Daniel Leonard

Question: What's Your Favorite Outside-the-Box Classroom Icebreaker? What’s your most effective—and unexpected—way to break the ice and build classroom community from day one?

Question: What's your favorite outside-the-box classroom icebreaker?

Check out what our community is saying and add your own: www.edutopia.org/article/ques...

#EduSky

Teachers, what's the go-to icebreaker you use to melt awkward silence?

I'm chasing surprises: six-word bios, paper "snowball" fights, and anything else that sparks community fast. Share what's worked for you; it may show up in an upcoming article!

I'm working on an article for new teachers about design tips that will help to optimize a classroom for learning.

Appreciate the help!

Teachers, what’s a classroom-design move that truly boosted learning for your students?

Think glare-reducing setups, fresh-air fixes, culturally responsive displays, flexible seating, or any other tweak that made a real difference. Let me know your grade level and why it works!

Question: What Are Your Alternatives to Book Reports? Traditional book reports can feel like a chore for students, but there are plenty of alternatives. What are your favorites?

A lot of this discussion is now happening in a thread we created on our website. I definitely recommend that teachers check it out to get some ideas from their peers—or to leave their own!

edut.to/41IsnaM

I've really appreciated seeing teachers' responses to my question about alternatives to traditional book reports.

From one-pagers, to redesigning the book's cover, to having students roleplay as a character for a mock interview, so many fascinating ideas have come through.

Teachers, what are some alternatives to traditional book reports that you use to gauge students' understanding of a text?

Book talks? Movie trailers? I'd love to hear more about what is working for you.

AI Tool Demo: Canva’s Text-to-Image Generator Assistant editor Daniel Leonard shows how teachers are using Canva’s AI image generator to create fun writing prompts and engaging history-oriented images.

You can watch the full video here: www.edutopia.org/video/ai-too...

I've really enjoyed making videos for @edutopia.org showcasing how teachers use various online tools.

Here's a snippet from the first one—covering Canva's AI image generator and how it can be used to boost critical thinking in history class. Hopefully it's useful!

#EduSkyAI #HistoryEducation