People love using finger swipes on iPads and iPhones. What seemed clunky at first are now quick, fluid, and almost intuitive. And many are consistent across platforms. A pinch in one program does the same in many, as does a swipe and a flick.

The most popular iPad-iPhone swipes typically involve gestures that facilitate navigation, multitasking, and interacting with apps. Here are some commonly used (note: some work on either iPhone or iPad but not both): (more…)

The metrics behind rankings are good to check, but might not accurately reflect what students are looking for. The Ask a Tech Teacher team as suggestions on how to dig deeper, be sure to choose the right college for your needs and future.

Choosing the Right College: Factors to Consider Beyond Rankings

Picking the right college is a huge choice that will affect your life for a long time. It’s easy to let college scores be your only source of information, but they don’t always tell the whole story. In fact, there are many important things besides scores that can have a big impact on your college experience and life afterward. Let’s look into these things, talk about why they’re important, and show you how to use them to help you make a choice.

Understanding the Limitations of Rankings

It’s important to understand why scores shouldn’t be your only concern before we get into the other factors. A lot of the time, college rankings are based on big numbers like graduation rates, teacher credentials, and financial resources. These are important, but they don’t show the little things about each person’s experiences or the important parts of schooling that can make a big difference in your personal and professional growth. (more…)

Balancing academics and social life in college is a bigger challenge than it sounds like. As this school year approaches an end and students start to plan on college life, the Ask a Tech Teacher team has suggestions on how to make that work well:

Balancing Academics and Social Life in College

College life is an exhilarating journey filled with learning, discovery, and growth. It’s a unique phase where you’re expected to juggle academics, social activities, part-time jobs, and perhaps even self-care routines. Finding the perfect balance between academics and social life is akin to walking a tightrope. It requires skill, patience, and a bit of a balancing act. So, how does one navigate through this without tipping over? Let’s dive in and explore some strategies to achieve this equilibrium.

Understanding the Importance of Balance

The Academic Foundation

First and foremost, it’s essential to acknowledge that academics are the bedrock of your college experience. They are the main reason you’re in college, after all. Excelling in your studies opens doors to future opportunities, whether it’s graduate school, competitive job markets, or research opportunities. But, why is balance so crucial?

The Social Spectrum

On the flip side, college is more than just grades and textbooks. It’s about building lifelong friendships, networking, developing social skills, and discovering who you are outside of the classroom. These experiences are invaluable and contribute significantly to your personal development and mental well-being. (more…)

Graphing is an important skill for students whether they go to college after High School or start a career. It teaches:

1. Visualization and Understanding: Graphing helps students visually represent data, functions, and relationships. This visual representation often aids in understanding complex concepts that may be difficult to grasp through purely symbolic or verbal explanations.
2. Problem Solving: Graphs provide a way to solve problems and make predictions. Whether it’s analyzing trends in data, finding optimal solutions in optimization problems, or understanding the behavior of functions, graphing is a valuable tool for problem-solving.
3. Communication of Ideas: Graphs provide a universal language for communicating ideas across different fields. Whether in mathematics, science, economics, or engineering, graphs are commonly used to convey information in a concise and understandable manner.
4. Critical Thinking: Interpreting graphs requires critical thinking skills. Students learn to analyze and interpret data, identify patterns and trends, and make inferences based on the information presented in the graph.
5. Preparation for Higher Education and Careers: Graphing skills are fundamental in many higher education disciplines and careers. Whether students pursue studies in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), social sciences, or business, they will likely encounter situations where graphing skills are essential.
6. Technology Proficiency: With the prevalence of graphing software and tools, teaching graphing also involves teaching students how to effectively use technology to create and analyze graphs. This proficiency in using graphing software is beneficial in both academic and professional settings.
7. Promoting Creativity: Graphing can be a creative process, particularly when students are tasked with representing data or functions in innovative ways. Encouraging creativity in graphing assignments can make the learning process more engaging and enjoyable for students.

I start students in 2nd grade with a spreadsheet program. Here are some of the lessons I teach (available for free on Ask a Tech Teacher): (more…)

Before you start this project, you might want to visit How to KidPix I and How to KidPix II.

There are a lot of graphic art options for youngers. We choose KidPix because it is user friendly, easily understood, and doesn’t clutter up the screen with anything other than what new graphic artists need.

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If you teach technology, it’s likely you were thrown into it by your Admin. You used to be a first grade teacher or the science expert or maybe even the librarian and suddenly found yourself the tech person, like the one down the hall you were always in awe of, the one responsible for classroom computers, programs, curriculum, and everything in between. Now that’s you–the go-to person for tech problems, computer quirks, crashes and freezes, and tech tie-ins for classroom inquiry.

You have no idea where to begin.

Here’s a peek into your future: On that first propitious day, everything will change. Your colleagues will assume you received a data upload of the answers to every techie question. It doesn’t matter that yesterday, you were one of them. Now, you will be on a pedestal, colleague’s necks craned upward as they ask , How do I get the class screen to work? or We need microphones for a lesson I’m starting in three minutes. Can you please-please-please fix my iPad? You will nod your head, smile woodenly, and race to your classroom for the digital manuals (if you’re lucky) or Google for online help.

Let me start by saying: Don’t worry. Really. You’ll learn by doing, just as we teach students. Take a deep breath, engage your brain, and let your brilliance shine.

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The Role of Mathematics in Education: What Professions You Can Get in the Future

Have you ever found yourself pondering the real-world applications of those algebraic formulas or geometric theorems you spent hours trying to decipher in school? Or perhaps, amidst a particularly challenging calculus problem, you’ve questioned how this abstract world of numbers and symbols could possibly influence your future career? Well, you’re not alone. Mathematics, often dubbed the universal language, plays a pivotal role in shaping the educational foundation necessary for a plethora of professions. Let’s dive into the essence of mathematics in education and uncover the vast array of future career opportunities it unlocks. (more…)

This week, February 18-24, 2024, is DiscoverE’s Engineers Week. Their tagline:

“A week-long event, a year-long commitment”

Do you wonder why anyone would be passionate about engineering? Forbes published three good reasons:

• The U.S. has approximately 1.6 million engineering jobs that pay $42 per hour in median.
• Job growth from 2010 to 2014 was in the double digits in several engineering occupations.
• Since 2007, the number of engineering grads nationwide has shot up 33%.

Overall, engineering offers a combination of intellectual challenge, real-world impact, and opportunities for personal and professional growth. By pursuing a career in engineering, students can contribute to meaningful projects, solve complex problems, and make a positive difference in the world.

What is Engineers Week?

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Hi everyone

Because of recent changes in emails that apply to newsletters, I am not able to send out the Ask a Tech Teacher newsletter this week. I hope to resolve these soon. I may have to switch platforms in which case I’ll let you know and you’ll have an opportunity to opt out of the new ecosystem.

Apologies for any inconvenience. Please feel free to email me at

[email protected]

with any questions.

I’ve left comments open if you’d like to ask questions there.

Presidents’ Day is an American federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February–this year, February 20, 2023. It was originally established to honor George Washington, the first President of the United States, and expanded to also celebrate the birthdays and legacies of other U.S. Presidents, particularly Abraham Lincoln whose birthday is on February 12th.

Here are great ways to celebrate in your classroom including websites, games, activities, printables, quizzes, audios, songs, interactive maps,  crafts, flashcards, videos, webquests, books, posters, trading cards, lesson plans, word searches, puzzles, speeches, articles, animations, biographies, and more (click the titles for the link):

1. Activities

Family Education has many president-themed quizzes, crafts, flashcards, as well as other patriotic activities.

2. BrainPop President videos

With the quality and ease-of-understanding teachers expect from BrainPop resources, this link provides classroom resources on fifteen presidents including Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Madison, Adams, Jackson, Nixon, Clinton, Kennedy, Reagan, and Obama. It also includes videos on the Presidential Election and Presidential Power.

3. Games and online activities

From Primary Games, popular home of a wide variety of edutainment for kids, this link includes a President’s Day Wordsearch, games, coloring pages, worksheets, jokes, stationary, and mobile games.

4. Google explores Presidents

This site is part of Google’s Arts and Culture, reputed to be well-done, visual, and immensely enticing to viewers. It is a curation of websites and web-based resources on each president, as well as general information on life in the White House. Each President’s archive is anchored by his official Presidential portrait.

5. History and background

From History.com, this is one of the most comprehensive, engaging collections of Presidents Day activities you’ll find online. It includes videos, animations, Presidential speeches, and articles as well as background on the White House and the holiday itself.

6. Learn about each President

Curated by WhiteHouse.gov, this site includes links to each President. From there, you get a fairly short though comprehensive biography of each president, interesting facts, and the part he played in creating the nation.

7. Presidential Timeline

Create a timeline of events in the life of one president or many.

–image credit Deposit Photos

Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:

https://forms.aweber.com/form/07/1910174607.htm

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“The content presented in this blog is the result of my creative imagination and not intended for use, reproduction, or incorporation into any artificial intelligence training or machine learning systems without prior written consent from the author.”

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.