Sat.Oct 10, 2015 - Fri.Oct 16, 2015

article thumbnail

How to Use Padlet: A Fantastic Tool for Teaching

The CoolCatTeacher

Useful Tools for Teachers Padlet is a versatile, easy to use tool for every teacher’s toolkit. Let’s dive into Padlet and Learn the Basics. At the bottom of this post, I have a Padlet that is temporarily open for you to post and share your favorite edtech tools. Richard Byrne, author of Free Technology for Teachers , spent some time teaching the teachers at my school about Padlet.

Tools 329
article thumbnail

10 Ways to Integrate Screen Time with Learning Time

EdTech Magazine

By Peter J. Pizzolongo Developmentally appropriate use of classroom technology can be a powerful tool for early childhood educators. .

Learning 319
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

How Challenging Is That Online Text?

Catlin Tucker

I grab a lot of texts online to use with students. I often wonder, “How challenging is this text? Will my students have trouble reading this text?” In the past, I’d rely on Google’s Advanced Search option that allowed me to search by reading level. Unfortunately, Google dumped this feature, so I’ve been on the hunt for a new way to assess online texts.

article thumbnail

Educators are the True Rockstars

A Principal's Reflections

" To recruit the brightest and best, teaching needs to be a high status occupation " - Lord Adonis It is interesting how our culture works, especially here in the United States. We idolize those who entertain us such as actors, actresses, rockstars, and professional athletes to name a few. These people bring joy, and sometimes heartbreak, into our lives.

Education 277
article thumbnail

Quickly Create Personalized Learning Experiences that Work

How can we actively engage learners 24/7, on their level and according to their interests, while respecting their learning styles? It’s not impossible. In this guide: Explore how to transform traditional, one-way videos into two-way interactive learning experiences Understand different types of artificial intelligence (AI), including - Generative vs.

article thumbnail

Why Teachers Need to Keep Going Even When It’s Hard

The CoolCatTeacher

The Cellist of the Schoolyard In 1992, thirty-seven-year-old Vedran Smailovic was principal cellist of the Sarajevo Opera. Because of the fighting, Sarajevo was being called “the capital of hell.” On May 27, a long line waited in front of one of the last bakeries in town. Parents wanted to buy bread to feed their families. A mortar landed among them, exploding and killing twenty-two people in line.

Meeting 330
article thumbnail

4 Steps to Build a Successful Blended Learning Program

EdTech Magazine

By Chris Harrington Learn how to partner with instructional teams to lay the Wi-Fi foundation that will breathe life into nascent blended education models.

More Trending

article thumbnail

Startup Shortcuts: Tips to Improve Cold-Emailing Response Rates

Ed Tech from the Ground Up

More tips and tricks to address common startup challenges. This one focuses on strategies for getting the most out of your emailing efforts. Click the headline to read the full post. Questions? Email websupport@epe.org.

Strategy 252
article thumbnail

Why Parent Involvement Matters: The Research

The CoolCatTeacher

Every Classroom Matters Episode #179. Parent involvement matters! We know it but do we realize we’re talking up to a full point of a student’s GPA? Let’s look at some well-known research showing what kind of parent involvement matters most. Today’s guest, Dr. William Jeynes authored one of the most comprehensive studies to date.

article thumbnail

Going Deeper with Hands-On Tech in Education

EdTech Magazine

By Julie Smith As K–12 incorporates technology into active learning approaches, students gain academic independence and brighter futures.

Education 289
article thumbnail

5 Best Practices for Digital Portfolios

Ask a Tech Teacher

Digital portfolios have become a critical part of today’s classroom. Why collate student work into clunky 3-ring binders that can only be one place at a time, are subject to damage and page loss, and are difficult to update when there are so many easy-to-use, intuitive digital versions: Blogs–Kidblogs, WordPress, Edublogs. Digication. Dropr.

Wiki 256
article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

10+ Halloween Apps to Spook The Learning Out of ‘Em

Teacher Reboot Camp

“There is magic, but you have to be the magician. You have to make the magic happen.” – Sidney Sheldon, Are You Afraid of the Dark? Halloween is one of the most fun holidays. Kids love the spooky monsters, sounds, music, dances, treats, traditions, haunted houses, and costumes that surround the holiday. As an educator or parent that has a mobile device you can capitalize on this time to help kids learn while celebrating the holiday.

Android 220
article thumbnail

The 30 Second Assessment

Brilliant or Insane

Brilliant or Insane. I know a few teachers this year who are committed to assessing students without testing them. That’s right: they’re not only ditching grades, they’re trying to ditch the tests that produce them too. They’re confident that the data they’re gathering provides far better information than those tired instruments used to, particularly when it comes to understanding […].

article thumbnail

How to Course Correct STEM Education to Include Girls

EdTech Magazine

By Sylvia Libow Martinez Introduce the real world and change the conversation.

Course 329
article thumbnail

The Fun of IFTTT

Ask a Tech Teacher

Hour of Code, coming up this December 7-13th, is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics. Since it began, over 100 million students have participated worldwide in over forty languages (data from HourofCode.com ). So far this year, almost 39,000 teachers are participating across the globe: As I did last year, I’ll be giving you a complete selection of activities by grade-level with lots of innovative ideas on what wi

article thumbnail

Reimagining Chickering & Gamson's Principles Post-Pandemic: Technology's Central Role in Modern Edu

This white paper examines and proposes revisions to the "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" introduced by Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson in 1987 for today's technology-driven world.

article thumbnail

10 Google Apps tips EVERY teacher should know

Ditch That Textbook

Most of us have worked for years with Microsoft Office before Google Apps was unveiled. That means we’re pretty familiar with some basic tips that have become staples in our lives, like: Ctrl+C = Copy Ctrl+V = Paste Ctrl+Z = Undo Hold in Ctrl and use the arrow keys to jump from word to word [.].

Google 213
article thumbnail

Ten Ways New Teachers Burn Themselves Out

Brilliant or Insane

Brilliant or Insane. Although teacher attrition rates appear to have stabilized in recent years, the fact remains that nearly half of new teachers leave the profession before celebrating their fifth year anniversaries. I remember my first years in the classroom as some of my hardest, both personally and professionally. New teachers weren’t mentored then, and even now, many who do […].

Classroom 217
article thumbnail

Tech in the Right Hands Pushes STEM to the Future

EdTech Magazine

By Ryan Petersen In the latest issue of EdTech , writers explore the expanding horizon of STEM.

STEM 287
article thumbnail

Investing in leadership capacity: The amazing, wonderful District 59

Dangerously Irrelevant

Two years ago I had the incredible opportunity to work with the entire leadership team of District 59 in Arlington Heights, Illinois for SEVEN days. Yes, seven entire days with every central office administrator, every building administrator, and many of their teacher leaders. There were about 40 of us. We met approximately once per month from September to May.

Groups 212
article thumbnail

Behind the Bell: The Underlying Impact of Tardiness in K-12 Schools

Managing a K-12 campus with constant pressure to meet performance metrics is challenging. And tardiness can significantly limit a school from reaching these goals. Learn more about why chronic lateness matters, and key strategies to address the following impacts: Data errors caused by manual processes Low attendance and graduation rates that affect a school’s reputation Classroom disruption, which leads to poor academic performance High staff attrition and “The Teacher Exodus” Unmet LCAP goals t

article thumbnail

Do Not Feed Bugs to Students

Battelle for Kids

Volume 2, Issue 11, Number 4. Driving Question: What is needed to create sufficient student agency? Shoichi Uchiyama is a famous, world expert Japanese chef that is obsessed in entomophagy cuisine. In other words, he is an expert on eating bugs. This can include hornet larvae and silkworm pupae to boiled spiders and cockroach soup. According to some nutritionists, bugs are a high source of protein and nutrients.supposedly good for you!

208
208
article thumbnail

3 Organizational Apps to Start the School Year

Ask a Tech Teacher

Whether you teach science or PE, there are hundreds of apps to help you do it better. The response to this tidal wave of information has been confusion. As each teacher downloads their favorites, students spend as much time learning the app as applying it academically. There’s a move afoot to pick five that are cross-curricular, train faculty, and then use them throughout the school year.

article thumbnail

The Mindset of the Maker Educator: Presentation Materials

User Generated Education

During Connected Educators’ Month I did a virtual presentation on The Mindset of the Maker Education. The description for this presentation was: Dr. Jackie Gerstein discusses why we are in a perfect storm for maker education and the maker mindset–new skills and roles (many of which you probably already have on your internal desk)–with a self-assessment to help you determine how maker-ready you are, and what you need to do if you want to get there… What follows are the sli

Education 206
article thumbnail

IoT Incorporates Human Gestures

EdTech Magazine

By Derek Walter From medicine to science and engineering, VR and related technologies incorporate touch-free controls.

article thumbnail

The Battle of the Authoring Tools: A 10-Point Comparison for Picking the Right One

Speaker: Chris Paxton McMillin, President of D3 Training Solutions

There are plenty of great authoring tools for developing eLearning, but the one you select could directly impact your course's outcomes. Depending upon your learners’ needs and your organization’s performance goals, you could be overlooking considerations that impact the both effectiveness of your courses and how long it takes to finish them. From general capabilities to specific workflow structures, some aspects are critical when it comes to learning objectives and deadlines.

article thumbnail

School Ambassadors: Tour Guides or Agents of Learning?

Battelle for Kids

Volume 2, Issue 11, Number 6. Driving Question: How might a student leadership opportunity lead to the development of meaningful student agency? "Hello, my name is Tatyana. Welcome to Katherine Smith School," greets a school ambassador. Every visitor to Smith is met with a strong handshake and a big smile. With hundreds of visitors every year, Smith's dependence on student leaders as guides may be completely necessary.

Learning 199
article thumbnail

Announcing the Winners of the 2015 Digital Innovation in Learning Awards!

Digital Promise

Karen Cator is President & CEO at Digital Promise and can be reached on Twitter at @kcator. Betsy Corcoran is Co-Founder & CEO of EdSurge and can be reached on Twitter at @betsy_. For two years now, October has been an inspiring month for us. Why? In October, we get to share the winners of the Digital Innovation in Learning Awards (DILAs)! Today, we are thrilled to announce 16 stellar winners in the 2015 DILAs.

Learning 198
article thumbnail

'Modeled Sustained Silent Reading' Is Spreading Like Wildfire Internationally

The Journal

Without question, children need to develop reading fluency. Commonsensically, having kids read lots and lots should help in developing such fluency. Well, the data from U.S. classrooms on methods such as “Sustained Silent Reading” and its cousin, “Drop Everything and Read” are equivocal, that’s not stopping the Taiwanese. In 3 short years, 10 percent of its 2,700 elementary schools have adopted the “Modeled Sustained Silent Reading” Program!

article thumbnail

Turn any exisiting PC or Mac into fully functional Chromebook - for free!

Educational Technology Guy

Neverware, a startup that has developed a software product, CloudReady , in partnership with Google, which turns almost any computer from the last 8 years into a full-fledged Chromebook. Since launching this spring in the K-12 education market, they've deployed CloudReady in over 100 school districts, helping them dramatically extend the life and functionality of their existing computers.

article thumbnail

The Roses and Thorns of an LMS Strategy: How to Flourish with the Right LMS

Speaker: Amanda Davis, Chief Experience Officer and Liam O'Malley, VP of Association Solutions

The "new normal" is now a little less new, a little more normal. Does that mean your current LMS strategy is in need of a refresh? Is your organization or association leaning into the always-evolving eLearning environment to ensure you have the tools and content to remain relevant through all this change? There are many complex decision-making processes within your learning & development strategy and LMS lifecycle management, including: Selection.

article thumbnail

Tech Tip 117: How to Use an Internet Start Page

Ask a Tech Teacher

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents and teachers about their 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: My students get distracted immediately when they go on the internet–by all the adds, bling, and websites they might like but I know are not age-appropriate.

How To 172
article thumbnail

MDM in Education: Sometimes Necessary, Never Sufficient

EdTech Magazine

By Craig J. Mathias For a smarter, more comprehensive mobility management solution, look beyond MDM.

Mobility 216
article thumbnail

Student Voice And Choice In Language Learning

Battelle for Kids

Volume 2, Issue 11, Number 5. Driving Question: How can student voice and choice enrich language learning? Recent articles in publications like The Atlantic and The Hill highlight what many describe as a dismal state of language learning in the United States. Both pieces speak to the largely ineffective outcomes of language study, since so few language learners achieve a meaningful level of proficiency, even after years of study.

Outcomes 160
article thumbnail

Do higher test scores mean higher intelligence?

Ditch That Textbook

As an eighth grader, I was part of a program where I took the SAT test. I really had no idea what I was doing, but I gave it a shot. Then the results arrived. I wasn’t totally sure what the scores meant as an eighth grader, but it all became clearer when my mom [.].

155
155
article thumbnail

Enhancing HyFlex Education through the PowerTeaching Framework

This whitepaper explores integrating the PowerTeaching pedagogical approach within a HyFlex (Hybrid Flexible) educational model, focusing on employing cooperative learning strategies and efficient classroom management techniques.