Five Key Moments from Imagine Simply Teaching

The recent Imagine Learning virtual symposium was loaded with ready-to-use tips and new perspectives. As a leader in PreK–12 digital curricula, supplemental support, and virtual instruction, Imagine Learning hosted the jam-packed event, which gathered EdTech experts to share research, strategies, and inspiration for inspired teaching. From student-led learning to AI ethics, these specialists illuminated best practices for creating dynamic digital classrooms where every student – and teacher! – can thrive.

Want the download to tamper your FOMO? Here are five major moments from the symposium.

1. Ditch the burnout with sustainable workflows

Keynote speaker Dr. Catlin Tucker understands the educator burnout struggle is real. But it doesn’t have to be! This Apple Distinguished Educator guided attendees in a shift toward student-led learning. Let your tech handle the info delivery so you can focus on individual facilitation and relationships, flex those blended learning muscles to find your instructional flow, and, most importantly, share the responsibility with students so they own their learning. Embracing this new workflow can help lighten your load and keep your passion lit.

“We have to learn to share the responsibility with our students, or it’s nearly impossible to find a healthy balance.”

2. Rewrite the math story from “I can’t” to “I math”

Uncertain-looking high school teacher looking over their shoulder at their encouraging teacher

Deborah Peart believes everyone can tap into their inner mathiness. To do so, we need to check our own baggage. When teachers confront their own math trauma, they pave the way for students to forge positive math identities, too. Bring on the math joy: trade rote rules for collaborative concept development and ditch the math anxiety to foster a community where mistakes lead to growth, not shame. It all starts with reframing math as a life skill, not a gatekeeper.

“Mathers math. They can think creatively. They can share their ideas.”

“We have to learn to share the responsibility with our students, or it’s nearly impossible to find a healthy balance.”

Dr. Catlin Tucker

3. Let inquiry unleash critical thinking

Inquiry gets students vested in driving their own learning, says Dr. Kathy Swan. Her formula for inquiry success? Compelling questions + curated sources and authentic tasks. The benefits include skills like research, analysis, curiosity, and civic agency. Another perk is that it stretches learners of all ages when done developmentally. Whether debating Dr. King’s legacy or designing ways to save endangered species, inquiry taps curiosity to unlock critical thinking.

“By reinventing the wheel, we can improve performance, better tread, speed, durability.”

Group of high school students seated at their desks and surrounding an enthusiastic teacher

4. Code today to shape the AI future

Teacher sitting and talking in front of a high school classroom

The robots are coming! The robots are coming! Fortunately, with the right STEM skills, students can be the masters, not the minions. Adam Dalton makes the case for coding and the 4Cs – critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity – as essentials to shaping the future. Virtual simulation platforms like Imagine Robotify turn coding into play, and when students code, create, and compete, it builds the problem-solving skills needed to drive innovation. AI can amplify human potential, but it needs engaged, ethical, STEM-savvy humans behind the tech.

“I am a big believer in teaching students how to use the forces of STEM to be ready for the AI future that is happening right now and tomorrow.”

5. Don’t fear the AI: guide students for good

ChatGPT got you tongue-tied? Deb Rayow says AI is here to help, not harm, student learning. First, lock down an academic integrity policy, then start prompts, pronto. It takes some practice, but ChatGPT can generate personalized lessons, leveled texts, and more with the right prompts. The key is maintaining human judgment – and teaching media literacy so students keep it real. They’ll need sharp skills to tell bot from human and fake news from facts. So, embrace the AI future! With ethics and empathy, our students can make this tech sing.

“Our job as educators is not just getting kids to complete courses. It’s to prepare them for the world that they’re graduating into.”

Elementary student working on laptop and high-fiving their teacher

The Imagine Learning symposium delivered inspired teaching topics from real talk on sustaining teacher engagement to getting AI-ready. Educators were motivated and empowered not just to survive the current and future landscape but to thrive in it.

Find recordings of the sessions, blogs, and speakers’ resources here.