Unboxing Education

🧠💥 What does Fight Club have to do with AI policy in education? More than you’d think. Let’s talk about something no one seems to want to talk about: AI in student work. 🧩 Thought Experiment: Why Is AI Use Considered Cheating? 🎓📱 Imagine this scenario: You receive an essay that’s technically perfect, but something feels… off. You suspect AI helped write it. But before jumping to conclusions, consider: Why would students turn to AI in the first place? Two possibilities came to mind: 🕒 They believe the assignment is a waste of their time. ❓ They don’t understand why they’re doing the task. And then I had to ask myself the tough question: 🪞 What am I not doing that has led them to these assumptions? 👊 Back to Basics: My “No-AI” AI Policy Here’s the twist—just like in Fight Club, I don’t start by talking about AI at all. I start with connection. 💬 Step 1: The One-on-One Meeting At the start of each term, I require a 1:1 student conference. This 5–10 minute chat sets the tone: 👂 I...

There’s No Magic Bullet in Virtual Instruction—and That’s a Good Thing When you started teaching virtually, you probably found yourself asking: "What’s the one tool, activity, or strategy that will finally reach all my students?" I hear it all the time as an instructional coach: “Just tell me the best way to...” But here’s the truth I always circle back to— There is no magic bullet in virtual instruction. And honestly? That’s not a problem. That’s the point. The virtual learning model is designed to give students personalized pathways,  not standardized experiences. That means it’s perfectly normal (and expected ) for students to take different routes to the same goal. As teachers, it’s our job to provide multiple access points, not one perfect solution. The Myth of “One-Size-Fits-All” In a traditional classroom, we’re already used to differentiation, but online, it can quickly feel overwhelming. It's not just about a conversation; it may be lesson design, 1 on 1 m...

🎯 Why Instructional Coaching Matters Even More in Virtual Asynchronous Schools 💡 Isolation is Real—But Coaching Can Break It All teaching can feel isolating. Even with teachers just down the hall, some may feel left out or unsure. In virtual asynchronous schools, teachers often work alone behind a screen, compounding the isolation.  🟡 No hallway conversations 🟡 No informal classroom visits 🟡 No quick team huddles after school 🎯 Instructional coaching is the bridge between isolation and innovation. While good coaching is the same in any school environment, in a virtual, asynchronous school, intentionality is key to meaningful conversations.  “Coaching in Brick-and-Mortar vs. Virtual Schools” Coaching Role Brick & Mortar School 🏫 Virtual Asynchronous School 💻 Peer Collaboration Daily, informal Rare, must be intentional Feedback Opportunities Frequent and real-time Needs to be scheduled and structured Access to Classroom Practice Ea...

 What does learning look like in the age of AI? Generated with Adobe Firefly AI Cheating Is Getting Worse AI cheating is hopelessly, irreparably corrupting US higher education AI cheating is overwhelming the education system These headlines tend to frighten educators both about their current work and their future relevance. It has caused me to honestly reflect on what I want my students to do and know upon leaving my courses.  Do I want them to know HOLM  (the acronym for Shakespeare's tragedies)?  Or, do I want them to think critically about human behavior and universal themes? What it comes down to is that I want my students to think about their learning. This is why the use of AI presents problems in the classroom. Not because it shortcuts creativity or gives them ideas they wouldn't have come up with. Those aspects can be assets to certain learners. As I wrote here , I want students to know, or remember, the purpose of assessment, and it's not to submit the corre...

 Have you ever struggled to explain to people what it is you do all day?  At the intersection of virtual teaching and instructional coaching, I feel this. Many of the excellent resources for instructional coaching are geared toward in-person classrooms.  What does a virtual instructional coach do? The same thing they encourage their teachers to do: Borrow, Adapt, Innovate. Here is a graphic I made to explain my role to my teachers.  Click here to view in Canva This graphic adapts the 5 coaching approaches in Jill Jackson's book,  How to Coach Teachers to Teach (almost) Anything.

Do you feel attacked when you open your To Be Graded list?   Nearly every online teacher has been in a situation where the grading inbox seems to be an avalanche of work that needs attention, feedback, and evaluation. There are even days when a teacher grades one assignment only to return to find the queue has grown by 5.  While most of the advice available begins with the beginning, course design, there are things a teacher can do TODAY to manage the load. Then, the teacher can find time to plan for the future, to minimize the storm of grading next semester. What to do TODAY: Wrangle the TBG Monster (To Be Graded): 1. Search for or scan for items that are easy to grade. Eliminate short assignments, assignments with rubrics attached, and anything that is for completion. Return any blank assignments, documents that are not shared, or other errors in submission. 2. Sort by Date: Feedback is most impactful when it is timely. If an assignment is more than 5 school days old, the st...

 Did you know Canva has a built-in accessibility checker? Find it in the File menu under View Settings: The checker even has AI built in to help you generate alt text quickly and easily. See demo below: If you are looking for even more info about best practices for accessibility, check out this webinar from Canva.  You can also check out resources from CAST here for UDL guidelines.