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Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers

EP301 5 ways to make an old lesson feel fresh and interesting again (with Betsy Potash of Spark Creativity)

Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers

Angela Watson

Education, Courses

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2024

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Bored with your curriculum or instructional routines? I'm talking with Betsy Potash of the Spark Creativity Podcast about easy ways to make things feel fresh and interesting again.

Often we switch things up in our teaching to keep ourselves from getting bored. But, too much change can create unnecessary work for us. It can also waste class time for students as they spend more energy on figuring out how to complete an assignment than on practicing the skills we want them to learn. 

So, Betsy's identified 5 open-ended activities that you can add to your rotation of go-to strategies, and incorporate them in unique ways throughout the year. We're talking about how to use the following in gr. 2-12 classrooms:

• podcasts
• stations
• hexagonal thinking
• escape room design
• one-pager

Betsy will definitely spark your creativity as you listen to these easy-to-understand activities which you can plug into the lessons you're least excited to teach. These ideas will get students actively engaged in learning and boost your energy and enthusiasm as a teacher. 

Click here to read the transcript, see photos of the lesson ideas, and get links to Betsy's templates.

Resources mentioned:

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to episode 301 of Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers. I'm your host, Angela Watson,

0:08.8

and I'm here to speak encouragement into the hearts of educators and get you informed and energized

0:13.6

for the week ahead. Today I'm talking with Betsy Potash of Spark Creativity about how to make an old

0:20.3

lesson feel fresh and interesting again.

0:23.2

Visit truthforteachers.com for an easy-to-read, easy-to-share version of this podcast episode.

0:32.0

Elevate your career in early child development at Erickson Institute, a trusted and respected premier graduate school.

0:39.3

Erickson's online master's in early childhood education provides the expertise to lead initiatives

0:45.3

that shape young minds. Balancing your life, work, and studies is made easier with this fully online program,

0:51.3

offering part-time or full-time study options.

0:55.4

Join a community of nationally recognized faculty and learn alongside experienced practitioners.

1:01.2

Apply today at Erickson.edu.

1:04.2

That's E-R-I-K-S-O-N.edu.

1:10.2

If you want to have smoother conversations with students' families around IEPs, season

1:15.3

three of the Understood Explains podcast can help.

1:19.2

It's like a free crash course on IEPs from the perspective of a teacher who's been there.

1:25.0

You can share this resource directly with families to help them understand

1:28.7

the IEP process and advocate for themselves and their kids. Understood Explains is also available in

1:35.1

Spanish to support multilingual families. And it's all free. To listen to Understood Explains,

1:41.8

search for Understood Explains in your podcast app.

1:44.9

That's Understood Explains.

1:49.5

My guest today is Betsy Potash, who has taught English at every high school grade level

1:55.0

and now channels her experience and love for education into making the way easier for creative teachers.

...

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