AACPS OIT Byte

By: Koralina McKenna, Teacher Specialist - Office of Instructional Technology When I started teaching in 2016, I made it a point to ask students for their preferred name; I took notes on pronunciation and tried my best to get it right as soon as possible. But, it wasn't until 2020 that I added "preferred pronouns" to my first day survey. I created a way to keep track of my students preferred names and pronouns and made sure they were easily accessible for any sub or visitor in my classroom. These simple practices can affirm students' identity and help build a culturally responsive classroom. However, I quickly learned that I needed to do more to support my students and technology could make that seemingly daunting task a little easier.  In my early years, I often overlooked the Read&Write tool; mostly I found the purple puzzle piece to be an annoyance - until I came to appreciate how it could open up the digital world for all my students. During a reading heavy l...

By: Koralina McKenna, Teacher Specialist, Office of Instructional Technology It’s that time of the year again; perhaps the most dreaded time of year - testing season. Where teachers everywhere scramble to keep their students engaged with meaningful content in between this test or that. For me my greatest challenge during this time was trying not to overwhelm the brains of my fresh-out-of-testing students with brand new material or highly rigorous activities without completely blowing off my instruction.  I spent my planning periods trying to delicately map out how to keep my classes in sync, debating whether to introduce new content or review prior content, all while managing my own stress brought on by testing.  This is the tightrope walked by teachers everyday but I found it particularly arduous during testing season. With this post I offer you the gift of ready-to-use activities, challenges, games and more. Below you will find a wide range of whole group or individual optio...