This week, we are getting reflective and talking about the current state of education during this crazy school year. We're covering a range of topics including pandemic teaching and surviving the year, looking at careers outside of education, and the political climate of teaching.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/79**

• Tweet #1 from Ebony Thornton - @EThorntonGHS
• Tweet #2 from Nicholas Ferroni - @NicholasFerroni
• Are you thinking of leaving education? What brings you joy in teaching?
• Everyone has the thoughts of "what if I wasn't in education"
• We need to remove pressure to be perfect, it's ok to be just okay this year
• Failure is okay and it's ok to be in survival mode
• Pressure to continue as business as usual this year
• Shifting learning models, lack of control, and uncertainty about the future contributes to stress and anxiety
• Mercedes vs Corolla - It's ok to be a Corolla! It's durable and gets you from point A to B
• Pandemic has forced us to reconsider our priorities - teaching is just a job and teaching doesn't define who you are
• Building tiny habits outside of education can help - Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Education will never be the same - we need to recognize and embrace this
• Balance between technology and paper activities is needed
• Politics - teachers are often vilified (absenteeism, summers off, hours in the classroom)
• OntEd - contract negotiations before the pandemic has contributed to our stress levels
• Is the grass really greener on the other side? Or is it just different?
• Students are the reason why we stay in the classroom
• You are not alone! Take care of yourself this year! Be the Corolla!

Thanks for the comments and feedback @FrankFerraiuolo!

Support the show

Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are diving into microlearning and how you can leverage this corporate learning strategy in the classroom. We've got a lot of great ideas and tools that you can use to start thinking about microlearning applications in your classroom.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/78**

• Microlearning is a strategy to break down learning into small pieces (can be skills, concepts). Historically used in corporate, e-learning
• Chris Nesi - House of EdTech
• Benefits:
  • Reduces cognitive overload - Visual from Twitter
  • Flexible & allows for self-pacing
  • Engaging
  • Short bursts of information (matches current content consumption patterns)
  • Provides focus & gets rid of the fluff
  • Identifies skills (going back to curriculum docs)
  • Frees the teacher up to provide small group support
  • The Top 11 Types Of Microlearning For Your Employees (Blog Post)
  • Supports UDL (choose your own adventure)
• EdTech Tools:
  • Google Forms (branching)
  • Google Slides (publish to web)
  • Wanda Terral - Make Your Own Chrome Extension
  • 7Taps (mobile first approach)
  • Genial.ly & Google Slides (change dimensions to roughly 400px wide x 750px high)
• Tips:
  • 14 Microlearning Tips to Enhance Your Training Content - Capytech (Blog Post)
  • Optimize for mobile devices
  • Focus on improving skills
  • Know your learners - simplify language, add visuals & multimedia resources (videos with CC)
  • Stay rigid to the topic (single topic, don't deviate)
  • Include real world examples and culturally-relevant stories
  • Add social elements/collaboration opportunities
• Modern Classrooms Project

Support the show

Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are diving into the Google Workspace to discuss how you can leverage Google tools for your mastery-based classroom. We've got a lot of great ideas and examples for ways that you can start using Google apps to support mastery learning in your classroom.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/77**

Google Workspace Tools:

• Docs
  • Hyperdocs
  • Creating assignments, practice etc
  • Smart Chips - Type @ for lots of options
  • New Google Smart Chips To Level Up Your Hyperdocs (Blog Post)
  • Planning - Unit Planner Template Doc
• Slides/Drawings
  • Student-facing resources
  • Great to embed media such as videos, audio
  • Provides a way to chunk learning over docs
  • Individual pacing trackers - consider using the theme builder (master) to lock background images/text in place
  • Gameboard style pacing tracker
  • Shapegrams
• Jamboard
  • Whiteboarding app for annotations during video recording
  • Collaboration activities for your students
  • How To Add a Custom Background in Jamboard (Blog Post)
  • Consider using it as a pacing tracker
• Sheets
  • Teacher tool for tracking
  • Auto updating tracker from Modern Classrooms Project
  • Grid Method tracker from Stephanie Howell
  • Great for planning (more smart chips needed!)
  • Start by trusting your students - consider giving students ownership of tracking
• Calendar
  • Planning and hyperlinking your resources to calendar events
  • Use it for creating a pacing guide
• Forms
  • Good for SOME of your mastery checks - definitions, knowledge recognition, etc. to leverage self-grading
  • Use as a dropbox with file upload option
  • Consider pulling in all responses into one spreadsheet
  • Reflection and feedback
• Sites/Classroom
  • Organize your lessons/resources for your students
  • Use individually OR use them both together
• YouTube
  • Video curation
  • Frees up storage in your Google Drive
  • Not a tool for under 13
  • Embed videos into slides or use Safe Tube
• Gmail/Chat
  • Backchannel for your classroom
  • Integrate with mail merge add ons for weekly communication with families

Support the show

Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are talking about the idea of having multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate learning. We're curious as to why the one-and-done mentality still persists in education these days and how we might begin to address resistance and shift mindsets and culture to a system that values learning over grades.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/76**

• One-and-done vs multiple chances mentality
• Mastery-based grading and MCP needs the opportunity for multiple attempts to demonstrate learning
• We still see a lot of "I teach it once, then we move on" or "you only get one chance"
• Our job is to educate/teach - it's about learning and the learning process
• All students CAN succeed and everyone learns at different paces
• Disconnect between reality of learning and the real world - in the real world, there are plenty of examples of multiple opportunities
• Focus on student learning and try, fail, learn mentality (not all students are university-bound)
• This year is tough, lots of stress around academics, grading, safety, etc
• This year will teach us the lessons that we need to take forward
• Grading is one of the areas of teaching that we still have control over; this is why conversations around grading practices are challenging
• Strategies/Ideas to shift mindsets and culture:
  • Begin with conversations
  • Have a clear idea of your WHY
  • Don't take things personally
  • Reach out to those willing and open to new ideas (focus on your innovators & early adopters first)
  • Give space for thinking and processing
  • Answer questions (consider an FAQ doc for yourself)
  • Keep in mind - lots of people need proof of concept FIRST
  • Lead by example and get in the weeds!
  • Have a game plan/big picture idea

Resources Mentioned:

• Ten Principles of Mastery-Based Learning (#8 is our focus in this episode)
• Dr. Brad Johnson Quote (Relationships over Rigour, Grace over Grades, ...)
• Modern Classrooms Project
• Diffusion of Innovation Adoption Curve
• Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman 

Support the show

Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are joined by three amazing guests from the Modern Classrooms Project (MCP). Toni Rose Deanon, Debbie Menard, and Lisa Doty are all project managers at MCP and are sharing their experiences with implementing the model, their favourite edtech tools, and some really great tips and strategies to get started with self-paced, mastery-based learning.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/75**

• Highlights:
  • MCP is made up of 3 components: blended learning, self-pacing structures, and mastery-based grading
  • MCP is not flipped learning - everything is done IN the classroom
  • Learning is transparent and removes inequities in grading
  • Advice for those getting started with MCP:
    • Start small, don't do everything at once
    • Manageable chunks
    • Progress Tracker is a good place to start
    • Find a teacher bestie to share the work and be there for support
    • Instructional videos are not the main focus
    • Try just one unit only to start
    • Lesson classifications (must do, should do, aspire to do) is also a good entry point and highly customizable to your needs
    • Try an overarching aspire to do task OR include student voice for your should do/aspire to do tasks (saves YOU time)
  • Recommended EdTech Tools:
    • Flipgrid (Flipgrid Shorts are great!)
    • Explain Everything
    • Screencastify or Screencast-o-matic
    • EdPuzzle
    • Parlay Ideas
    • Loom
    • Microsoft Powerpoint and Sharepoint
  • Takeaways:
    • Allows you to reach ALL of your students regardless of need/background etc.
    • MCP wants to support you as you learn the model
    • Relationships and connections with both students and teachers is richer and more authentic
• Connect with our guests on Twitter:
  • Toni Rose Deanon
  • Debbie Menard
  • Lisa Doty
  • Modern Classrooms Project
• Modern Classrooms Project website
• Facebook Group - Modern Classrooms Project - Teacher Discussion
• Modern Classrooms Project Podcast
• Other related episodes to MCP:
  • Building Mastery-Based Structures In Your Classroom - E065

Support the show

Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are talking about the use of digital portfolios in the classroom. We'll explore why you would want to use portfolios, how to assess or evaluate portfolios, and our best tips and suggestions to make portfolios a success in your classroom.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/74**

• Why Use Portfolios?
  • Fits well with ungrading or mastery-based grading
  • Demonstrates the learning journey by student-selected work
  • Great as a final performance task
  • Works best as a semester or year-long project
  • Focus on reflection, student voice & choice, ownership
  • Any grade, any subject
  • Rachel's blogging assignment
  • UDL - buffet of multimedia options (Katie Novak)
• Curriculum
  • Select work from each strand (ESL)
  • Explaining misconceptions (Science) or lab notebooks
  • Regardless, it develops thinking, metacognition, problem solving skills
• Useful EdTech Tools
  • Google Sites
  • Google Slides (Templates from Slides Mania)
  • Book Creator
  • Wakelet
  • LMS (Brightspace portfolio tool)
  • Notion
  • Screencasting/Curation tools (Screencastify) - see E068 for curation ideas
  • Audio tools (Mote, Vocaroo, Google Read&Write) - see E050 for other audio ideas
• Tips/Strategies for Implementation
  • Limit the number of pieces of work to highlight (adds creative constraints)
  • Include a list of possible reflection prompts
  • Include conferences/interviews at regular intervals
  • Focus on the process not on the product
  • Grade it only when needed (midterm, final)
  • Conferencing prep example - Evidence Journals from the Human Restoration Project

Support the show

Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are sharing our reflections and our goals for the new year. We'll go over both personal and professional goal setting as well as our personal reflections on the past year.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/73**

• Reflections:
  • "Quite the year"
  • Work-life balance is better when teaching virtually
  • A LOT has happened this past year
  • Coaching/relationship building is better in person
  • Connections are richer with staff and students this school year
  • Work-life balance in person has been challenging
  • Accessibility may be key to balance - social vs personal space
  • Introverts - being in person is draining even though we do enjoy being social
  • Relationships and building empathy are important and changes your approach and outlook
  • Pandemic has highlighted so many issues in education and pushed our learning
  • Our approach to teaching has changed drastically - ungrading, self-pacing, mastery-based grading
  • Recognize that both teachers and students have experienced trauma
• Work Goals:
  • Work-life balance
  • Implementing a skills-based, mastery-based classroom or PD
  • Leadership skills - emotions vs growing a thicker skin
  • Meditation using Headspace
• Personal Goals:
  • Focusing on our own learning - courses, music, coding, secret courses :)
  • Taking weekends off! Boredom is great for creativity and embrace the shutdown
  • Spend time with family - play, camping
• EduGals Goals:
  • Continue the slow growth - 100th episode coming up!
  • Sharing more via blog, webinars, conferences, articles, with colleagues
  • Follow through with blogging - go for done, not perfect!
  • Self-promotion via social media, buy us a coffee page
  • Continue talking about our "creative non-compliance" 
• Resources Mentioned:
  • Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman
  • Equity -Centered Trauma-Informed Education by Alex Shevrin Venet
  • Buil

Support the show

Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are discussing how to incorporate voice and choice in EdTech in our classrooms and how to avoid the silo. We'll get into voice and choice of EdTech tools for both teachers AND students as well as share some ideas around collaborating with colleagues to learn new EdTech tools.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/72**

• Feedback from Frank Ferraiuolo, Assistive Technology TOSA on E069 - Alternative Approaches to Professional Learning
  • Job-embedded PD within the teaching day
  • What's good for one is good for all - assistive tech is beneficial for all students
  • Coaches can help!
• Chris Nesi - House of EdTech Podcast
• We're taking a break and we'll be back with a new episode on Jan 4th, 2022!
• Tech is changing all the time - avoid the silo and keep your options open
• Learning about new options:
  • Collaboration and sharing via PLCs
  • Communication around student privacy and usage
  • Consider a blended learning team
  • Teacher-created and teacher-led PD (unconference format)
  • Curate tech tools, host learning & create mini-courses via your school library
  • Collaborative database (create via Google Data Studio using Forms & Sheets)
• Student Choice in EdTech:
  • Suggest tools but also be open to other tools suggested by students
  • Check out E067 for screencasting tool suggestions
  • Keep in mind, students might be using different browsers
  • Use a choice board 
  • Keep choices to a minimum. Avoid the overwhelm!
  • Conferencing with students about choices (mastery-based learning)
• When selecting tools, think about the goal first!
• Possible presentation tools: Google Slides, Genial.ly, Prezi, Canva and many, many more
• Curation of EdTech tools (software catalogues): 
  • Should be done based on goal and not by tool (think choose your own adventure) to find your options more easily
  • Would reduce overwhelm
• Possible Whiteboard tools: Google Jamboard, Microsoft Whiteboard, whiteboard.fi, whiteboard.chat, Explain Everything and many more
• Perhaps try rotating through 2-3 different tools within each category
• Possible Gamification tools: Kahoot!, Blooket, Quizizz, Quizlet Live, Gimkit (Free plan is now better!)

Support the show

Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are digging into the HOW of ungrading. In part 2 of this 2 part series, we are talking about different strategies and ideas to get started with ungrading in the classroom. It can feel pretty overwhelming to get started, so tune in to listen to some easy ways to dive into ungrading ideas.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/71**

Ideas/Strategies:

• Podcasting - listen to E050 for more info on Podcasting in the Classroom
• Focus on reflection of learning, process of learning
• Video - Screencastify/Screencastify Submit
• Feedback first before grades
• Involve students in grade determinations (conferencing, interviews)
• Student self-assessment of traditional tests
• Rubrics - consider single point rubrics, co-constructed with students
• Mastery-based grading or minimal grading scales - pass/fail, mastered/getting there/not yet, etc.
• Portfolio/Blogging - gathering the evidence of learning throughout a course
• Before each reporting period, consider process letters, conferences, interviews
• Seek admin support
• Balance between mastery-based grading and ungrading practices
• Start with your learning goal and choose strategies that support it
• Peer-to-peer feedback (scaffolded, sentence stems/frames, start with low stakes)
• Determining grades via self-, peer-, and teacher-feedback combined
• Grade-free zones (first 1/3 of your course)
• Contract grading

Links Mentioned:

• So You Wanna #Ungrade? The Practical Guide - Clarissa Sorensen-Unruh
• Grading Student Writing: Making It Simpler, Fairer, Clearer - Peter Elbow
• How To Ungrade: A Workshop (Jesse Stommel)
• Tweet: 12 alternatives to letter grades in education (Teach Thought)
• Peer Grade (useful tool for peer feedback)
• Sprint: Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas In Just 5 Days (Jake Knapp)

Support the show

Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are digging into the WHY of ungrading. In part 1 of this 2 part series, we are talking about our observations around assessment and evaluation as well as why we think ungrading is a conversation that needs to happen in education.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/70**

Our Big Why:

• Grades close down conversations and feedback - feels too final
• Shifting the focus away from grades towards learning
• Emotion is tied to grades
• Grades are not good feedback, they are just a single number and doesn’t reflect the entire learning process
• Grades encourage competitiveness over collaboration
• Can negatively affect your classroom community
• Looking at previous grades can change your perspective and builds in bias 
• Previous grades can be affected by so many extenuating circumstances
• Previous grades can make you highly suspicious of your students
• Get to know your students first, don’t look at previous grades
• Ungrading helps students to be more open to feedback and improving
• Consider a feedback first approach with reflection via Google Forms BEFORE releasing grades
• Grades provide finality. Without grades, the learning continues
• Language matters - how are you talking about your students?
• Students who learn how to play the game of school well are rewarded with good grades but are they actually learning?
• Self-paced, mastery-based grading approaches work well with ungrading by minimizing the grading scale
• Needs to begin with a shift in mindset - you want your students to succeed and get good grades
• What is the purpose of a unit test? What does it achieve?
• Start by trusting your students
• Talk to your admin to make sure they are onboard
• Promotes student metacognition - more reflective about their own learning
• Podcasting is great for reflection and learning!
• How equitable are grades and grading policies?
  • Learning skills in Ontario are Eurocentric - how equitable are they for all of our students?
  • Learning skills are a good place for self-assessment (Google Forms is helpful here)
  • Learning skills leak into grades - are you grading compliance or learning?
• Start by learning,  reading and sharing about ungrading

Resources Mentioned:

• Jesse Stommel - How to Ungrade: A Workshop
• When Report Cards Go Out On Fridays
• Ungrading: Why Rating Undermines Learni

Support the show

Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show