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Generate Instant Pear Decks

  I’ll keep this short as the video explains most of you. Any new educational technology can be complicated to dig into from scratch as you attempt to align it to learning outcomes.  Well, a new feature that Pear Deck has introduced has taken a giant leap forward to help educators do just that.  Before we jump into the new features, if you are unfamiliar with Pear Deck and why my students and I consider it the #1 EdTech tool that helps their learning, check out the video in the previous blog post.   But if you are more concerned with why you should even dive into Pear Deck or learn about this new AI generation of Pear Deck sessions to a learning target, check out the video below. Like I said, I’m keeping it short so you have time to watch the video. If you have questions, please contact me at mohammam@elmbrookschools.org or the Pear Deck Learning team at support@deck.peardeck.com . Also, check out the amazing Stacey Roshan's video on this update. 

First Bite into the Honeycomb



Our PLC book club meet this week to dig into Chapter 2 of Dr. Rickabaugh’s Book.  Chapter 2 is a big one for educators as it is a breakdown of the Honeycomb Model developed by the Institute for Personalized Learning.  Rather than try to tackle the whole thing at once, I proposed we start at the center with the Core Components and dig deep into the Learning and Teaching elements.


Each member of the PLC was given a choice as to which element they were most interested in.  They were then asked to focus in on it and try to find some resources to share with that element.  The resources could take the form of a lesson they tried or wanted to try in class that they believe represents that element.  The resource could also be examples found online of how teachers can incorporate this element into their learning environment.


The plan was that we would start in small groups based on element chosen.  The small groups would discuss that element and try to understand it more deeply through sharing of examples.  After sharing in small groups, we would reassemble as a large group and share out on each element.

Well, it turned out that about half of our PLC were engaged in a separate PD activity this week and were unable to attend.  That changed things a bit.  We ended up having a discussion focused around our examples we posted to the common doc. Although we did not specifically discuss each element in isolation, the examples we discussed were not centered on a single element. In fact, they tied in several elements of teaching and learning. It was interesting to see how these elements don't work in isolation. So, sometimes it does become tough to discuss these elements in isolation. The best and most meaningful practices for students encompass multiple elements at the same time.

Below you will find our guiding document for the session. The links in the document weren't working for some users. I tried to fix them. Please let me know if you run into any issues. I'd like all the links to work. Since, like, that's the idea of resources. If you're trying to access links use the quick link to the document below.

Quick link to document.



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