June 2026

Professional Development

Available self-paced training:

1. Introduction to Magic School

2. Magic Student

3. Clipchamp

4. Next Level
   
   

New self-paced training for the summer: 

1. Nearpod

2. Are You Hitting All Five? A Technology Integration Challenge

3. Approaching Technology with a UDL Mindset

4. Teams
   
   

self-paced training I'm working on over the summer:

1. Kami

2. Canva Code

3. Wayground

4. Padlet

Wayground! (Quizizz)!

We are purchasing Wayground (formerly known as Quizizz, but it's not just about quizzes anymore people!) for the middle school and high school. We have always had access to the free version of Wayground (you just have to get used to the new name) but that came with some important limitations. Now our middle and high school teachers will have full access to the platform, which has evolved from just gamified quizzes to much, much more. It is a powerful tool and there will be lots of opportunities to learn more about it in the coming months. Yay!  

Seesaw

I've received many questions about Seesaw, as the shadow of ParentSquare looms large. It is true that we will move to ParentSquare for family messaging. However, messaging is only one small component of Seesaw. Elementary teachers will still have access to all the wonderful instructional tools that Seesaw offers. If you've only ever used Seesaw to send messages, now is the time to learn about everything else it has to offer! 

For those who do take fuller advantage of Seesaw, but have been frustrated that it lacks the ability to embed Youtube videos, your frustrations are over! You can now embed Youtube videos directly in your Seesaw activities, and students will be able to watch them. That's a feature many of us have been waiting over a year for and it's so exciting that it's finally functional. 

TIM Matrix and Anti-Edtech Voices

You might be seeing more chatter on social media and in the news about growing anti-edtech voices calling for a return to fully analog teaching and learning. This comes on the heels of conversations born out of the book, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. We are developing a polished response to all that chatter in case it starts making the rounds in our community, but it all boils down to avoiding big pendulum swings and aiming for intentional technology integration that puts learning first without chasing the next shiny edtech toy. This intentional approach benefits from grounding in guiding documents. One example of this is the Universal Design for Learning framework. Another great example that you might not have heard of is the TIM, or technology integration matrix. If you're familiar with the SAMR model, this matrix should feel like the next logical step in reflecting on how we integrate technology into our instructional practices. You can check out that matrix here. 

Technology Survey

Joe Harmon and I have been working on a technology survey that we hope to get approved and send to all teachers before the end of the school year. I know surveys are not exactly everyone's favorite thing, but technology can also be a hot button topic so this is a great chance for teachers to include their voice. In the future, we'll probably look at ways to gamify survey completion but for now, Joe would like to put it out there and see how it goes. Please, please, please, pretty please encourage your teachers to take a couple minutes to complete the survey, and complete it yourself, when it comes out.