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Generate Instant Pear Decks

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  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. 
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The Ripple Effect of Teaching: Beyond the Traditional Classroom

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The Ripple Effect of Teachers

Last week was a big one to face the facts of my recent medical condition. For those who do not know, in mid-2022 I was diagnosed with seronegative autoimmune encephalitis. On Wednesday of last week, a pair of Launch Medical and Health Care Strand students presented a personal narrative about my experience. Their presentation was a personal narrative combining a personal interview and research on the disease.  Although the slideshow doesn’t do their presentation justice, it will give you a general overview of the narrative. They covered many aspects of the condition from the factual to the personal narrative, and the lessons learned. They did a wonderful job of capturing a human story rather than listing a clinical definition.


At the end of the week, Brookfield Central High School had our annual career day. I was lucky enough to have the ICU neurologist Dr. Gregory Rozanzky who handled my care while I was in the intensive care unit attend and present to over 70 students. Topics ranged from what the career looks like daily, the educational requirements, the most difficult to the most unusual cases, and a brief explanation of my case. An important aspect for those interested in the field is that Dr. Rozansky went through his educational journey.  Below is a clip of his session.



An important takeaway I got from his talk was that you may not know what you want your profession to be until you get to experience it. The most surprising was that he enjoyed the teaching aspect of his position the most. The fact that every student, a future physician, he teaches will affect at least 5 other lives. That ripple effect a good teacher can have on the lives around them will only keep spreading. I love that Dr. Rozansky points out that this applies to so many careers, not just his but to anyone who at some point has to pass along a set of skills. It is what my great student teachers did for me. I hope that someday, I will be allowed to do the same. In my new role, I can have an impact on staff which can be applied in their classrooms.



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