Hilary French

Google has just released the "Gemini Certified Educator" certification. The exam is FREE until January 1st. Check out my free study guide to help you prepare: chrmbook.com/s9e9/

@SweetheartHero #lovemarriage

Happy Valentine’s Day from Sweethearts & Heroes and Rick Yarosh, retired U.S. Army Sergeant and WORLD’S HOPE expert — behind every great man is an even better woman. The worst day of his life led him to the family he was meant to have: Hold On, Possibilities Exist. #HOPE

If you can only read one thing today, please make take the time for this extraordinary piece of writing by my cousin Caroline's extraordinary daughter Tatiana. Tatiana is a beautiful writer, journalist, wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. This piece is about what she has been going through for the last year and a half. It's an ode to all the doctors and nurses who toil on the frontlines of humanity. It's so many things, but best to read it yourself, and be blown away by one woman's life story. And let it be a reminder to be grateful for the life you are living today, right now, this very minute.

Exploring confusion around modelling: "I do, we do, you do" vs "Guided and Independent Practice" - teacherhead.com/2025/11/21/exp… via @teacherhead

Handwriting is not a motor skill. It is a reading skill. We treat them as separate subjects, but neuroscience says they are the same circuit. Last week I discussed Orthographic Mapping (OM). Many focus on the "sound" part, but miss the "motor" bridge. Here is why the hand teaches the brain to decode: 1. A common assumption is that writing is output (encoding) and reading is input (decoding). It turns out, they are physically linked in the brain. When literate adults read, their motor cortex (Exner’s Area) activates. You decode faster because your brain is secretly "writing" along with your eyes. It subconsciously simulates the strokes to recognize the letter instantly. 2. If a child has never physically written a letter, they lack this "motor file." They are forced to rely solely on visual memory to recognize the shape. Visual memory is notoriously weak for text because it is ambiguous. To a young kid's eye, 'b' and 'd' are the same object, just flipped (like a chair facing left vs. right). But to the hand? They are totally different. The distinct motor plan overrides the visual confusion. 3. When comparing handwriting with typing, the difference is stark. Hitting 'A' or 'B' feels exactly the same (a button press). It creates a weak map. Handwriting is constructive. You have to pull the geometry of the letter from memory. This "active construction" burns the neural pathway that makes decoding instantaneous later on. You can't easily read what you haven't physically mapped.

@DrBradJohnson Add in sudden PA announcements such as "Clear the halls" and "Door location" to the list

We talk about students coming to school with trauma, but what about the trauma we create in school? High-stakes testing in the early grades. Limited recess and playtime. Silent lunches. Recess taken away. Hardly any PE or time to move and de-stress. All of these are the very moments kids need most— to connect, to breathe, to just be kids. A kindergartner shouldn’t be in tears because of a standardized test

📚 An all-day Reading Rainbow marathon streams this Saturday, September 13th on PBS Retro! Celebrate the joy of reading all day long with LeVar Burton — where stories spark wonder and imagination. PBS Retro is available on Roku, Plex, and Prime Video.🌈

#BackToSchool2025 #StudentSeating edutopia.org/article/resear…

@radmayhem 🤩

Setting up for the school year! Listening to Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem! Check them out on Spotify!

youtu.be/CF9LnbtZpnI?si… Limitless, Season 2 Episode 1  👍👍 [Netflix]  #learning #music #benefits ✨🎶✨

#TeachingFeeling #pressure

Microsoft just released their list of the 40 jobs most AI-applicable and the 40 jobs least AI-applicable. This list may have overlap with replaceability and job transformation. (Phlebotomists, you've got nothing to worry about.)

With AI answers readily available, students are asking "Why do I need to work hard?" The solution isn't more content—it's deeper learning that develops agency, identity, and purpose through real-world problem solving. @tvanderark hubs.li/Q03wwtqC0

@alicekeeler Thanks for addressing this topic as a parent and educator. I agree that art is a great avenue to use whether you are part of the early majority, the late majority, or the laggards.

"Write a lesson plan, using the 5 E’s lesson plan model where students look at Art on Google Arts and Culture and then create their own art in order to learn linear equations." alicekeeler.com/2023/03/14/the… #GoogleEDU

Thanks for sharing about my session at #ISTELive25 and #ASCDannual, @EdWeekTeacher! The #AI tool my students use for image generation is @AdobeExpress - shout out to the #AdobeEduCreative community! @AdobeForEdu @ISTEofficial @ASCD @ISTEcommunity @MrsBongiornoEdu

#ISTELive #ASCD25

#ISTELive25 #ASCDAnnual25 @EduDanceInspire