contracts and pacing guides, PBL units can feel overwhelming and confusing for teachers and students alike.

👉When planning a PBL unit, it's also important to build time for your students to reflect on their project progress and use that information to determine their next steps to meet both project objectives and deadlines.

👉Finally, giving students a chance to evaluate their performance and their peers' helps them measure their contributions and those of their collaborative group members. Through evaluation, students get a view of the overall project and what role they played in its success! 🚀

🙌 Now we want to hear from you! What project management tools have you found to be effective when implementing PBL in your online classroom? Share your thoughts in the comments below! ⬇️

Math teachers, it's time to celebrate National Pi Day in style! 🥳 Get your students excited about math with fun activities and games centered around Pi. From creating Pi chains to solving Pi puzzles, the possibilities are endless! 🤓 And let's not forget about the best part, grab a slice of pie to enjoy with your class! 😋🥧

Check out ten ways to celebrate Pi Day and a plethora of STEM lessons on pi over at NASA. 👩‍🏫 http://ow.ly/qYiM50NgOxw

How are how you planning to celebrate Pi Day in your classroom? 💬 We'd love to hear about the pi-tastic activities you have in store for your students! 🔢

It's National Napping Day, and we know you're feeling it after losing an hour of sleep! 😴💤 But don't fret; a quick 20-minute power nap between 2 and 3 pm can work wonders for your productivity! 💪💤 Embrace the nap life and wake up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day! 😉

Tell us, how do you power up for the day? Share your favorite energy-boosting tips in the comments! ⚡️💬

Spring forward, sleep a little less, but gain an extra hour of sunshine! 🌞 Daylight Savings Time starts this weekend, don't forget to set your clocks ahead! 🕰️ Embrace the longer days and make the most of every moment! 🌤️

Tell us in the comments: what's your favorite activity to do during longer daylight hours? ☀️🚴‍♀️🏊‍♂️🍔

🚨 New guest post alert! 🚨 We're thrilled to have Dr. Ashleigh Franco back with more fascinating research insights!

In this second part of a 3-week series on gamification, we highlight research about the association between students’ achievement levels and gains from gamified learning experiences. Swipe to see this week's research post! 👉🎮

Think about the learners in your life. What are they struggling with, and would gamified curriculum help them? 💭

Empower the next generation with stories of trailblazing women who came before. Join us in honoring their stories with Rebel Girls, amplifying the stories of real-life, extraordinary women. Fifty new stories will be released in the Stride Learning hub and curated in collections from the fields of math, history, and science. Teachers will be able to add Rebel Girl activities to their course directly from the Learning Hub. 👩

On International Women's Day, let's inspire the next generation to dream big and change the world! 💪👩‍🦱

InternationalWomensDay

Feeling eye strain from looking at monitors while teaching all day? Your laptop comes with a built-in blue light filter. This feature in Windows 10 is called "Night light." 💻🌙

You can access it from the taskbar tray in the lower right hand of your screen or go to your Settings --> System --> Display --> Night light to turn it on. To configure the Night light feature and to schedule when it turns on and off, click on "Night light settings."

Will you use the Night light feature, or do you prefer to use blue light filter glasses? 👓

Sending a virtual hug to every one of our outstanding employees! You bring passion and dedication to work daily and make Stride shine. Thank you for all that you do! 🧡💙

We're kicking off a new weekly series with Dr. Ashleigh Franco, a curriculum research specialist with Stride's Teaching & Learning team. Join us every Thursday as she shares insights about pedagogy and best practices from a research perspective.

Please help us warmly welcome her to the Stride TDC community! 👏

http://ow.ly/BSGq50N7Jek

Happy Read Across America Week! 📚🎉

Looking for ways to incorporate authentic literacy in your classroom? With Project Based Learning (PBL) students are given opportunities to engage in strategic reading📖, write for a purpose✏️, and explore topics🔎 that are of interest to them.

PBL also provides students with real-world experiences where they explore both academic content and career fields. With PBL, there is no limit on where your students can go! 🎈

What activities are you planning for Read Across America week? 📙

Do something awesome for someone today! 🌞

You can get great ideas at some of our PP23 presenter sessions:
🤝 Making Lasting Connections with Students
🦋 Relationships Before Rigor
🤝 Leading by Example
🦋 Community Connection with Compassion

How can you make someone's day better today? 🌻

Don't forget to register for PP23 today before heading out. 🦋

Enjoy the long weekend! 😎

Let's play PP23 bingo! 🦋How many of these sessions do you have? Can you complete a row?

Comment "bingo" below if you can complete a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally! 🏆

Have a fabulous Friday! May your cup overflow with joy, peace, and pure awesomeness today! 💝

Thinking about starting an inquiry-based or project-based learning unit but unsure where to begin?🤔 In this 4-part series, we will explore the essential elements of an engaging project launch🚀 and how they can elevate inquiry in your online classroom!

This series's 4th and final post will review the "Knows, Need to Knows, and Next Steps" lists. After experiencing the first three parts of a Project Launch (Entry Event, Entry Doc, and Driving Question), students will need to unpack these experiences by generating lists to organize their thoughts.

📝For the "Knows" list, students can share their background knowledge and any information they have gleaned from the Entry Doc.
📝The "Need to Knows" list will be questions that students still have after reading the Entry Doc and considering the Driving Question. These "Need to Know" questions will become the various lessons and steps students will go through to solve/answer the Driving Question.
📝Finally, the "Next Steps" list is where students elicit higher-order thinking skills to determine where they should start the project process.

These student-generated lists should be revisited daily to support project management and pacing.

After reading this series, what exciting ways have you thought of to elevate inquiry in your online classroom? 🚀

Stride has been awarded two year-end 2022 Digital Education Awards! 💙

🏆Stride Learning Solutions won The Children’s Home Learning Product of the Year for the newly updated K-5 curriculum.

🏆The Adult Home Learning Product of the Year award was presented to Stride's Tech Elevator for the best digital learning product for students over 18.

👉Read the full press release here: http://ow.ly/Qtfp104tgbN

Congratulations, Stride! 🎉

5 Strategies for embracing Culturally Responsive Teaching:
🤝Make your curriculum relevant to and inclusive of all learners
🤝Take advantage of every occasion to support cultural heritage
🤝Reflect on your own identity and culture and how they influence your teaching
🤝Be aware that language can be a barrier

Read more about this at the Stride PD Center's blog, and check out our diversity, equity, and inclusion sessions at PP23!

How do you incorporate students' interests and backgrounds to make learning relevant for them?