January, 2018

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Technology and Writing: A Conversation with Vicki Davis

Ask a Tech Teacher

Vicki Davis is a teacher, author, podcaster, tweeter, blogger, international presenter, and so much more. I admire her podcasts and posts so was honored when she invited me to chat with her on her podcast, the 10-Minute Teacher. The topic is one dear to my heart: How to use technology to teach writing in creative ways. Click the image below to access her post where you can listen to the podcast or read the transcript–whichever works better for you.

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11 Great Kids Safe Search Engines

Educators Technology

January 9, 2018 One of our priorities as teachers, educators and parents is to ensure that our students and kids use the internet in appropriate, safe and secure ways. Digital literacy and digital.read more.

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Second Semester for Secondary Science: Tips and Strategies for Completing the School Year!

Amy Brown Science

LET'S FINISH THIS! As a high school biology and chemistry teacher, I always find this to be a very interesting point in the school year. After spending time with family and friends during the holidays, and feeling very rested and relaxed, it's time to start thinking about returning to school for the second semester of the school year. New Year's resolutions are running high, and the realization that the school year is half over brings both excitement and anxiety to teachers as they prepare to re

Science 130
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The World’s Largest Lesson: Global Goals Activities

User Generated Education

I have a strong belief that education should assist learners in developing the desire and skills for global stewardship. I discussed this in my post, Empathy and Global Stewardship: The Other 21st Century Skills [link]. Learners, grades 5 and 6, in my gifted class do the global goals projects one hour per week. What follows are some of the activities they have done.

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Can Brain Science Actually Help Make Your Training & Teaching Stick?

Speaker: Andrew Cohen, Founder & CEO of Brainscape

The instructor’s PPT slides are brilliant. You’ve splurged on the expensive interactive courseware. Student engagement is stellar. So… why are half of your students still forgetting everything they learned in just a matter of weeks? It's likely a matter of cognitive science! With so much material to "teach" these days, we often forget to incorporate key proven principles into our curricula — namely active recall, metacognition, spaced repetition, and interleaving practice.

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Snow Day Or Not? It's Not That Hard.

The Innovative Educator

New York City is the City that never sleeps and if you can make it here you'll make it anywhere. We have a reputation to live up to. Perhaps this is why the snow day thing is so difficult for our mayor and chancellor to call. No matter what they decide, some people will be mad. We all know for the most part teachers and students celebrate snow days.

More Trending

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10 Hits and 10 Misses for 2017

Ask a Tech Teacher

Since we at Ask a Tech Teacher started this blog six years ago, we’ve had over 5.3 million visitors to the 1,797 articles on integrating technology into the classroom. This includes tech tips, website/app reviews, tech-in-ed pedagogy, how-tos, videos, and more. We have regular features like: Weekly Websites and Tech Tips ( sign up for the newsletter ).

EdTech 316
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5 of The Best Rubric Making Tools for Teachers

Educators Technology

January 16, 2018 In yesterday’s post we talked about grading and we featured a number of apps to help teachers with their grading. In today’s post we cover a closely related concept: rubrics.read more.

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Fingerprint Pattern Analysis in Forensics

STEM Teacher Inspiration

This is a practical worksheet that gives enlarged fingerprint patterns and asks students to find the individual characteristics in the fingerprints. This is a great way to give students the opportunity to make some comparisons themselves! Fingerprint Analysis In Practice… This activity takes approximately 45 minutes for students to complete. Often, after the students have completed this activity, I have them use plain white paper and an inkpad to make their own fingerprint patterns.

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Educators as Purveyors of Hope

User Generated Education

My advanced degree is in counseling. I sought this degree due to my affinity towards at-risk and adjudicated youth. One of the most powerful learnings from my training as a counselor was a comment I heard at a conference, Counselors need to be purveyors of hope since many clients get in trouble and/or seek counseling due to a lack of hope. I have since become a teacher educator (with some teaching of elementary gifted students at a few Title 1 schools thrown in).

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Harnessing The Power Of Math Manipulatives

Mathematics, a subject steeped in abstract concepts, often poses challenges to students, especially those in grades 5-10. But imagine a bridge that transformed this intricate maze into an interactive adventure.

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Introducing Students & Parents to the @ISTE Standards for Students

The Innovative Educator

The ISTE Standards for Students names practices in which many innovative educators are already engaged. It gives a standard language for educators to speak to each other about their work. It also provides language and justification for doing this work when speaking with administrators. When implementing standards with students, it is also important to introduce them and their parents to the standards which you are working towards.

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Illinois School for the Deaf – STEM Course – Web Design and Development

CTE Learning

Web Design STEM Course gets started. For over a year, I looked to try to find a school for the Deaf we could work with. My belief was that there was no reason why someone who was hearing impaired could not thrive in a career in Web. I called Mark DuBois up (Head of WebProfessionals.Org ), and I told him I wanted to do a pilot using our Web Design. Mark and his association team immediately agreed.

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Virtual Reality in the Classroom: It’s Easy to Get Started

Ask a Tech Teacher

Every teacher I know has virtual reality on their radar. It’s one of those short-listed disruptive technologies that kids want to be involved in and will change teaching for the better. I was thrilled when Amanda Ronan over at Teach.com suggested that she write a how-to for teachers on getting virtual reality started in their classrooms. I think you’ll enjoy her thoughts: Suddenly, virtual reality is everywhere.

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6 of The Best Android Video Making and Editing Apps for Teachers and Students

Educators Technology

Upon the request of several of our readers here in EdTech and mLearning, we went ahead and curated for you the collection below. These are some of the most popular Android apps for creating and.read more.

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Downloadable Design Briefs for an Integrative STEM Curriculum

These easy-to-use design briefs outline student objectives, challenges, and materials needed to complete each 30-minute to 4-hour lesson. ITEEA’s Integrative STEM curriculum, Engineering byDesign, includes many more standards driven hands-on activities just like these!

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Wes Hall to lead STEMx

STEMx

From Aimee Kennedy Ph.D., Senior Vice-President of Education, STEM Learning and Philanthropy at Battelle. Based on his extensive achievements in Tennessee and an in-depth consideration of the needs of STEMx, I am pleased to announce Wesley Hall as the new director of the STEMx network. I will share a few thoughts about why we are confident that this is the best direction for the network, but first, let me express my deep gratitude to the Honorable Regina Schofield for ably serving as the interim

STEM 40
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Caring and Compassionate Confrontation

User Generated Education

When I was in my Doctoral program, I met Debbie in one of my classes who was the Corporate Education coordinator for the university. She ran workshops for teams from profit and non-profit organizations and corporations. I had mentioned that I had a background in adventure education with a focus using outdoor team building activities. She got excited and said that the university does team building on their off campus site and asked me to join her as a facilitator.

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4 Rules for Accessible Images That Will Get You More Views

The Innovative Educator

Innovative educators understand that when posts have images they receive more views and provide a better experience for the reader. What they may not realize is that is only the beginning. You also should describe your images. There are two primary reasons for that. 1) Search Image Optimization (SEO) 2) Accessible to those who can't see images because they are visually impaired or because of bandwidth issues.

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Waypoint EDU

Technology Tidbits

Waypoint EDU is a innovative new iOS app that uses augmented reality to create a fun learning experience for students. Teachers are using this tool to bring their classroom outside and have students go on geocaches (scavenger hunts) to learn more about a subject. Best of all, a teacher can add questions to their geocache to create an authentic learning experience and gauge students understanding.

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Mysimpleshow Keeps Getting Better

Ask a Tech Teacher

mysimpleshow, digital tool of choice in the explainer video market, has done it again. They’ve come out with a great change that will make their explainer videos even easier to use in a classroom. mysimpleshow “Classroom” offers the full variety of design functions with a focus on collaborative learning: Up to 50 students can create joint video projects that promote their creativity and teamwork.

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10 of The Best Websites for Free Teacher Resources

Educators Technology

January 11, 2018 Teachers may sometimes feel overwhelmed by the multitude of resources available online. It might take one a tremendous amount of time to sift through and locate required materials to.read more.

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Artists pair with early childhood teachers to find success in STEM education

STEMx

Did you know that the performing arts can improve performance in math? So says the educators at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. A professional development program at the foundation’s education arm teams classroom teachers with specially trained performing artists to blend arts education with math lessons. The young children exposed to this hybrid curriculum have tallied much-improved math scores.

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9 of The Best Apps for Learning Spelling

Educators Technology

January 17, 2018 Spelling is a learned activity that requires formal/informal teaching and practice. You may pick up the oral part of a target language relatively easily (depending on your cognitive.read more.

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Best-in-Class Resources–You Decide

Ask a Tech Teacher

Every year, I review a large number of websites, apps, and resources that help educators blend technology into their classrooms. I get lots of feedback from readers sharing their experiences, asking questions, and clicking through to see if a particular tool will serve their needs. But, I often don’t hear how the product worked in the fullness of time.

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Teacher Support in the Digital-Blended Classroom

Ask a Tech Teacher

Technology remains–still–a love-hate relationship between teachers and teaching. Yes, it enriches learning but at the price of too many problems, preparation required, and confusion. I l ike Felicia Zorn’s summary of how that go-nogo decision really has become ‘get with the program’ Teacher Support in the Digital-Blended Classroom.

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3D Printing News Briefs: January 5, 2018

Ask a Tech Teacher

Welcome to 2018, and the new year’s first edition of 3D Printing News Briefs – the 3D printing industry doesn’t stop for anything, not even midnight celebrations. We’ll kick. View the entire article via our website.

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9 of The Best Grading Apps for Teachers

Educators Technology

January 15, 2018 The rise of mobile technologies has triggered an unprecedented learning/teaching revolution. They (mobile technologies) have destroyed boundaries, opened up new learning.read more.

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Cikumas–an LMS that’s easy to understand

Ask a Tech Teacher

Swiss-based Cikumas makes the creation and implementation of virtual classrooms quick, intuitive, and without the steep learning curve that so often accompanies LMSs (Learning Management Systems). The minimalist nature of this ecosystem makes it easy for students to complete their work and teachers to engage with them. In the crowded field of K-16 LMSs, Cikumas offers a refreshing philosophy that online learning is about engagement between participants facilitated by the automation of assignmen

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Top 10 Websites and Apps of 2017

Ask a Tech Teacher

Throughout the year, I post websites and apps the Ask a Tech Teacher crew’s classes found useful, instructive, helpful in integrating technology into classroom lesson plans. Some, you agreed with us about; others not so much. Here, I’ll share which sites you-all thought were the most helpful in efforts to weave tech into the classroom experience.

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What is a Growth Mindset?

Ask a Tech Teacher

It’s no secret many parents are frustrated with public schools. Are kids learning to think or just to pass tests? Are they spending classroom time wisely or just doing what’s always been done? Are we developing lifelong learners or simply kids who can’t wait to graduate? If this describes you, you’re not alone in your concerns, but there’s hope.

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Let’s Celebrate World Read-aloud Day (#WorldReadAloudDay)

Ask a Tech Teacher

On Feb. 1, 2018, World Read Aloud Day celebrates the pure joy of oral reading with kids of all ages. Created by LitWorld , past years have found more than 1 million people in 100 countries joining together to enjoy the power and wonder of reading aloud in groups or individually, at school as part of classroom activities , or home, and discovering what it means to listen to a story told through the voice of another.

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10 Options for Polls and Forms in Your Class

Ask a Tech Teacher

Collecting class data, asking for feedback on activities, and pushing out quizzes used to be laboriously accomplished by passing out paper documents, collecting them as they dribbled in, and then collating the data into a spreadsheet where you could sort and shake to come up with the useful information. These days, all of those tasks are accomplished much more easily with one of the many free/fee webtools designed to create and curate information.

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Keyboarding 101

Ask a Tech Teacher

When students — and adults — think of learning to keyboard, it usually generates images of rote drills where you sweat over a keyboard as you’re graded on speed and accuracy. Trying to change that image is what has driven many teachers to online sites but these too often teach in an automated, undifferentiated way — logon, do exercises, repeat — that bores some and doesn’t work for others.