Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

How edtech is transforming bilingual education in the U.S.

Key points:

Millions of students within the United States public school system are non-native English speakers. As this figure continues to grow year over year, true bilingual education is becoming more vital to equitably support student success.

How do we ensure students achieve proficiency with the English language while receiving a rich and comprehensive education? One that affirms and celebrates their identities and helps them learn about and understand others?…Read More

3 keys to successful summer reading (regardless of the languages students speak)

Key points:

When I began teaching English as a second language (ESL), I had anywhere from seven to 13 different languages in my classroom because our district was in an area with a lot of recent immigration. It was an entry point for me to begin thinking about what a rich profession teaching is, along with how students develop their early reading skills, especially when they are learning multiple languages at once.

Today, I am the director of Literacy First, a program that the University of Texas launched almost 30 years ago with the mission of teaching students to read in the early grades. Literacy First fulfills its mission by offering a variety of support services, with a particular focus on achieving successful outcomes for growing readers, including one-to-one literacy interventions, teacher and staff training, instructional coaching, data-centered advising, and bilingual and culturally sustaining reading resources and interventions. One of the things I’ve learned a great deal about along the way is how to run an effective summer reading program for emergent bilingual students.…Read More

Spring ISD Selects BenQ Boards for Classrooms

COSTA MESA, Calif. — BenQ, an internationally renowned provider of visual display and collaboration solutions, today announced the Spring Independent School District (ISD) in Houston has selected and installed almost 1,800 BenQ Boards in K-12 classrooms across the 45 schools in the district. Purchased as part of Spring ISD’s most recent school bond, the BenQ Boards were chosen over other smart board vendors because of the rich and forward-thinking feature set the BenQ Boards offer, including ease of use and flexibility for teachers, advanced learning tools for students, and free built-in remote management solutions for IT.

“When we invited the entire district to come in and test drive different smart boards, everyone voted nearly unanimously for the BenQ Board,” said Joe Holecek, Spring ISD’s manager of campus technology support. “They hit all our needs, from those of our teachers and students to our technology department. We’ve deployed half the BenQ Boards in our classrooms so far, and it’s been so positive that the other half can’t wait because they know how much the boards offer.”

Spring ISD Teachers Benefit From BenQ Board’s Tap ‘N Teach Technology
While preparing students for the future, the BenQ Boards are also designed to eliminate the steep learning curve and complicated tasks that typical smart boards can overburden teachers with. The teacher-friendly experience starts immediately at sign-in. The industry’s only germ-resistant BenQ Boards boast BenQ’s Tap ‘N Teach technology, which features one-tap NFC log-in to load lesson materials and interactive teaching apps, cloud storage, settings, and tools instantly and securely.…Read More

Beyond simple search: The benefits of topic browsing in library databases

Key points:

Library databases, packed with rich and reliable content, are more than simply resources for students to reference when a research paper is due. They are also valuable teaching tools.

Databases are essential for helping middle and high school students understand the value of research, appreciate the importance of validating sources, and make connections between different topics — all of which are necessary for building information literacy skills. Databases provide full-text access to a wide range of content, including books, magazines, primary sources, images, charts, and peer-reviewed articles by credible authors representing diverse perspectives. They serve as trustworthy alternatives to internet searches, where the information surfaced can be unreliable, untrue, and unsafe. While traditional single-search functions are efficient, databases with topic browsing capabilities offer additional benefits for novice researchers and educators alike.…Read More

How I foster an inclusive classroom as a new teacher

Key points:

As a teacher at High Road School of Delaware, an individualized special education program aimed at strengthening each student’s academic, social and emotional abilities, job skills, and self-esteem, I serve a community of young people who share a rich spectrum of experiences. Becoming a special ed teacher was not the career I had pictured for myself – but now I can’t imagine doing anything else.

After serving in the Air Force with stints in Italy, Guam, and the UK, I found my purpose back in the States, working with children and adolescents with special needs. It all began when my mother’s friend, who operated a group home, offered me a job. While working in this position, I found myself drawn to the complexities and rewards that come with serving populations with the greatest needs. …Read More

High Schools Worldwide Partner with VHS Learning for Teacher-Led Online Classes

Boston – Schools around the world and across the United States have launched partnerships with VHS Learning this year to provide their students with rich, engaging online courses in a variety of disciplines. These new schools join more than 600 high schools worldwide that use VHS Learning online courses to expand their school’s student offerings.

New international school participants this year include the American International School of Budapest in Nagykovácsi, Hungary; American International School of Hong Kong in Hong Kong, China; American International School of Muscat in Oman; Qatar Academy Al Khor in Qatar; and

Frankfurt International School in Oberursel (Taunus), Germany.…Read More

We gave AI detectors a try–here’s what we found

Key points:

Nearly every school or university faculty is having at least a few conversations about how to address a world rich in easy-to-use artificial intelligence tools that can generate student assignments.

Multiple AI detection services claim efficacy in identifying whether text is generated by AI or human writers. Turnitin, ZeroGPT, Quill, and AI Textclassifier each represent this ability and are in use by higher-ed faculty and K-12 educators.…Read More

Certell’s Poptential™ Addresses 21st-Century Wars With Free Memorial Day Teaching Resources

INDIANAPOLIS (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Poptential™, a family of free social studies course packages from Certell, provides rich content to teach the importance of Memorial Day, including material on the U.S. involvement in 21st-century wars. Click to tweet.

“While today’s high school students weren’t yet born when the United States was attacked on 9/11, the War on Terror resulting from that day has been in the news for most of their lives,” said Julie Smitherman, a former social studies teacher and director of content at Certell, Inc. “More than 7,000 U.S. service men and women lost their lives during this protracted war, so it’s important to understand how it came about.”

The Memorial Day holiday honors American soldiers who have died in combat and has been observed annually since 1971 on the last Monday of May. Poptential’s American History curriculum features bell ringers, mini-lessons, and multimedia content to engage and teach students about the U.S. involvement in 21st-century wars, including the attack on the World Trade Center in New York, the resulting War on Terrorism, the occupation of Afghanistan and the Iraq war. Lessons include:…Read More

Poptential™ From Certell Offers Content on Tax Day for High School Teachers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — As Tax Day approaches, Poptential™, a family of free social studies course packages, offers instructors media-rich content to teach key concepts about taxation in the United States. Click to tweet.

Poptential course packages boost student engagement by using a variety of pop culture media to illustrate concepts, including those taken from sitcoms, movies, animations, cartoons, late-night shows, and other sources.

Tax Day ordinarily falls on April 15 each year; however, this year the federal tax deadline for individuals to submit their tax returns and pay taxes owed on 2022 income has been moved to April 18.…Read More

Curriculum Associates Launches Magnetic Reading™ Foundations for K–2, Expanding the Magnetic Reading Program to Support Grade-Level Success for K–5 Students

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass.—Curriculum Associates recently expanded Magnetic Reading K–5 with the launch of Magnetic Reading Foundations for Grades K–2. This new program, along with the recently released Magnetic Reading for Grades 3–5, form an intuitive, systematic approach to instruction with rich, engaging texts that draw students to the center of learning.

Magnetic Reading is built specifically and intentionally for the ages and stages of all students to ensure they get the right support succeeding as a grade-level reader: a focus on the building blocks of reading for the youngest learners and an emphasis on comprehension and gaining insight into the world for older students.

Magnetic Reading Foundations provides teachers with the resources needed to deliver explicit, systematic foundational skills instruction. Rooted in the Science of Reading, the program uses research-based routines and engaging decodable texts to support students’ reading development.…Read More