Ask a Tech Teacher

JUNE 22, 2016

Dear Otto is an occasional column where I answer questions I get from readers about teaching tech. If you have a question, please contact me at askatechteacher at gmail dot com and I’ll answer it here. . I got this question from a teacher. It’s becoming more common as students start life on iPads: Do you have any suggestions for kids who have developed substitute patterns for using home row keys?

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Curriculum Creativity Computer Professor 178

Amy Brown Science

JUNE 21, 2016

The Amazing Photography of my Friend and Neighbor, Paul Rossi Few places in this world can be both majestic and ethereal at the same time. I have had the good fortune of getting to visit one such place every summer for the past 50 years. As unspoiled and commercial free as any place we have left, I imagine this slice of our country to be much like Yellowstone or Yosemite before the crowds.

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The Innovative Educator

JUNE 19, 2016

What makes Twitter unique is that unlike some other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat, which are generally designed to stay connected with those you know face-to-face, Twitter is a place where one goes to connect with others with whom you may have never met, but share an idea, passion, or interest. People on Twitter, or Tweeps, can find each other using a specific hashtag, or perhaps they are all fans of a celebrity or a product.

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STEMx

JUNE 22, 2016

by Mike Feder, Director of STEMx. STEM schools can be a vehicle for creating equity, setting high expectations, and an education that prepares kids for the 21. st. century world. As STEM advocates, we believe in these schools. But data matters just as much as our beliefs. When parents and policymakers want more than the beliefs of educators, what are the best ways to demonstrate the merits of our work?

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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.

Teaching

Ask a Tech Teacher

JUNE 20, 2016

Here are the top 9 nine Google Apps tips according to Ask a Tech Teacher readers: Embed a File from Google Drive. Google Apps lesson plan. 8 Google Apps Tricks Every Teacher Should Know. Google Hangouts–Are You Using Them Yet? How to Embed Student Work into Digital Portfolios. Book Review: Google Apps Meets Common Core. Dear Otto: How do I teach Google Drive to K/1?

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The Innovative Educator

JUNE 22, 2016

If you've ever had the opportunity to attend a Maker Faire, you understand what a fantastic experience it is. Last year when I attended many teachers lamented that the ticket price put attendance out of reach for them and their students. Don't let them happen again this year. Don't just visit the Maker Faire. Be a part of the experience and apply within the next month (application closes July 17th) to participate in one of many ways.

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User Generated Education

JUNE 21, 2016

For the past two summers, I have gotten the marvelous opportunity to teach maker education camps to elementary level students, ages 5 to 12. Each week has a different theme and each theme meets for the five weekdays from 9:00 to 12:00 with a half hour break. Our first week’s theme was on Toy Making and Hacking. Here are the webpages of resources I aggregated on these maker activities: DIY Science Toys – [link].

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Ask a Tech Teacher

JUNE 23, 2016

What is ‘writing’? If you look it up in the Free Dictionary, you find this definition: The act or process of producing and recording words in a form that can be read and understood. This focuses on recording words that are then communicated to others. In fact, if you ask students (and too often, teachers), to define ‘writing’, they probably agree with the Free Dictionary, adding that writing uses a pencil and paper (maybe a word processing program), requires language sk

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Technology Tidbits

JUNE 20, 2016

Animate your Classroom is the new iOS app from Plotagon that is great for digital storytelling and project based learning. This is an ideal learning tool for education as no student account is required and Animate your Classroom supports multiple users and shares files easily. Also, there are lots of educational resources/lessons to help integrate Animate your Classroom.

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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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Technology Tidbits

JUNE 20, 2016

Typeform is an innovative new way to collect data. It's a great way to replace forms by creating an interactive experience for the user. For example, education can use this to poll to their students or create a "quiz". Also, it can be used in a wide variety of ways from creating "suggestion" boxes, student forms, and more. I highly recommend checking out Typeform by clicking here !!!

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Technology Tidbits

JUNE 20, 2016

Canva is a wonderful free online photo editor as well as iPad app. This is a simple to use photo-editing tool, that uses a drag-n-drop interface and lets users, crop, resize, rotate, filter, and more to their photo. I highly recommend checking out Canva by clicking here !!!

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Technology Tidbits

JUNE 20, 2016

Graphing for Kids is an excellent iOS app for kids learning how to graph. W/ this apps students will learn how to make: bar, line, circle graphs and more. Also, students can upload their own images to use in their charts/graphs or select from a wide variety of clip-art. I highly recommend checking out Graphing for Kids by clicking here !!! For a more detailed review check out Edshelf.

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Technology Tidbits

JUNE 20, 2016

Triventy is a excellent site for creating collaborative quizzes or surveys. The way this works is a user creates their own questions or customizes an existing one and then invites students to add their own. Once the quiz is started (up on a board, projector, screen etc.) a teacher can invite students via unique URL to join. Once the quiz is finished the participate get results in real-time similar to the way Kahoot works.

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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!

STEM

Technology Tidbits

JUNE 20, 2016

Level it Books is the popular educational app (Android/iOS) for scanning a book's ISBN and getting a Reading Lexile/Level. It's being used by educators, parents, and librarians around the world to keep a virtual library of books, manage students Reading Levels, and more. Also, a teacher can use it not only to create class rosters and book libraries, but a "book of the day" as well.

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Technology Tidbits

JUNE 20, 2016

Education.com is an excellent site for finding a wide range of educational resources. Students and teachers can find workbooks, online games, activities, printables, and more. Recently, they have released resources for PreK thru 5th grade to help get ready for their upcoming grade and avoid summer learning loss. I highly recommend checking out Education.com by clicking here !!!

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Ask a Tech Teacher

JUNE 24, 2016

Teaching kids keyboarding isn’t about finding the perfect online website or downloaded software and setting students lose on a year-long self-directed journey of progressive lessons hoping their speed and accuracy improves. That might work for adults, but it’s a prescription for boredom and failure with K-8 students. They require a mixture of activities, only one of which is drill.

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