Wonderful Weekend Website

Make your images interactive with Thinglink.com.  To learn what thinglink can do for education, click here.   

Contact me if you want to give it a try.

Adjusting for the Google Generation

In a recent blog post "10 Ways Teacher Planning Should Adjust to the Google Generation"  Terry Heick points out that "information isn't scarce and students need help with data navigation.... The things students need to know is different than it was a half-century ago." I say the things students need to know is different than it was even 5 years ago and if you are still teaching like you did 5 years ago, you are failing your students. Some of you will say, "That's not me, I wasn't teaching 5 years ago" but are you teaching like you were taught? If so, then you are failing your students.

Let's look at Mr. Heick 10 suggestions:

1. Make the work Google-proof -
      If they can Google the answers then maybe you are asking the wrong questions.
2. Force them to grapple with big questions without answers - 
      Try some project or problem based learning, or use scenarios and learning simulations. 
3. Actually make social networks and media channels part of curriculum -
      Use what students are familiar with.
4. Focus on learning strategies -
      Help students learn how to understand and work with information.
5. Create curriculum and lessons that absorb data seamlessly - 
6. Anticipate student needs - 
     Be proactive and allow for choice.
7. Focus less on “understanding” - 
     When we "tell students exactly what they will understand, when they will understand it and at what depth, and how they will prove it" we are setting ourselves up for frustration on both the student and our parts. 
8. Use spiraling by design - 
    Decide on the most important ideas and practice them at different levels of Bloom's. 
9. Discourage use of traditional units - 
    Emphasize the learning
10. Illuminate the nuance of the world - 
    Students need to be able to separate what's worth understanding from what's not for themselves. 
11. Promote discovery and curiosity and self-direction over coverage and compliance 

Tuesday Tech Tip

Practical Use of Personal Electronic Devices

Allowing students the freedom to use their own electronic devices can be a liberating and empowering experience for all shareholders. Teachers no longer have to fight over the one computer lab or laptop cart and students are already familiar with the basic function of their own devices.

Among the many ways teachers can start to embrace this trend is by:

• Using Twitter for classroom conversation once a week. Create a class hashtag and provide an opportunity for students to prepare for class discussions. Let them pre-read articles, review materials and then provide a forum for them to share ideas.
• Filming classroom projects - students can use their phones to quickly take and upload footage for movies and then edit them from their phones for creative, synthesized class projects.
• Podcasting by using simple voice recorders - great for teaching and practicing interviewing skills.      Students can review recordings and learn to edit them for convergence articles.
• Use Google Drive to create a paperless classroom - students can collaborate with each other and review and share feedback readily using Google Docs or other Google Drive features. Excuses about missing work, be gone.
• Using devices as e-readers - kids will no longer have to purchase a book and schools won't have to purchase class sets. Kids can read, annotate and review texts from their phones.
• Research is easier as well, now students have the entire internet at their fingertips. During a class discussion, students are able to do fast research to contribute more information and/or seek deeper understanding of a particular text or subject.
• Citing the research is also easier when writing as there are countless apps dedicated to MLA, Chicago and AP style citation like EasyBib.
• Dictionary apps also help students easily mine text without having to find a paper version or share the only 3 copies a classroom has.

Click here for the rest of the story.  

Wonderful Weekend Websites 4/4/2014

Scrawlar is a free whiteboard and document sharing service.Through Scrawlar teachers can create online spaces in which they and their students can share drawings and documents. After entering the room a teacher can create a drawing on a whiteboard or create a document to share with all of the students who have access to the Scrawlar room. Students can share their works with the teacher too.  Scrawlar works in the web browser on iPads, Android tablets, Chromebooks, and laptops. 

Here are seven ways that you can create and deliver quizzes online.

Remind 101 newest feature "Attach", lets you quickly send the most important homework, photos, presentations and more directly to your students’ and parents’ phones!

Tuesday Tech Tips

I have moved all of the previous Tuesday Tech Tips here, hopefully this will make them easier to find.  

This weeks tip using Bloglovin'  to follow your favorite blogs and/or discover new ones. 

Step 1 - Create an Account (using either Facebook or your email)

Step 2 - Verify the Account 

Step 3 - Sign in

Step 4 - Use the Search Box in the upper right corner to search for blog names or topics or copy and paste the blog URL in the box.

Step 5 - Download the app to your tablet or smartphone (not required).  

Now every time there is a new blog post on your favorite blog, it will show up in your Bloglovin feed. 

Need some ideas on blogs -- here is a list of the Top 50 Education Blogs every Teacher and Educator should know about.  

3/18/14

Looking  for ways to energize your lessons?

Need some Quick & Fun Brain Breaks?

2/25/14

Check out some of the 54 different examples of formative assessment. 

2/18/14

Did you know you could use Google spreadsheet to make Flashcards?

Did you know you could use Google search box as a timer?

Did you know you could use Chrome Extensions to save time?

Did you know you can use Google Docs for Learning?

Click the following link for ideas on how to use Google Docs for Learning.

Click this link for suggestions on how to organize your Google Drive.

Did you know all of the answers to these and many other Google questions can be found here?

1/24/14

DNA for BYOD

There are many different devices in your classroom with BYOD such as tablets, smartphones, laptops and netbooks along with the school's desktop computers. The operating systems will vary with Windows, Apple, Blackberry and Android devices. Device Neutral Assignments and Activities or "DNA" will work best for all students and allow them to use their device of choice. They will be the most familiar with their own device's capabilities.

Some ideas for creating DNA

•                    Use generic descriptions. Instead of requiring "PowerPoint", use "presentation". Instead of requiring "Word", use "text-based" or "word-processing".

•                    Allow choice of product. Can students show their learning through a video, website, screencast, essay or presentation?

•                    Co-construct success criteria. If products will be different, what makes a successful product? How will it meet the curriculum expectations?

•                    Suggest cross-platform services. Many apps and services can be used on all devices. See link for suggestions.

•                    Group students purposely. An activity may require a camera and a computer/laptop--pair a student with a smartphone with another who has a laptop. Conversely, group students with similar devices.

•                    Use the classroom technology. Your document camera can be used to create images, video, etc.