Teaching Practices to Try in the New Year

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stories that Inspired Us newsletter, where we take a look back at some stories that had a strong impact on us and our readers.

To celebrate 2023, this month we’re taking a closer look at a few innovative teaching strategies, instructional tools, and pedagogical approaches that you can try out in your classroom to reinvigorate your practice.

4 Reasons to Try Augmented Reality in Your Classroom

“Much like voice recognition technology and even artificial intelligence, augmented reality (AR) is increasingly making its way into classrooms. With the potential to make way for learning experiences that we couldn’t have even dreamed of a decade ago, the implications of this new technology are exciting!”

Read 4 Reasons to Try Augmented Reality in Your Classroom here.

Reframing Our Industry’s Relationship with “Personalized Learning”

By Dylan Arena, VP, Learning Science, McGraw Hill School

“Teachers have always sought to know their students, because they have always understood that personalizing learning is a matter of helping students take ownership of their learning while navigating their complex lives. Teachers have always known, in short, that their work is about relationships.”

Read Reframing Our Industry’s Relationship with “Personalized Learning” here.

5 Ways to Form Authentic Connections with Students

By Mindy Spelius, Former Educator & Academic Designer

“In my third year of teaching, we introduced communication journals. At the end of each day, students wrote letters to their families and to me in a spiral notebook. They shared celebrations, struggles, questions, and more. Parents, grandparents, caregivers, and I then responded in writing to the student, sharing information and understanding about what was happening at school, and sometimes outside of school.”

Read 5 Ways to Form Authentic Connections with Students here.

How to Give Students Helpful Feedback on Writing

“You may have already heard of the concept of “feedforward.” Essentially, the idea is that feedback focuses on a person’s performance in the past, whereas feedforward focuses on their opportunities for growth in the future.”

Read How to Give Students Helpful Feedback on Writing here.