EOS Education by Boxlight and Clayton County Public Schools (Jonesboro, GA) proudly united to host the inaugural Teacher Appreciation Celebration, an event organized by the EOS Education Digital Learning Specialist Team. This extraordinary occasion not only celebrated and honored the District’s exceptional teachers but also underscored our enduring partnership and commitment to supporting the district's goal of making a positive impact on students through educational technology and services. This celebration also serves as one of the many collaborative events we have planned with CCPS. 

On Tuesday, July 18th, 2023, EOS Education by Boxlight hosted an enriching day of professional learning for over 120 teachers in Port Neches-Groves ISD (Port-Neches, TX). The focus of this event was to provide educators with the knowledge and skills to make the most of their newly acquired MimioPro4 interactive displays and MimioView document cameras, taking their teaching to new levels of dynamic instruction. 

Teacher professional development plays a crucial role in fostering the successful implementation of social-emotional learning (SEL) and enhancing student learning outcomes. Educators recognize the vital importance of nurturing the social and emotional well-being of our students, alongside their academic growth. In my experience facilitating a variety of professional developmentsessions and workshops, student well-being inevitably becomes a topic of interest. I want to take this opportunity to share various ways in which well-designed, high-quality teacher PD can provide educators with the knowledge, skills, and resources necessary to implement SEL effectively.Together we can create a nurturing environment that fosters students' social, emotional, and academic development. 

School safety is a big concern and recent incidents have made students, teachers, and parents more anxious. In addition to planning and providing quality learning experiences, teachers are responsible for protecting their students in emergencies. To create safe learning environments, it's essential to have comprehensive safety training. School leaders play their part by identifying and providing training programs that take a holistic approach, focusing on prevention and response strategies, teamwork, and knowing how to keep the campus safe. 

The value of teacher professional development cannot be overstated. Quality professional learning experiences content incorporates the latest research and best practices in the field, helping teachers advance their knowledge, skills, and practices. Teacher PD can also provide teachers with opportunities to reflect on their teaching practices, identify areas for improvement, and receive feedback from peers or mentors. This reflective process can lead to increased self-awareness, professional growth, and job satisfaction. 

What do you think of when you see or hear “teacher professional development”? Do you envision lively discussions where everyone in the room is totally engaged and participating in the trainer’s presentation? Or perhaps you picture teachers sitting passively, flipping through pages of materials, and checking the time. Why is the latter the typical reaction? Because it describes the broad experience for most who have had to sit through hours of teacher professional development that was expected to motivate but lead to feelings of apathy and frustration due to time lost.  

When districts and schools search out education technology, their checklist of requirements generally includes budget considerations, ease of use, software and apps available, warranty and maintenance, and user training. To successfully implement education technology, quality professional development is essential to support administrators, support staff, educators, and students on how to use technology most effectively and efficiently at the school and district levels. 

New goals help bring the start of any new year to focus, and our education webinars are no exception. Our main goal is to help more teachers implement educational technology with confidence so that they, in turn, support their students through consistent and competent use of tools to engage learning. We realize that teachers have a lot on their plates so our webinars are short, straightforward, and designed to provide strategies that can be implemented right away. 

We are living in a time of immediate satisfaction – we want news, entertainment, even our food, NOW! This need for bite-size pieces of information has also influenced how our students learn. Teachers are beginning to give students short, two- to five-minute lessons that demonstrate and/or provide concrete examples. EOS Education by Boxlight has taken up this method of Nano learning to help teachers they work with effectively learn and practice new skills, especially those using technology. 

Technology continues to change the face of education, including how teachers and students interact in the classroom. Even after a swift move to greater technology implementation in the past two years, managing the use of laptops, tablets, a front-of-class display, and students remote learning can be exhausting for teachers. Add to that the expectation for personalized learning that meets each student’s needs and frustration can grow for both the teachers responsible for planning and facilitating instruction, and the students who may not feel motivated or focused to engage. What support can be offered to help alleviate the challenges being felt?