MAKING IT EASIER TO BE A BETTER TEACHER

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Here’s our weekly roundup of interesting education stories from around the world. Click each link to learn more:

• Australia just banned social media for those under 16 - here’s how tech companies are responding.

• How bad is violence at your school? This teacher had a knife pulled on him - and he’s got a strong warning for educators.

• Leaders from NotebookLM just left to create their own startup - will it be another education goldmine?

TECH TALK

Ever wish quizzes made themselves?

Crafting quizzes, discussion prompts, and study questions can be time-consuming, especially when juggling multiple subjects. But what if your documents could do the work for you?

This week we dive into Part II of our deep dive into NotebookLM to see exactly how it can put your resources to work to make interactive assessments.

The Solution: NotebookLM (by Google)

NotebookLM isn’t just about organizing resources like we saw last Wednesday; it’s also a powerhouse for creating question-based learning assessments. 

By uploading documents such as textbooks, lesson plans, or research articles, teachers can prompt NotebookLM to generate customized quizzes, comprehension questions, or discussion prompts.

For example, after uploading a lesson or chapter on the water cycle, you could prompt NotebookLM to create a set of 10 multiple-choice questions, identify critical discussion points, or suggest short-answer prompts.

This is not the same as ChatGPT where you’re asking the bot based on your own prompts - NotebookLM is using the actual resources to create assessments.

Teachers can adjust these outputs to align with their lesson goals or tweak the difficulty to suit their students’ needs. NotebookLM even offers explanations for generated questions, which can double as teacher guides or be shared with students for independent study (super helpful for supply teacher plans as well!).

How About YOUR Classroom?

NotebookLM’s ability to create tailored questions turns an hours-long task into just minutes, freeing teachers to focus on delivering engaging lessons.

Strategies:

• Instant Assessments: Upload lesson plans or subject guides and generate quizzes to assess students' understanding in real-time, cutting prep time drastically.

• Fuel Discussions: Use NotebookLM to craft thoughtful discussion prompts that encourage critical thinking and engage students in meaningful dialogue about the topic at hand.

• Personalized Homework: Create differentiated homework assignments by generating questions at varying levels of complexity to challenge all learners appropriately.

Whether you’re using it to simplify assessments or deepen classroom discussions, NotebookLM provides teachers with the tools to create interactive and engaging learning materials in less time. 

Best of all? Just like last week, this feature is free to use—so you can give it a try without hesitation.

BRAINY BITS

Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence: A Duo for Better Classrooms?

Building meaningful connections in the classroom is a cornerstone of effective teaching - at least according to this week’s Brainy Bit coming from a 2023 study of English teachers. 

This research sheds light on how mindfulness and emotional intelligence (EI) can work together to get the best out of how your students view you.

The Study: The Synergy of teacher mindfulness and emotional intelligence.

Researchers used questionnaires and equation modeling to explore how over 300 teachers’ mindfulness influences emotional intelligence and, ultimately, interactions with their students.

Mindfulness, measured by the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), reflected teachers’ ability to stay present. 

EI scores on the other hand, captured skills like empathy and emotional regulation. The data revealed that mindfulness creates emotional intelligence, which in turn positively impacts teacher-student relationships, leading to better behaving and performing classrooms.

The Results:

The study revealed a robust positive link between teacher mindfulness and teacher-student relationship quality, showing that mindful teachers foster stronger, more supportive classroom interactions. 

Emotional intelligence (EI) played a key mediating role, bridging the impact of mindfulness on relationships. Teachers who were more mindful also displayed higher EI, which translated into better emotional understanding and responsiveness toward students.

These results confirmed that the connections between mindfulness, EI, and relationship quality were well-supported by the data.

In Your Classroom:

Ultimately, the findings suggest that mindfulness training can indirectly enhance classroom relationships by boosting teachers’ emotional intelligence. 

This approach not only improves teacher-student interactions but also sets the stage for more engaging and emotionally supportive learning environments.

Here's how:

Strategies

• Practice Mindfulness: Simple techniques like mindful breathing can improve your focus and presence.

• Build Emotional Intelligence: Engage in professional development to enhance skills like active listening and empathy - both within and outside the classroom.

• Model and Teach: Demonstrate mindfulness and emotional regulation to your students—they’ll follow your lead.

And an unofficial 4th one - be realistic. You’re not going to be able to make every single conversation a mindful one, but the more you can practice, the more attentive you’ll be to your students.

By combining mindfulness with emotional intelligence, teachers can create classrooms where relationships thrive, leading to better outcomes for everyone.

REFERENCES

Tech Talk:

Google. (2024). Think smarter not harder. Retrieved from https://notebooklm.google/

Brainy Bits:

Wang X (2023) Exploring positive teacher-student relationships: the synergy of teacher mindfulness and emotional intelligence. Front. Psychol. 14:1301786. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1301786