Resources from the people I follow on Twitter, professional emails, and my own surfing
I asked Google’s Bard to “Prepare a lesson plan to teach the quadratic equations at the high school level.” Below is what I got back. My conclusion is that if I were still teaching, I would always ask for Bard’s plan before I made my own. I might not use Bard’s plan, but I would look to it for ideas. I would certainly share the Additional Resources links with my students. If you are still teaching, why aren’t you doing this? This is probably more detailed than your real lesson plans and will impress your principal.
Bard Does a Lesson Plan – If You Are Still Teaching, You Should Use This.
November 16th, 2023School-Linked Services: Promoting Equity for Children, Families, and Communities by Laura Bronstein and Susan Mason
October 9th, 2023
School-Linked Services: Promoting Equity for Children, Families, and Communities by Laura Bronstein and Susan Mason contains extensive advice for anyone interested in linking a school with one or more other service providers in their community. It offers summaries of successful programs and demonstrates how schools with linkages out perform schools with similar demographics that lack linkages in many ways. This is a must read for leaders of any organization that serves schools.
High-Stakes Standardized Testing in Schools: The Pros and Cons – Written by Google’s Bard
September 12th, 2023
I decided is was time to try artificial intelligence for article writing so I took Google’s Bard for a spin. I gave it the prompt “Write a 1000 word article on the pluses and minuses of high-stakes standardized testing in schools” and a few seconds later if offered the article below. See what you think. Can you tell it was written by AI and not a human educator like myself? If I were working the education beat for most media outlets, I would be q bit nervous. I also asked for a “a short story in Swedish about a day at the beach.” What I got was a valuable lesson for someone like myself who has intermediate Swedish skills. Share with foreign language teachers you know. If you want to try it yourself just click here.
Bad at Math: Dismantling Harmful Beliefs That Hinder Equitable Mathematics Education by Lidia Gonzalez
September 11th, 2023
Bad at Math: Dismantling Harmful Beliefs That Hinder Equitable Mathematics Education by Lidia Gonzalez points out the fact that most people in our society are comfortable at saying they are bad at math. This certainly implies that there is something wrong with how we present and teach math in general. She also points out that the math achievement gap between poor and minority kids and wealthy children is likely an opportunity gap that perpetuates the problem. While you may not be able to solve this problem, you should do your part by starting conversations with parents, teachers, administrators, and policy makers and by sharing this important book.
Off to Sweden – Time to Read Some Book Summaries
August 18th, 2023My mother’s parents arrived in the US from Sweden in 1902 and she was born in the US. When she stared school she could only speak Swedish. In a sense she was an ESl student. As you probably know, kids that age pick up a second language fast. They also don’t forget their first language. […]
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