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February 2025

News from North Ed REMC 2C - Instructional Technology Support

February in Michigan is cold and can bring blustery winds and snow, but it also holds the promise of longer daylight and the gradual return of warmer weather. Just like the changing seasons, remember that even the toughest challenges in the classroom will eventually pass. Embrace the beauty of winter, find moments of joy in the classroom, and know that spring is on the horizon. We have loaded this month's newsletter up with lots of inspiring and helpful ideas to give your classroom an extra boost for February. Thank you for your continued readership and requests! We love supporting our educator community and providing free and flexible resources for you year-round!

Sincerely,

The REMC 2C Team



February PD at REMC 2C

Ed Tech Meet Up

Feb. 19, 12-3 p.m.

Join fellow Ed Tech Educators in a conversation over lunch!

REMC 2C is coming to North Ed Admin!

Lunch and Learn:

11:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Bring your lunch to the Leelanau Room and get a quick tutorial on these topics.

Feb. 13: Canva

Feb. 26: AI

ED TECH TOOLS

Khanmigo + Blooket = 🤩

We love gamified learning! We've even talked about gamification on our podcast, episode two of Classroom Connections. It creates an engaging atmosphere for students, and it's fun for teachers too. Now you can create content-focused Blookets with the help of Khanmigo! That's even more free, content-focused learning fun for the classroom. You don't have to spend a lot of time creating or searching for Blookets; let Khanmigo's AI help make quizzes for your classroom.

Watch this video from Blooket.

Featured Materials

We have various Lego sets available to borrow. Duplo Sets: SEL, STEAM Park, Tubes, Coding Train, and Storytales.

Lego for Education: Spike Prime, Motion Essentials, Motion Prime.

Lego kits:

Make vehicles that can be used with this lesson plan on "force" for third grade and sixth grade.

We also have Bionicles and Gears and Gadgets. See what other materials we have on our website.

AI Prompts You Can Use

Prompt engineering, the process in which you interact with chatbots. Commonly known chatbots are ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. A well written prompt is a skill that takes practice and needs some guidelines for creating. Here's an infographic of the top 10 elements of a good prompt construction. This was created based off of Eric Curts, Control Alt Achieve, and his work on analyzing prompt engineering. You can find his blog post here.

Teacher Care

Did you know that practicing gratitude can boost your happiness by 25%? Creating a gratitude writing habit can help improve sleep and reduce sick days. It does not need to be a lengthy writing activity. Just a sentence a day can make a change in mindset and well-being. You can find gratitude journals by doing a quick Google search, and Canva even has Gratitude Journal pages. Simply grabbing a sticky note at the end of your day and jotting down something good that happened can be enough to boost that good mental well-being before you leave.

REMC Association February Courses

Courses starting Feb. 3:

• Amplifying Student Voice
• Creating Instructional Videos for the Classroom
• Design, Engage, Transform with Canva
• Developing Student Media Literacy
• Digital Tools for Classroom Collaboration
• Increase Math Engagement with Technology
• Teaching Google Workspace

PD for the whole year can be found on the REMC.org >>Professional Learning webpage.

MiSTEM Network Region 13 is offering educators across our region (Antrim, Benzie, Charlevoix, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Leelanau counties) a chance to attend the MSTA Conference OR the MACUL Conference 2025.

The educators selected will have registration fees and a two-night hotel stay covered by the MiSTEM Network. Apply today! Parking, travel and food must be covered by the individual or their school district. Interested in this offer? Fill out this Google Form.

TeacherCon 2025

This summer, CSforMichigan Collaborative is thrilled to welcome teachers to a variety of engaging Computer Science workshops. Workshops are tailored to different grade levels and content areas. Each session is designed to inspire, inform and elevate your teaching experience. Don't miss this chance to connect with fellow educators and explore innovative CS topics. Join us for an enriching summer of learning and collaboration! Part of the registration process includes automatic consideration for scholarship and hotel registration. For more information follow the registration link below.

Contact North Ed's Instructional Technology Department with any questions!

Peter Milne

Instructional Technology Specialist

231.922.6210

pmilne@NorthwestEd.org

Danielle Humphrey

REMC Support Specialist, REMC 2C

231.922.6217

dhumphrey@NorthwestEd.org