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Laura Thomas

@criticalskills1.bsky.social
573 followers 694 following 185 posts

Core Faculty Antioch University, Edutopia Community Facilitator & Consulting Editor & ISTE Community Leader. Author, mom, gardener, and aspirational yogi antioch.edu/faculty/laura-thomas

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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Teacher2Teacher @teacher2teacher.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Join our first-ever Jam Fest! Two back-to-school Jam Sessions = double the great conversation. ⚡ Chat about creating routines: edut.to/4xbTclI Chat about building classroom community: edut.to/3REqrzi Choose a conversation and jump into the Teacher2Teacher forum to get started!
Graphic with bold orange text on a blue sky background: Teacher2Teacher Jam Fest. Sunday August 2 – Thursday August 6
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Teachers who either just finished or are on the home stretch (*raises hand*): what was a good choice you made this year in your classroom? Why was it good? #EduSky
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Teacher2Teacher @teacher2teacher.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
“Teaching is a creative profession, not a delivery system. Great teachers do [pass on information], but what great teachers also do is mentor, stimulate, provoke, engage.” —Sir Ken Robinson
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Edutopia @edutopia.org · 09/05/2026
Get your questions in now! Our May Jam Session—Meaningful Moves to Wrap Up the Year—goes live on Sunday! ⚡️ Featured educators: ⭐️ @toddfinley.bsky.social ⭐️ Ms. James ⭐️ @mrswendymturner.bsky.social ⭐️ Sydney Whatcott ⭐️ Josh Palsky #EduSky
edutopia.org
May 2026 Jam Session: Meaningful Moves to Wrap Up the Year
Welcome to our final Jam Session of the school year! This week, join our panelists for a conversation about practical ways to make the most of the final weeks—helping students reflect on their…
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
A good reminder for this Tuesday morning. #EduSky
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
More of this, please. When we follow children's interests, we teach them their questions matter, plus they build social skills, learn how to learn, and are ultimately more ready for more structured learning on down the road.
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Edutopia @edutopia.org · 29/01/2026
Here’s a way to help middle school students investigate the information around them! 🕵️ In this 60-minute lesson, students evaluate a few websites and short videos—learning strategies to identify misinformation and use evidence to defend their thinking. #MiddleSchoolTeacher #MediaLiteracy #EduSky
edut.to
Real, Fake, or Deepfake? This Lesson Helps Students Decide
Students examine videos and online information to investigate what is real and what is not in this engaging lesson.
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Antioch New England Education @auneeducation.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
There are lots of reasons students worry. Here are a few ways to help. #edusky
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Edutopia @edutopia.org · 11/10/2025
Early-career teachers: Looking for classroom management tips, assessment ideas, and pointers for working with parents? Our Starter Pack of Resources for New Teachers has it all! ✨ #EduSky #NewTeachers
edut.to
A Starter Pack of Resources for New Teachers
We’ve gathered some of the best resources for new teachers in one place!
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
I’m at an actual in person conference today- presenting and sitting at a booth for Antioch University. It’s the fall instructional conference from @neanh.bsky.social A small but might group of educators meeting face to face. It’s absolutely DELIGHTFUL! #EduSky🍎
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
I love my job- the people are amazing, I like the work, and generally we’re on the right side of history, organizationally speaking. Knowing I won’t get fired for posting wildly controversial things like “don’t zip tie children” & “facism is bad” is really just icing on the cake, you know?
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Edutopia @edutopia.org · 02/10/2025
⚡🎧 Our 2nd School of Practice podcast episode is out! In this week’s show, we tackle a classic teacher dilemma: DESK LAYOUTS. Is there one to rule them all?
Ep 2: A Flexible Seating Arrangement That Teachers Love

Is there an ideal desk layout—easy to adapt for most class sizes and learning activities?
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
I’ve had a record number of these in my garden this year plus more bees than I’ve seen in years. Apparently tickseed and blue top vervain (I think that’s what that is?) are their favorites. 🌱
Monarch butterfly 
Monarch butterfly on a purple flower. Black eyed Susans in the background
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Everything in this vase started its life as a seed 🌱under my grow lights in February, which makes me inappropriately happy. #Garden
A vase filled with zinnias and lisianthus in pinks, oranges, and cream.
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Speak to me of classroom rituals and traditions, #EduSky 🍎 What are your favorites? How do you find time for them in when there's so much to do?
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Big problems aren’t so hard if you break them into pieces.
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
I had so much fun writing this!!
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Good morning 🌱 #Garden #Herbs #Heliotrope
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
Flowers? Coffee? Chart pack? Must be kicking off week 2 of the ExEd Intensive @auneeducation.bsky.social! Up this weekend: Leading Inclusion in the Nature Based Classroom. #Edusky
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
When you’re under a boil order and also live in a house with 2 other people with ADD…
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
This little dude (Bluebird) made his first landing right onto my AC unit this morning. He was not thrilled. #Birds
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
My little deck garden makes me very happy. 🌱
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Edutopia @edutopia.org · 04/06/2025
From teachengagingela on IG: “Yes, I know The Great Gatsby has a musical now. BUT this intro activity for teaching chapter 1 still HITS EVERY TIME💚” #ITeachEnglish #HighSchoolTeacher
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Tiny garden.
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
My daughter and her friends need 75 more followers. If you’re on the clock app, can you do me a solid? www.tiktok.com/@the.senior....
tiktok.com
The Senior Chronicles's Creator Profile
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Samer Rabadi @samerrabadi.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Y'all, new teachers hear plenty of advice, but what about the unconventional wisdom that can help get them through their first years? What surprising advice would you share with them? #NewTeachers #EduSky
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
What I learned from my sabbatical: 1. Exercise makes every day better. 2. Deferred maintenance isn’t a good idea when it comes to one’s health. 3. Having time to think deeply & write about an idea is a gift. 4. Visiting teachers in the classrooms is the most important research I can do. #EduSky
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Explaining “correlation doesn’t equal causation” shouldn’t be necessary at this stage. And yet…
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
We’re 4 weeks from last frost so while I harden off seedlings I’m putting out pots to see what I want where. I’m going to need more pots. And more plants. Different plants from the 10,000 plants I started. 🌱 #GardenerMath
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
I never knew this place existed, let alone how important it was to young woman seeking independent lives. This book is a gem. #BookSky
A stylish 30-es era woman in a fitted blue dress and white cloche hat leaving a green- washed photo of a hotel.  

The Barbizon
THE HOTEL THAT SET WOMEN
FREE
“A captivating history… set against the backdrop of that most famous theater of aspiration, New York City.”
The New York Times Book Review

PAULINA BREN
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Man…this one is going to stick with me. #BookSky
 A black book cover with gold letters. It reads “James by Percival Everette”
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Haven’t we all been betrayed by poultry at least once?

Keene NH Community F... ••• X
To the woman I accidentally judged with my face near Walmart this evening:
Around 4:45 p.m., I turned out of Wendy's and stopped at the circle by Walmart. You were driving with an older woman and gave me a look I can only describe as confused anger.
Ma'am. I owe you an apology.
I had just absentmindedly shoved a chicken nugget into my mouth that turned out to be roughly the
temperature of the sun. In the moment, I made a face so dramatic, so full of betrayal, that I now realize it looked like I had personally witnessed you commit tax fraud.I wasn't glaring at you. I was betrayed by poultry.
I only understood what happened when I caught my own reflection in the rearview mirror and realized I looked absolutely offended by existence. That wasn't for you. That was for the nugget.
Anyway, if you saw my face and thought,
"What the heck did I do?" —you didn't. I was just fighting for my life.
Sincerely,
A fellow circle navigator with a burnt soul and a scorched nugget hole
Goodnight, everyone. Next time someone looks at you like you're trash, just remember they might be fighting their own internal demons/chicken nuggets, and their drama has nothing to do with you
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Such a fun, spooky read! #BookSky
In red print over a picture of someone burying something in the woods at dusk.  "A one-of-a-kind thriller... I loved it." -STEPHEN KING 
HIDDEN PICTURES

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
JASON RENULAK
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
This? So good. Timely. Powerful. #Booksky
Book cover. A woman walks away from the viewer, wearing a black skirt, blue jacket, and a smart blue hat.  The cover reads "A proud anthem to a forgotten founding mother.
Unputdownable!"
-KATE QUINN
BECOMING
MADAM
SECRETARY
STEPHANIE DRAY
New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WOMEN OF CHATEAU LAFAYETTE
A NOVEL
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
Oh gosh. Soooo many. This has some of them. #EduInFocus www.canva.com/design/DAGVW...
canva.com
Amazingly Simple Graphic Design Software – Canva
Amazingly Simple Graphic Design Software – Canva
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
Hey, you know a great way to support libraries during National Library Week which is This week? Go to the library! Check out a book or a movie or a sewing machine. Grab some seeds from the seed library!
media.tenor.com
a picture of a rainbow with the words what a great idea
ALT: a picture of a rainbow with the words what a great idea
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Oops. 🌱
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
7 weeks until last frost. I may need another table.
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Same.
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Nothing inspires hope quite like the first sounds of peepers in the spring, you know? 🐸
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Edutopia @edutopia.org · 04/04/2025
A principal shares her best advice on making tough decisions, delivering updates, uplifting staff and teachers, and reintegrating students during and after a natural disaster emergency. #SchoolLeaders #Principals
edut.to
5 Tips for Effective School Leadership During a Natural Disaster
A principal shares what she learned after coordinating her school’s response to the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
55= feeling like I should get a punch card for physical therapy.
media.tenor.com
two women are standing next to each other on a blue mat and one of them is saying `` let 's get physical '' .
ALT: two women are standing next to each other on a blue mat and one of them is saying `` let 's get physical '' .
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Just Jack @just-jack-1.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Government abductions are unconstitutional. Denying anyone the right to due process in America is unconstitutional. If you’ve rationalized your silence or support for any of it because it’s happening to those you disagree with, give it a minute… They’ll get to you soon enough.
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Edutopia @edutopia.org · 27/03/2025
We want to see what you’re reading right now (or what you plan to read next)! Step 1: Snap a picture of your books. 📸 Step 2: Drop your pic in the replies. Step 3: We’ll share some of our favorites on social media. 🤩 #EdChat
What books are you reading right now? Snap a photo and share it with us!
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Tom Berger @tfberger.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Educators, what brilliant uses of tech have you seen this year? For an @edutopia.org story, we’re gathering standout examples—with or without AI—that truly elevate teaching and learning. Whether it’s your own strategy or one from another educator, we’d love to hear what’s surprised or inspired you!
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
So when do the class action suits start? Seems like we have one for illegal detention, one for medical harm…the list goes on and on.
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Reposted by Laura Thomas
Tim Smyth @historycomics.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Educators -We do not give up. We do not give in. As John Lewis said -we find a way to get in the way, to get into good trouble. Welcome to the resistance. Regardless of dismantling of the federal education department, as horrendous as this is, we go back to work tomorrow. So much is depending on it.
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Took my feeders down today since it’s bear o’clock in New Hampshire. Too cold for gardening, too warm for #birds… This is my personal purgatory.
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
I love this time of year except for the annual surprise that is my royalty statement. I have yet to make enough for a nice dinner. #Edusky www.corwin.com/books/facili...
corwin.com
Facilitating Authentic Learning, Grades 6-12
Learn how to teach content and process at the same time, assess 21st-century skills, and engage students in higher-order thinking—all central a...
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Laura Thomas @criticalskills1.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
If anyone asks why I’m not meeting my sabbatical goals… #DogSky
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