August, 2015

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30 Great Research Websites for Kids

Ask a Tech Teacher

Here are quick, safe spots to send students for research: BrainPop. Citation Machine. CoolKidFacts –kid-friendly videos, pictures, info, and quizzes–all 100% suitable for children. CyberSleuth Kids. Dictionary. Digital Vaults –research a topic, curate resources. Encyclopedia Interactica –visual encyclopedias. Fact Monster. Fun Brain. How Stuff Works.

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8 Useful Apps for Visually Impaired Students

Educators Technology

August 30, 2015 We received a few requests in the past from teachers inquiring about apps for the visually impaired. Below are some of the popular apps we would recommend for teachers. We have.read more.

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Examining Your Beliefs About Digital Youth

User Generated Education

This weekend I attended a conference presentation entitled, Cultural Imposition: When Digital Immigrant Therapists See Digital Native Clients (yep, I know there is some push back against the terms of digital natives and digital immigrants). It’s focus was understanding digital youth as a unique culture. It got me thinking, though, about the assumptions that adults who work with and teach youth make about their digital use and behaviors.

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10 #BacktoSchool Tips for Students to Keep in Mind When Using Social Media

The Innovative Educator

Traditionally as students come back to school, it is important to establish a positive classroom culture. Today, more and more districts are following the lead of places like New York City where schools are empowered to support students in the responsible use of cell phones and social media. That means that not only must we support the establishment of a positive classroom and school culture, but we must also ensure our students are engaging positively and responsibly as digital citizens.

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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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Back to School Jitters

Science Teaching Junkie

Tomorrow I'm heading back to school. And even though it's my 15th year of teaching, I still get a little nervous and excited and I NEVER sleep well the night before (this is probably why I have a big glass of wine on my desk as I type this blog post). I have 2 really cool things to share with you today. First of all, I'm really excited about a new activity I created yesterday.

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5 Tools To Shake up the New Year

Ask a Tech Teacher

One thing we can all agree on is that there are tons of free tech tools available that enrich learning. I can’t keep up with them. I belong to several Tech Teacher forums, FB groups, G+ Communities, and every day I find more great tools I can’t wait to use in my classroom. Like many of you, this summer I attended several professional development conferences (ISTE, Teachers Pay Teachers, WordPress, Summer PD)–that bumped my total up to about a gazillion.

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8 Excellent Books on Discourse Analysis for Research Sudents

Educators Technology

August 13, 2015 In response to a request we received a few days ago from one of our readers, here is a collection of some of the best texts written on ‘Discourse Analysis’. These works are.read more.

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STEMx Network Thriving, Adds Members in Florida and Maryland

STEMx

The STEMx network, a coast-to-coast coalition of organizations advancing STEM, has added two new members: the . Northeast Florida Regional STEM. 2. Hub. and the . Maryland State Department of Education. In Florida, the Northeast Florida Regional STEM. 2. Hub’s focus is on accelerating the growth of STEM education and careers. Hub Start-up Executive Director, Wanyonyi Kendrick, brings her perspective as a former CIO to these efforts.

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The 3 #BackToSchool Supplies Necessary to Boost Learning

The Innovative Educator

By Isiah Rosa. Isiah is a coder, activist, and rising junior high school student from Brooklyn, New York. Isiah working at All Star Code I am a student, coder, and an activist. As of the writing of this, I currently do not have a laptop to call my own. A.K.A “thanks for letting me use your laptop dad! ” It is essential for me to have a Chromebook Flip , bag from Griffin , and Internet On The Go MiFi for school and outside projects.

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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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Guess What Time It Is?

Science Teaching Junkie

It's the HUGE Teachers Pay Teachers Love Back-To-School SALE! Seriously, people! How can you NOT be excited!?!? Not only am I offering 15% off all of my products, but if you enter the special TPT promo code at checkout (BTS15), you save an additional 10% off your entire purchase. So start your pre-shopping now (it's kind of like window shopping for new clothes, but better because you can still use these products year after year, even if you eat a ton of cake and gain a few pounds.

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10 Sites for Creating Graphic Organizers

Technology Tidbits

"A graphic organizer , also known as knowledge map, concept map, story map, cognitive organizer, advance organizer, or concept diagram , is a communication tool that uses visual symbols to express knowledge, concepts, thoughts, or ideas, and the relationships between them. [1] The main purpose of a graphic organizer is to provide a visual aid to facilitate learning and instruction. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_organizer " Graphic Organizers are used daily in education for any curric

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Tech Ed Resources–Organize Your Class

Ask a Tech Teacher

I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m taking a few days this summer to review them with you. Some are edited and/or written by members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, by tech teachers who work with the same publisher I do. All of them, I’ve found well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, taking into account the perspectives and norms of all stakeholders, w

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Two Awesome Apps for Creating Talking Pictures

Educators Technology

August 18, 2015 Here are two free iPad apps you can use with students to create talking pictures. Both of these apps allow you to record your own voice to use as a voice-over in your photos. 1-.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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Branson Online School Students Receive Industry Certification In Web Design and Paid Internships – Press Release

CTE Learning

Branson, Colorado February 19, 2016 – Two Branson School Online students are the first BSO High School students to complete the new Web Design course and to receive the Certified Web Designer industry credentials. Both Branson Online students have already been offered a paid internships with companies. The official announcement of the internships will be released later this month.

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5 Benefits of Using a Hashtag for Events

The Innovative Educator

At our recent NYC Schools Technology Summit, many participants were using our hashtag #NYCSchoolsTech in Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites for the first time. Doing so enabled them to discover the following benefits of placing a simple "#" before a carefully chosen descriptor of "NYCSchoolsTech." Being in touch with the buzz that was being generated via the attendees.

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Team Building Activities That Support Maker Education, STEM, and STEAM

User Generated Education

Working as a productive and sensitive member of a team is looked upon by STEM-based companies as being a requirement to being an effective and contributing employee: As technology takes over more of the fact-based, rules-based, left-brain skills—knowledge-worker skills—employees who excel at human relationships are emerging as the new “it” men and women.

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Apricot

Technology Tidbits

Apricot is a site I covered awhile back that is a nice tool for educators/parents. The way this works is educators sign up and create a class that students join through a code (i.e ClassDojo). Once the class is created educators can then ask a question, the students respond in real-time, and then their parents get the results emailed to them. Also, parents can join the same class as their child's w/ a unique login code.

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Tech Tip #111: Quick Internet Fix

Ask a Tech Teacher

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy! Q: The internet website is quirky. Stuff I know should work doesn’t. Is there any quick way to fix that without having to reboot?

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6 Sites + 12 + 6 About Coin Counting

Ask a Tech Teacher

Second graders (sometimes first graders) learn about money. The only way to really ‘get it’ is repetition. Here’s a list of websites to provide redundancy for each type of learner: Coin Counting. Counting Money. Money—counting. Piggy Bank. H.I.P. Pocket Change. Cash Out. For a longer list that includes concepts like ‘economics’, try these: Coins and Counting Money.

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Tech Tip #109: Five Second Back-up

Ask a Tech Teacher

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each week, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy! Q: I’m paranoid of losing lesson plans, report card comments, and other school work. I back up, but is that enough?

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Tech Ed Resources for Your Classroom: Survival Kits

Ask a Tech Teacher

I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m going to take a few days this summer to review them with you. Some are edited and/or written by members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, by tech teachers who work with the same publisher I do. All of them, I’ve found well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, taking into account the perspectives and norms of

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Tech Tip #112: How to Open 2 Gmail Accounts at Once

Ask a Tech Teacher

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy! Q: I have a home Gmail account and a school one. How do I open both at once so I can keep track of what my kids/home business/etc is doing while at my teaching job?

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Subscribe to Ask a Tech Teacher–Get Monthly Gifts

Ask a Tech Teacher

If you subscribe to Ask a Tech Teacher, you are eligible for specials on tech ed books and ebooks every month. Here are some of the specials subscribers have received: 25 lesson plans for $21. Discount on tech ed resources like 98 Tech Tips. Free tech ed resources like 19 Posters. There’s one coming up in a week–be sure to subscribe so you are eligible.

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Banzai

Ask a Tech Teacher

When kids read that America’s $18 trillion+ debt is accepted by many experts as ‘business as usual’, I wonder how that news will affect their own personal finance decisions. Do they understand the consequences of unbalanced budgets? The quandary of infinite wants vs. finite dollars? Or do they think money grows on some fiscal tree that always blooms?

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Tech Tip #113: Back up Your Blog!

Ask a Tech Teacher

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy! Q: I’m paranoid of losing my documents so I back them up to an external drive, a flash drive, and in the cloud.

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Tech Ed Resources for your Class–K-8 Keyboard Curriculum

Ask a Tech Teacher

Overview. K-8 Keyboard Curriculum (four options plus one)–teacher handbook, student workbooks, companion videos–and help for homeschoolers. 2-Volume Ultimate Guide to Keyboarding. K-5 (237 pages) and Middle School (80 pages), 100 images, 7 assessments. K-5–print/digital; Middle School–digital delivery only. Aligned with Student workbooks and student videos (free with licensed set of student workbooks).

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Tech Tip #110: Can’t Get Sound to Work?

Ask a Tech Teacher

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy! Q: Headphones are so difficult. There’s always someone who can’t get theirs to work. I’ve tried the usual solutions, and still, we have problems.

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Tech Ed Resources for your Class–Common Core

Ask a Tech Teacher

I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m taking a few days this summer to review them with you. Some are edited and/or written by members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, by tech teachers who work with the same publisher I do. All of them, I’ve found well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, taking into account the perspectives and norms of all stakeholders, w

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Should cellphones be allowed in school? My Response.

The Innovative Educator

Do personal devices support learning? That's what I was asked by " The Signal " blog which facilitates a conversation about communication, safety and making families work. The question was prompted after a recent study that found students performed better on exams under a cellphone ban which has been used to cast doubt on city's like New York who have lifted the ban.

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Relationships, Not Fines, Lead to Great Schools + Communities

The Innovative Educator

Editor’s note: This post takes a detour from the usual topics covered on this blog, to address an issue I recently encountered. I share it here because there is a connection with community relations, effective communities, and effective schools. One of the things New Yorkers love about our city is our marvelous transportation system. Whether it’s trains, buses, bikes, or feet, New Yorkers know how to get around.

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5 Strategies To Trend On Twitter at Your Next Event

The Innovative Educator

My office runs a yearly NYC Schools Tech Conference with about one thousand attendees. This year we wanted to focus on getting the buzz going in social media. One measure success was if we could trend on Twitter that day and we did. Here are some things we did to make that happen. I want more ».