The IDEA Blog

Working in multiple communities across the country, we can tell you that for some kids the thought of summer break brings to mind spending their day in spaces that are not as structured or safe as their school environment creates anxiety. Even some teachers struggle with going on summer break because the change in routine does impact their nervous systems. There are environmental issues students face in their homes over the summer that they don’t face in school, and change is hard for everyone. What can schools do to equip students with self-regulation skills that they can use at home as they leave for summer break?

Do you want students to feel a deeper and lasting connection with their work and develop transferable skills? If so, participation in a project-based learning (PBL) experience is the solution. Providing students with an opportunity to share their capstone projects is an engaging way to motivate students through the process, but also allow them to feel that they can create purposeful, real-world products and outcomes.

One of the most rewarding aspects of education is observing moments when everything clicks for a student and their self-confidence grows. And although being a teacher is not all rainbows and sunshine, those lightbulb moments make all of the hard work worth it. This story is from a fourth-grade teacher at Denver Public Schools that witnessed a student transform when computer science was introduced into the classroom.

Students need social and emotional skills for school and daily life. Especially today, where technology can manipulate our emotions and erode our social skills unlike ever before. None of this should be controversial. Swivl thinks a new way forward is possible by making reflection a part of every learning activity, for every student, every day. We can explain this best by first explaining the reflective technology we’ve built to enable it.

For students, learning needs to feel purposeful and relevant. There are many ways to infuse transferable skills into every lesson, especially project-based learning (PBL) projects.

For centuries we’ve known there are two requirements for learning: engagement and reflection. Modern students experience a massive imbalance between these two requirements. Students’ lives are filled with more engagement than they can handle, and arguably less reflection than they need. The reflection that is part of their school experience is often too limited. Swivl believes a new path forward that addresses these challenges is possible by seeing reflection for what it is: a necessary tool for learning.

President John F. Kennedy once said “Leadership and learning are indispensable to one another.” IDEA's Students for Innovation: Advocacy Day exemplifies this quote unlike any other event I have been a part of as an educator. This annual event invites students and their teachers from across Illinois to showcase how they use technology in the classroom at the State Capitol building in Springfield. It’s an incredible opportunity for students to directly speak to their state representatives about the impact technology has had on them, and advocate for more technology in Illinois schools.

In the dynamic landscape of K-12 education, digital portfolios are gaining traction as powerful tools for student growth and assessment. This blog from Wakelet explores why portfolios are relevant in the K-12 sector and how Wakelet can help.

This previously published blog post tells about the impact and importance of Students for Innovation: Advocacy Day from a teacher’s perspective. If you’ve never been involved, Ami Young’s blog gives you an idea of what Advocacy Day is and how her students have been able to amplify their voices through Advocacy Day.

Students for Innovation: Advocacy Day is an Illinois Digital Educators Alliance event that has been around for 30+ years. If you’ve never participated or attended, you may not know what it is or why it is so important and impactful. This post offers a former superintendent’s perspective on how Advocacy Day is amplifying student voices in a big way and why you should be involved. Author John Closen was a superintendent at the time he attended his first Advocacy Day, and he has been a staunch advocate for the day ever since!

There is a huge misconception as to what school libraries are all about and many people, including lawmakers, are failing to see the power that school libraries have to redefine learning and create learners who thrive on collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. This is exactly why we need events like IDEA's Advocacy Day. We need a forum that will allow our students a voice to bring awareness to the amazing things happening in our classrooms and in our libraries, especially in times where budgets are being cut and school libraries are disappearing.