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Holiday parties with 17 different forms of sugar. Every concert, performance, and program known to man. Candy canes sharpened into stabby weapons.

That’s right, y’all. It’s the week before winter break.

This week can feel like a roller coaster whipping teachers between feeling festive and celebratory one minute and utterly exhausted the next. These TikTok teachers have boiled down all the competing emotions and various stressors of this time of year and packaged them into perfect little clips for us. What a gift!

This pre-K teacher and the week-before-break conversations with littles

@mrwilliamsprek

Only one day left before winter break, fellow teachers! We got this! We can do it! #teachersoftiktok #teacherlife #teacher #teacherhumor #winterbreak

♬ Jingle Bell Rock – Bobby Helms

I haven’t taught pre-K before, but Mr. Williams made me feel like I had. And I need a nap just from watching.

This teacher who somehow channeled every

What Is The Internet Of Things? A One-Sentence Definition

by TeachThought Staff

For those who just came for the definition, the internet of things is the connection of smart electronic devices in our daily lives.

For the sake of simplicity, think of the phrase not in its entirety–the internet of things–but rather by stressing the last word: the internet of things.

Examples Of The Internet Of Things

A few examples of the ‘things’ that make up the internet of things as we know it today include:

• smart automotive technology
• smart thermostats
• smart televisions
• smart refrigerators
• smart garages
• smart lights
• smart curtains

Notice the word ‘smart’ prefacing everything? Eventually, that distinction won’t be necessary. In many countries and cities anyway (who knows how the planet ultimately will and won’t ‘develop’), the expectation will likely simply be that all ‘things’ be ‘smart.’

How Does The Internet Of Things Work?

The meaning of “personalized learning” is rooted in research and practice pointing to the following conclusions: Children have an innate drive to learn, and how they learn best varies from child to child. Kids are not passive, empty vessels waiting to be filled with facts but rather active, innately curious explorers. 

Two concepts connected with progressive education’s version of personalized learning are particularly intriguing to me. One is “constructing knowledge” and the other is “making meaning.” The phrase “constructing knowledge” evokes a vision of kids actively participating in learning and that what they’ve learned serves as a foundation on which to build their understanding of new information they encounter. Meanwhile, the term “making meaning” describes the human drive to understand, make sense of, and relate to whatever they encounter. In education, making meaning suggests that real, usable learning occurs when children grasp a concept so deeply that they can actively

Data show that learning gaps are most pronounced for children from underserved communities and historically marginalized communities. The same ones that also see consistent inequities and opportunity gaps from generation to generation. If we know where it’s happening and to whom, how do we break the cycle? 

By starting students on a strong foundational path and inviting the parents to be part of that journey, districts can solidify the long-term academic success of those students. This means investing in early childhood education as much as possible, and in the most critical communities.

Superintendent Carvalho has brought strategic ideas on how to tackle this challenge to LAUSD, starting with universal early childhood programs. “Districts with good strategic orientation, through a lens of equity, should begin making these investments in early education in these historically underserved communities. If you start early enough, you can obliterate the inequities in our education system.” 

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