David Kalk's Coaching Corner

📅 My Schedule for the Week

10/5/26 - 10/9/26

Monday - BHS

Tuesday - BHS

Wednesday - BHS

Thursday - BFA

Friday - OUT

📸 Spotted in D5

Cracking the Code Before Entering Oceania

Students in Ms. Mann’s English 4 class at Byrnes High School work together during the “Escape from Dystopia” BreakoutEDU challenge. The activity introduced 1984 by asking students to analyze clues, communicate with their team, and solve problems connected to dystopian themes.

Decoding Dystopia

Students examine clues, images, and hidden messages as they race to complete the “Escape from Dystopia” challenge. This hands-on introduction to 1984 gave students an engaging way to begin thinking about surveillance, control, information, and other ideas they would encounter in the novel.

Collaboration Under Pressure

A team in Ms. Mann’s English 4 class works through clues together during the BreakoutEDU challenge. Students had to share ideas, test possible solutions, and persist through difficult clues before beginning their study of 1984.

From Breakout to Big Brother

Ms. Mann’s English 4 students at Byrnes High School kicked off their study of 1984 with an “Escape from Dystopia” BreakoutEDU challenge. Instead of starting with notes or background information, students entered the unit by collaborating, solving clues, and experiencing some of the tension and uncertainty found in dystopian literature.

💻 Student Side

Using MagicSchool With Students

With MagicStudent, teachers can give students access to AI tools designed for learning. Instead of sending students to a general-purpose chatbot, you can create a Room and choose the tools you want students to use.

High school students might use MagicSchool to brainstorm ideas, get feedback on writing, review a difficult concept, practice with questions, organize research, or explore different perspectives.

💡 Try This: Create a MagicStudent Room for an upcoming assignment and give students one specific purpose for using AI. For example, have students ask for feedback on a draft, then require them to decide which suggestions to accept, reject, or modify and explain why.

The goal: Teach students to use AI as a thinking partner, not an answer machine. Good AI use should lead to more questioning, evaluating, revising, and creating, not less.

🔗 Click here to learn more about MagicStudent

🔧 Fix It Fast: “My Students Can’t See the Assignment!”

A student says an assignment is missing in Schoology, but you can see it just fine. Before recreating anything, check the assignment’s availability.

Open the assignment and look for Publish/Unpublish and any availability dates. An unpublished item or one with restrictive dates may prevent students from accessing it.

💡 Also check: If only some students can’t see it, look at Individually Assign settings. The material may be assigned only to certain students or groups.

Fix It Fast: Before troubleshooting anything complicated, check Published → Available → Assigned. Those three settings solve a surprising number of “I can’t see it!” problems.