We know that children learn best through play and that, more than ever before, we need to keep students engaged and wanting to come to school. Especially in a time where we had some students home and some in person, our zoomies and roomies, respectively. Group work was put on the back burner due to social distancing and CDC guidelines. This created new barriers but did not make it impossible. One of my favorite hybrid lessons was one where we thought outside of the box with what a classroom should look like and released some of that control by trusting the students who were not in front of us ..read more

English has always been a strong suit in my book and a passion of mine to learn about and, fortunately these days, teach.  That being said, the early years of my teaching career were spent overcoming the common pitfalls and “the way we’ve always done it” mentality.  Falling for the way I used to learn and just assuming that was a successful process in this day an age lead me to a rude awakening as I quickly realized how disconnected and disengaged my students were with the novels we read and the discussions we had alongside the work we did in class.  Though the COVID-19 experi ..read more

This fall, MSET was happy to partner with Teq to present the Teaching Made Fun Again Learning Series. This series includes great STEM topics on artificial intelligence, Minecraft, game-based learning, makerspaces, and more. In this blog article, we are going to expand on what Teq had to offer Maryland educators, and how they are supporting the effective use of technology in the classroom. Teq has been in business for over 50 years, with employees based across the country and their headquarters in Huntington Station, New York. Their business is focused on supporting K12 customers with ..read more

Ready for some fun, engaging professional development? Over the summer, member input was used to create monthly themes for the 2022-2023 school year. The themes include: September - Computational Thinking, October - Cyber Security Awareness, November - STEM/STEAM, December - Gamification, January - AR/VR, February - Maryland Tech Leaders, March - Equity and Inclusion, April - Accessibility for All, and May - Grant Writing. MSET is committed to providing relevant professional development to meet the needs of all Maryland educators. The Teaching Made Fun Again Learning Series provided by MSET a ..read more

MSET has an exciting lineup of professional development webinars this month! Putting the SAMR Model into Practice & Supporting High School Students as they Transition to College Join us Wednesday, April 13 at 8PM EDT for a double session. First, Jeromie Whalen, a technology teacher at Northampton Public Schools in Massachusetts is going to discuss putting the SAMR model into practice. Not familiar with the SAMR model? Essentially, it is a model that helps us to determine the right tool based on the task we want students to complete. A visual depiction of the model is included below.  ..read more

By BRIAN COOK I love working as an instructional technology coach. It’s the opportunity to work with educators on the frontlines where they are trying new tools and implementing new strategies to enhance learning in their classroom that gets me pumped. In my work, my favorite strategy is implementing coaching cycles. Coaching individuals is a methodical process involving inquiring to understand the current landscape of the classroom, planning with attainable goals, acting through co-teaching and modeling, and finally reflecting to identify areas of improvement.  If this sounds right up y ..read more

Last month, MSET invited two members of the Employee Induction and Professional Learning Department in Frederick County Schools to present The Science of Learning: Using Technology to Reduce Cognitive Load.  Maureen Corio and Tammy Sander led a 30 minute presentation packed full of strategies on how teachers can use tech tools to reduce the stress of the classroom.  The learning leaders from FCPS explained how frequent check-ins to provide feedback allow students to review their progress on their work and get proper guidance on how to meet their learning goal.  Tools from Google ..read more

On Wednesday, December 8th University of Maryland Global Campus’s (UMGC) Instructional Technology faculty will be sharing some of their favorite infographic tools during MSET’s monthly Speed Tech professional development webinar. Speed Tech, a professional development collaboration between MSET and UMGC, offers six, five-minute presentations (30 minutes) on popular web tools and applications in education. This month’s edition will have a festive theme with a plethora of ideas for you to take back to your classroom. A preview of the infographic tools are offered here: Canva Canva is a powerfu ..read more

By MAKAYLA MERRILL As educators, we work hard to implement effective and research-based practices in our classroom daily. To keep everyone healthy, education has undergone tremendous shifts. Many of the best practices we relied on have become an outright safety hazard. Technology, when harnessed properly, can fill in many of these gaps. However, with so many educational technology tools readily available, sorting through and finding the right tool to meet your needs can be overwhelming.  Differentiation is one of the most powerful tools in my first-grade classroom, and it has been s ..read more

Students deserve the opportunity to engage in their learning and enjoy the process of learning. Sometimes it can be challenging, and trial and error often occurs, but that’s how learning happens. My school district has been fortunate to bring the iPad into our classrooms as the primary device for their instruction. The change has offered limitless opportunities where students can create by drawing, video, and audio using the iWork Apple tools (i.e., Keynote, Pages, and Numbers). Tonight’s session will showcase five quick tips or strategies anyone with an iPad. Measurement: Science teachers lo ..read more