Share My Lesson Staff Share Their Favorite Resources of 2020

The Year in Review with Share My Lesson Staff

This has been a year that has challenged us all professionally and personally, so we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the good from the year and share our own staff favorites from the website. Also be sure to check out SML members’ top picks for 2020.

This year, the AFT Share My Lesson community rose to the occasion, sharing incredible best practices for virtual learning and finding balance during stressful times. The shared ideas in our Health & Wellness community and Distance Learning community help us all know that we’re not alone. Despite being remote this year, we all felt more connected with you than ever before. Then again, you joined us online in record numbers through our webinars, virtual conferences, and wellness series with more than 196,000 registrations. Wow. 

Read on to find out why our staff selected these resources, communities and authors as their favorites for 2020. 

Kelly Booz’s Picks

My favorite SML resource is not a resource, but a new author on our site. Our colleague in the AFT Educational Issues Department, Dr. Lisa Thomas, wrote incredibly moving and personal blogs for us this year. Two of her blogs provided much-needed advice and comfort on the challenges facing families trying to do virtual learning with students who have disabilities. In addition to these two blogs, she also created a tip sheet on how to support students with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is our number three top tip sheet of the year.

But most moving for me, was the blog Lisa wrote about growing up Black in the South in the 1970s and the lessons of caution she has passed on to her own children. She wrote this personal narrative not long after George Floyd’s murder. It moved me to tears and pushed me to get out of my white privilege comfort zone and acknowledge how my silence contributes to systemic racism and perpetuates inequality. Since I wrote my blog on being anti-racist, we have very open conversations on race and racism in our house with our kids. Our weekly family movie night has included films like Ruby Bridges, Hidden Figures and All In: A Fight for Democracy, which my kids watched with me during our virtual screening and webinar with AFT President Randi Weingarten and Stacey Abrams. Abram’s film All In: A Fight for Democracy provided some of the best and richest conversations for our kids and single-handedly sparked their interest in issues involving equality. Everyone needs to watch this film and read Lisa’s blog. I am incredibly grateful to her for sharing her story, getting out of her own comfort zone and pushing me to get out of my own. 

Laura Brown’s Pick

How to Be Still in Chaotic Times: Research-Based Strategies for Educators is my top pick for 2020. As I work from home with two elementary-aged kids who are learning virtually, I have seen firsthand what our educators have been going through day to day during the pandemic. From distracted students, to technical difficulties, to parents yelling in the backgrounds, our educators are dealing with so much! This session with Dr. Marc Brackett is for them. It’s pausing, breathing, and learning how to manage your feelings and become your best self. Take this hour to focus on yourself and know you are not alone. 

Natalie Dean's Pick

My favorite resource of 2020 is the How to Be Still in Chaotic Times with Dr. Marc Brackett. The description of this webinar starts with “How are you feeling? How would you like to feel?” These are the same questions I am asked each time I walk into my favorite local teahouse before they brew a personalized cup of tea for me. This teahouse is my “happy place” where I can soak up some restorative energy in the midst of a busy week. Unfortunately, I have not been able to visit due to the pandemic. When I saw those familiar questions, I knew whatever strategies Marc would share would be what I, and everyone else, needed to hear… and I was right! If this year brought us any blessing at all, it was time to be still. And for those of us who would otherwise have a full plate, Marc’s strategies are easy to incorporate and offer immediate gratification. Enjoy!

Ami Turner DelAguila’s Pick

As a former New York City public school teacher and United Federation of Teachers member, Sari Beth Rosenberg’s blog series Teaching in the Age of the Coronavirus resonated with me. While struggling to keep her content engaging and motivating as well as checking in with her students to make sure they are OK, Sari is like so many teachers learning about distance teaching while doing it daily. What I liked most about Sari’s blog series is her ability to look at the big picture of what teachers and students were experiencing, while also focusing on specific teaching strategies that helped her students.

Carlo DelAguila’s Pick

When schools shut down in the spring, our incredible AFT members banded together to create distance learning toolkits for every grade, providing hundreds of project-based learning activities that students could do with, or without, technology. Many teachers used these projects as their culminating activity to end the school year on a positive note; and teachers are incorporating the projects into their asynchronous portion of their learning today. If you want to see students doing some of the distance learning in action, be sure to check out Zigazoo and follow the American Federation of Teachers account. You’ll see some incredible students in action.

Andy Kratochvil's Picks

Share My Lesson produces an enormous amount of high-quality content, but one of my favorite resources on the website is Today’s News, Tomorrow’s Lesson. To be more specific, I want to highlight two lesson plans covering the U.S. airstrike that assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the follow-up on Iran’s response. With resources like these, Share My Lesson aims to break down the news and present it in a way that helps educators teach with confidence while navigating complex domestic and international affairs.  

Megan Ortmeyer’s Picks

Sarah Dahlman's distance learning lessons, such as her Online-Meeting Etiquette for Kids resource and The Season of Winter Lesson, were some of my favorite resources on Share My Lesson in 2020. In a year whenteachers had to significantly change their approach to teaching students, Sarah rose to the challenge and created engaging and enriching videos in order to continue to bring the fun of learning directly into students' homes. 

Teresa Valcarce's Picks

My favorite SML resource is the Health and Wellness Community because it focuses on the social emotional resources for our members in this time of so much stress and uncertainty where they are going through so much. I think Share My Lesson is showing that we care not only about their professional careers but also about their families and personal lives.

If I have to choose a lesson, I would choose any of the videos from this teacher, Sarah Dahlman. I think she is creative, engaging and fun. She makes videos for her students with her pet to help teach concepts and keep students engaged. 

Susan Ward’s Picks

My favorite blog was from Dr. Lisa Thomas, ‘And How Are the Children?’ Supporting Students with Special Needs During COVID-19. This is such genuine writing by my colleague and friend. This personal writing about her daughter, the needs of the special needs population during the COVID-19 crisis and what we can do to help is in depth and essential. She shares personal information, much-needed advice, and offers assistance on how to help the special needs population. Her blog is powerful and educational and a must read for all.

My favorite series is Health and Wellness (now all sessions are available on demand). In light of all the changes our world is experiencing, educators are as much on the frontlines as the medical professionals. These webinars deal with the emotional and physical well-being of the individuals who are carrying a heavy burden. It really meant the world to the attendees, and I think that through these webinars, they realized just how much they really needed someone to look after their spirit, mind and body. 

Susan Youssofi’s Picks

My favorite new lesson is from Defenders of Human Rights and Democracy in Your Community: Change the World? ¡SI SE PUEDE!—Dolores Huerta.

Dolores Huerta is one of my heroes, a living legend, an activist who throughout her career has fought against poverty and discrimination, and on behalf of improving the lives of farmworkers, women and children, immigrants and all Americans.

My favorite new blog is from Re-Imagining Migration: 5 Steps for Creating Welcoming and Inclusive Learning Communities. It provides a framework that reflects the challenges and opportunities of learning online and building community virtually and in person in 2020.

What are your favorites? Share in the comments below and let us know.