SFPS Digital Learning Summer Camp 2026

Explore Newsela content and features to enhance your lessons and support student needs. Discover varied content types, instructional resources like leveled texts and engagement features such as Annotations, Quizzes, and Write Prompts. 

Session Agenda

Not all screen time is created equal. As schools and teachers across the country rethink device use and push back on passive tech, Edpuzzle offers a way to use its suite of tools so that students are actually doing something meaningful on their screens.

In this hands-on session, you'll learn how to use the full platform with intention by choosing the right format for the job and embedding purposeful questions that require thinking, not just clicking. We'll explore interactive videos that replace passive viewing, Quizzes that gamify formative assessment without turning it into a points chase, Slides that bring a lecture to life with embedded checks for understanding, Docs that deliver chunked, scaffolded reading with built-in accessibility supports, and Student Projects that shift students from consumers to creators. We'll also cover how to pair Edpuzzle with discussion, off-screen tasks, and small-group instruction, plus how to use real-time data to guide next steps. You'll leave with a ready-to-use lesson and a clear framework for deciding when an Edpuzzle is the right tool for the job—and when to put the screens away entirely.

Middle school students thrive when digital learning spaces are simple, consistent, and easy to navigate. In this hands-on session, 6-8 teachers will explore practical strategies for designing student-centered Canvas/Open Access courses that reduce confusion, increase engagement, and support student independence. Participants will learn how to organize modules and create consistent layouts that help middle school learners focus on learning instead of searching for information. Teachers will leave with ready-to-use templates, examples, and at least one revised module or page they can immediately implement in their classroom.

Enhance student accessibility and explore how Newsela supports High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM). Review the latest articles and platform features, and learn effective strategies for utilizing Newsela to facilitate student research.

Session Agenda

Grade 6–8 teachers are invited to tune in and turn up the volume on classroom podcasting! In this session, we’ll explore the nuts, bolts, buttons, cords, and occasional mysterious blinking lights behind student podcast projects. Participants will get an overview of practical podcasting equipment, easy-to-use apps, recording tips, and classroom-friendly workflows that make audio storytelling manageable, even if you don’t know your mic from your headphone jack. Whether your students are creating history debates, science explainers, book reviews, or the next smash-hit middle school talk show, this session will help you get started without needing a professional recording studio (or a radio voice). Come ready to learn, laugh, and maybe accidentally say “You’re on mute” at least once.

In a world of notifications, fast-paced tech integration, and relentless digital demands, educators are being asked to teach from within systems that often leave their nervous systems overstimulated, dysregulated, and depleted. This session explores how digitally driven classrooms impact educator well-being at a physiological and emotional level, and how we can build more sustainable practices from the inside out.

Blending neuroscience, trauma-informed practice, and Human Sustainability principles, this session will guide participants in identifying how digital workflows, tech tools, and communication platforms contribute to chronic stress patterns. More importantly, it will offer concrete, doable strategies for creating calmer professional ecosystems, including sensory-aware tech routines, nervous system reset rituals, emotionally intelligent scheduling, and mindset shifts around digital urgency.

This session is about reclaiming emotional regulation, focus, and agency in a world that rewards constant connectivity. Educators will leave with actionable strategies and a renewed sense of what it means to teach well in a tech-rich environment.

This session will explore Skill Struck's age-appropriate, engaging, and ethical AI courses. For grades 6-8, the Explorations of AI equips students with essential knowledge of AI technologies, data, and ethics to help them navigate the world of AI.

Grade 6–8 teachers are invited to tune in and turn up the volume on classroom podcasting! In this session, we’ll explore the nuts, bolts, buttons, cords, and occasional mysterious blinking lights behind student podcast projects. Participants will get an overview of practical podcasting equipment, easy-to-use apps, recording tips, and classroom-friendly workflows that make audio storytelling manageable, even if you don’t know your mic from your headphone jack. Whether your students are creating history debates, science explainers, book reviews, or the next smash-hit middle school talk show, this session will help you get started without needing a professional recording studio (or a radio voice). Come ready to learn, laugh, and maybe accidentally say “You’re on mute” at least once.