October, 2017

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Visible Learning and John Hattie

Ask a Tech Teacher

Over the years, I’ve struggled to teach in ways my students would understand. Standing at the front of the classroom stopped working so I researched (and tried in some cases) Whole Brain Teaching (WBT), Socratic Method , Understanding by Design , Mindfulness , and a lot more options that colleagues mentioned as helpful with their differentiated student groups.

Learning 379
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3 Awesome Comic Strips Creation Tools for Students

Educators Technology

October 3, 2017 Comic strips can be a great way to engage students in a wide variety of multimedia enriched learning activities. Using group work, you can assign each group with a writing or digital.read more.

Learning 177
educators

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Is AR BS or Good Teaching & Learning?

The Innovative Educator

Augmented Reality is nothing new for youth. It has been a part of student's social experience in apps like Snapchat and it made a big splash when Pokemon Go made its debut. But when it comes to learning, does it have a place? While seeing an object, insect, or animal up close in an augmented reality is certainly preferably to reading about it in your science text, is it really the best way to help students learn?

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Qualities of Effective Educator Professional Development

User Generated Education

Most administrators and teachers believe in the importance and value of professional development. Sadly, though, too many teachers believe that those mandatory, one-size-fits-all professional development sessions offered by their schools are a waste of time and money. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement, “Even high quality professional development must be directly relevant to the needs of teachers and genuinely improve teaching and learning.

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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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Forensics: Fingerprinting Lecture & Note Guide

STEM Teacher Inspiration

This is my lecture given in a forensics class about collecting and analyzing fingerprints. It describes some of the history of fingerprinting, people involved in major discoveries, and how fingerprints are use in a forensic investigation. There is an embedded youtube video in the prezi and the powerpoint about IAFIS, the FBI’s database of fingerprints.

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Should You Unschool?

Ask a Tech Teacher

The first time I read about Unschooling, I ignored it. Surely, it was a fad that would go away. When that didn’t happen and I read about it a thousand more times, I dug into it. Inspired by the teachings of John Holt (1923–1985), this free range branch of homeschooling promotes learning through nonstructured, child-led exploration. There’s no set curriculum or schedule; students learn what interests them with guidance from involved adults.

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Inspiring Interest in STEM in a World That is Rapidly Changing

Jay Flores

"FIRST provides programs for students starting at age 6, meaning that they could potentially have 12 years of experience with engineering, design, and problem solving by the time they’re 18. Interested in learning more about how to encourage interest in STEM, Lauren Robeson (Global Communications Specialist at ProSoft Technology) talked with me, to find out how we can all help closer to home.

STEM 52
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Webinar: How to streamline school district purchasing with Lean Project Management

Informed K12

Steve Demel is director of purchasing at Tacoma Public Schools. In order to improve processing times for purchasing requests made by other departments, he turned to Lean Project Management.

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Introduction to Design Thinking for Educators Workshop

User Generated Education

I had the opportunity to facilitate a workshop on design thinking for educators at the New Mexico Association for the Gifted Fall Institute. Here is a round-up of what we did. Warm Up: Instant Challenge. Participants were asked to warm-up for the session with a challenge from the Destination Imagination Instant Challenge App. Instant Challenges are fun, STEAM-based group activities that must be solved within a short period of time.

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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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Introduction to Forensics Lecture & Note Guide

STEM Teacher Inspiration

This is my introductory lecture given in a forensics class about the field of forensic science. It describes some of the history of forensics, people involved in major discoveries, and a list of the main topics in forensic science. There is an embedded youtube video in the prezi and the powerpoint. The video is a quick clip of a PBS series on how Sherlock Holmes changed police investigations.

Science 52
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Flying Monkey Tour 2017 (West) Begins

CTE Learning

In honor of the Flying Monkey Game App I took one of the hundreds of Flying Monkeys we shipped out this year to our client schools with me to visit schools in Los Angeles. The Flying Monkey Tour 2017 – Begins – So, once and a while the dev team lets me out of the office. Recently, I gave everybody a bunch of work and then I ran off to California to visit some schools and see how our courses are running in the land of sun, traffic and fish tacos.

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12 Fresh Ways to Assess Student Learning

Ask a Tech Teacher

Assessing student learning used to be as simple as giving a test that consisted of multiple choice, True/False, short answer, and/or essay. How many answers students got right told the teacher how much they knew. No need to look further. Simply grade, record, and move on to the next chapter. Educators have come to realize that there are lots of reasons why a test score doesn’t reflect student knowledge.

Learning 180
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Music - Tool of Engagement or Weapon of Mass Distraction?

The Innovative Educator

To be or not to be? That is the question for many teachers when it comes to allowing music in the classroom. Many see it as a distraction, but young people often disagree. Innovative educators know that students own the learning, but at the same time, the educators are responsible for the success of their students. Therefore it is in everyone's best interest to turn to the research and find out if music can indeed support student success.

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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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New eBook: Help! There's workflow in my ERP system.

Informed K12

As school districts face budget constraints and needing to do more with less, many are looking towards the benefits of automation to help increase operational efficiency and reduce waste. However, with so many systems of record in place, some are asking whether they can achieve their automation goals with what’s already in place versus implementing a new system.

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STEMxchange 2018: Save the Date!

STEMx

The 2018 STEMxchange will take place on Tuesday & Wednesday, May 8-9, 2018 at the Nashville Airport Marriott in Nashville, Tennessee. This year, we’re excited to join the fourth annual Tennessee STEM Innovation Summit. The summit brings together leaders, innovators, and champions from across Tennessee who seek advance excellence in STEM education.

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TypeDojo

Technology Tidbits

TypeDojo is an excellent site for students grades 1st-8th looking to improve their typing/keyboarding skills. All a user has to do is select how long (1,3, or 5 min) they want to take their typing test and grade level and begin. Also, a user can select what kind words, or keys (i.e. home row) they want to practice on. Once a student is done they get a detailed report or certificate that shows how many words per minute and accuracy they preformed.

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STEM Education Facts – Sustainable Energy and Energy Savings are looking good – US Department of Energy

CTE Learning

How are we doing as a nation saving energy and implementing sustainable power? In our STEM course Building Green & Residential Architecture & Construction we promote the best and the most sustainable strategies for construction and home design. We are always fact checking and updating content. Let’s face it, STEM never sleeps. The very first version of this STEAM course was created in 2006.

Energy 52
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What is WittyWe and Why You Want to Use it

Ask a Tech Teacher

There seems to be a limitless supply of online education content. In fact, my email box and social media explodes with them. But often, these offerings are too basic, a lite version of a paid program that isn’t terribly robust, confusing, or created by people who don’t really understand how to blend technology and education. As a busy teacher, I want resources that are clear, easy-to-use, accessible by all types of students, scalable, and fun.

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Messaging - Tool of Engagement or Weapon of Mass Distraction?

The Innovative Educator

To be or not to be? That is the question for some teachers when it comes to allowing messaging (text or instant) in the classroom. Many see it as a distraction, but young people often disagree. Innovative educators know that students own the learning, but at the same time, the educators are responsible for the success of their students. Therefore it is in everyone's best interest to review the literature and find out if instant/text messaging can indeed support student success.

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How one school decreased the time it takes to collect Emergency Contact Forms

Informed K12

At the beginning of each school year, most school administrators scramble to make sure they have all the information they need to start the year on the right note.

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From farm to lab: Meet Evangelina Galvan Shreeve

STEMx

Evangelina Galvan Shreeve. was the first person in her family to graduate from high school. Then, she went on to college. And today she’s connecting Washington students with one of the country’s leading laboratories. Galvan Shreeve took over as Director of. STEM Education at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. (PNNL) at the beginning of this year.

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Andi's Adventure on Buncee

Technology Tidbits

" Andi's Adventure is a tale of one little girl whose imagination brings color to her world. When she's given the freedom to create and share her story in school, she brings this magic to her classroom and keeps the sparkle in her eye." Andi's Adventure is the new educational initiative to help educators keep creativity alive in their classroom and their student's lives.

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Sweet and Spicy Curriculum Challenge

CTE Learning

Welcome to CTeLearning Take a moment to look around and see all that we do. We offer curricula that are sweet and spicy.

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10 Tips About Using Images in Your Classroom

Ask a Tech Teacher

Here are ten of the most-visited image-use tips on Ask a Tech Teacher: 10 Tips About Using Images in the Classroom You Don’t Want to Miss. Image Copyright Do’s and Don’ts. Photos For Class–Robust, Student-safe with built in citations. Quick Search for Plagiarized Images. 5 Image Apps for your Classroom. My Picture’s a TIFF and the Program Needs a JPG.

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#NYCSchoolsTechChat: Tech to Connect with Families - Oct 5 at 7pm

The Innovative Educator

We are well into the 2017/18 school year and that means it is time to focus on ideas, tips and strategies for using tech to effectively connect with families. #NYCSchoolTech teacher Eileen Lennon (@eileen_lennon) moderates with me throwing in my two cents. You can prepare for the conversation by thinking about answers to these questions: Q1. Share tech tools you have used to connect with parents.

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How one school decreased the time it takes to collect Emergency Contact Forms

Informed K12

At the beginning of each school year, most school administrators scramble to make sure they have all the information they need to start the year on the right note.

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Challenge Grant: Catalytic change rallies South Carolina leaders

STEMx

In June, STEMx. awarded Challenge Grants. to its members in three states so that each could hold a meeting (or series of meetings) on a pressing STEM education issue. One grant winner, South Carolina’s Coalition for Mathematics & Science (SCCMS), used its $15,000 award to host the Grand Challenges in SC STEM Summit on Oct. 17 in Columbia. For first impressions gathered from the summit, we contacted Tom Peters, executive director of SCCMS.

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Reading Racer

Technology Tidbits

Reading Racer is a free new iOS app that I just had the pleasure of reviewing. This is an excellent easy-to-use app that uses the mobile device's microphone to "listen" as a student speaks the words on the screen. This is really innovative and separates Reading Racer from other educational apps on the market. Reading Racer is designed for kids ages 5-8 and uses speech recognition as the user speaks the words/sentences as fast as they can.

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How important is technical writing skills to STEM Education?

CTE Learning

Somewhere in a country far far away a STEM education teacher is crying. Not out of laughter, but embarrassment. As STEM and STEAM Educators, we are always emphasizing communication skills with our students. It is just what we do. Every once and a while you see something that reminds you just how important good written communication skills are. A friend who runs a cloud services company shared this with me and we did have a chuckle (thanks Craig).

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Halloween Projects, Websites, Apps, and a Costume

Ask a Tech Teacher

Three holidays are fast-approaching–Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. If you’re a teacher, that means lots of tie-ins to make school festive and relevant to students. Here are ideas for Halloween projects, lesson plans, websites, and apps: Projects. ASCII Art–Computer Art for Everyone (a pumpkin–see inset). Lesson Plan: Halloween letter for grades 2-5.

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Financial Literacy: A Real & Relevant Way to Meet Math Standards & Develop #MoneySmartKids

The Innovative Educator

Like many adults of my generation, I left high school and college without financial literacy skills. I’m not alone. In fact two-thirds of Americans couldn’t even pass a basic financial literacy test. It’s no wonder our household debt in our country is at a new peak. Despite being one of the most important topics to prepare students for success in the world, financial literacy is not present in most classrooms.

Math 44