Author: Jacqui
22 Back To School Websites
Here are a few of the popular resources teachers are using to
- BTS resources from Microsoft
- BTS resources from Teachers Pay Teachers
- Back to School Survival Kits
- BTS Toolkit from Education.com
- Make a class photo in Pixton EDU
We write about back to school often on Ask a Tech Teacher. Here are some of the past articles I think you’ll like:
- 3 Apps to Help Brainstorm Next Year’s Lessons
- 5 FREE Web Tools for a New School Year
- 5 Tech Ed Tools to Use this Fall
- 5 Top Ways to Integrate Technology into the New School Year
- 5 Ways Teachers Can Stay on Top of Technology
- 5 Ways to Involve Parents in Your Class
- 6 Tech Best Practices for New Teachers
- 8 Tech Tools to Get to Know Your Students for Back to School
- 11 Back-to-school Activities for the First Month of School
- Back to School–Tech Makes it Easy to Stay On Top of Everything
- Dear Otto: I need year-long assessments
- Great Activities for the First Week of School
- Great Back to School Classroom Activities
- How to Build Your PLN
- New School Year? New Tech? I Got You Covered
- Plan a Memorable Back to School Night
- Ready To Go Back To School? 7 Fun Lesson Ideas To Start The New Year
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Subscriber Special: Back to School Survival Kits
Every month, subscribers to our newsletter get a free/discounted resource to help their tech teaching.
September 1-8, 2024, we’re offering a 20% discount on any Survival Kit. Pick one from this link:
https://www.structuredlearning.net/product-category/all-in-one-resource-collections/
Use this code:
3XAR9WZU
Click through for additional hidden discounts!
Questions? Email us at [email protected] (more…)
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Be Featured on Ask a Tech Teacher
I get thousands of visitors a day–over six million since I started. The most common reason why you-all drop by is for resources. I have lots of them–lesson plans, tips and tricks–but one area I have not enough depth is the experiences of fellow teachers:
- your personal teaching experiences
- your informed take on tech ed topics
- Education pedagogy
If you’re interested in guest posting on this blog or start your own column, leave a comment below and I’ll be in touch. It’s a challenging time but one we-all can get through if we talk to each other.
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Tech Ed Resources–Lesson Plans
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 from members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, from 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, with appropriate metrics to know learning is organic and granular.
Today: Lesson Plans
There are lots of bundles of lesson plans available–by theme, by software, by topic, by standard. Let me review a few:
- STEM Lesson Plans
- Coding Lesson Plans
- By Grade Level
- 30 K-5 Common Core-aligned lessons
- 110 lesson plans–integrate tech into different grades, subjects, by difficulty level, and call out higher-order thinking skills.
- singles–for as low as $.99 each. Genius Hour, Google Apps, Khan Academy, Robotics, STEM, Coding, and more.
- Holiday projects–16 lesson plans themed to holidays and keep students in the spirit while learning new tools.
Who needs this
These are for the teacher who knows what they want to teach, but need ideas on how to integrate tech. They are well-suited to classroom teachers as well as tech specialists.
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Tech Ed Resources for your Class–Digital Citizenship
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 all stakeholders, with appropriate metrics to know learning is organic and granular.
Today: K-8 Digital Citizenship Curriculum
Overview
K-8 Digital Citizenship Curriculum—9 grade levels. 17 topics. 46 lessons. 46 projects. A year-long digital citizenship curriculum that covers everything you need to discuss on internet safety and efficiency, delivered in the time you have in the classroom.
Digital Citizenship–probably one of the most important topics students will learn between kindergarten and 8th and too often, teachers are thrown into it without a roadmap. This book is your guide to what children must know at what age to thrive in the community called the internet. It blends all pieces into a cohesive, effective student-directed cyber-learning experience that accomplishes ISTE’s general goals to:
- Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology
- Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity
- Demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning
- Exhibit leadership for digital citizenship
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Subscriber Special: August K-5 New Teacher Survival Kit
Every month, subscribers to our newsletter get a free/discounted resource to help their tech teaching. This month:
K-5 New Teacher Survival Kit
9 ebooks, 65 digital posters
August 7-August 10, 2024
Save 20% with this code:
A new teacher survival kit–for professionals new to teaching tech or expanding their pedagogy. It includes K-5 tech curriculum (including problem solving, productivity software, critical thinking, share/publish, mouse skills, image editing, Google Earth, Photoshop, web tools, and more), keyboarding and digital citizenship curricula, classroom posters, pedagogic articles on tech ed topics, tips and tricks, and more.
You may be the Technology Specialist, the Coordinator for Instructional Technology, IT Coordinator, Technology Facilitator, Curriculum Specialist, Technology Director or the technology teacher for your school—tasked with finding the right computer project for each classroom unit. You have a limited budget, less software, and the drive to do it right no matter the roadblocks.
It’s your job to make sure your school complies with the requirements of Common Core State Standards, ISTE, your state requirements, and/or the IB guidelines that weave technology consistently into the fabric of all units of inquiry as a method of delivering quality education.
How do you reach your goal? The K-5 New Teacher Survival Kit.
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Tech Ed Resources for your Class–K-8 Keyboard Curriculum
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 all stakeholders, with appropriate metrics to know learning is organic and granular.
Today: K-8 Keyboard Curriculum
Overview
K-8 Keyboard Curriculum (four options plus one)–teacher handbook, student workbooks, 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
Student workbooks sold separately
__________________________________________________________________________
1-Volume Essential Guide to K-8 Keyboarding
104 pages, dozens of images, 6 assessments
Great value!
Delivered print or digital
Doesn’t include: Student workbooks
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Tech Ed Resources–K-12 Tech Curriculum
I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m going to take time 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, are well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, offering inclusive solutions to the issue of tech tools–taking into account the perspectives of stakeholders, with appropriate metrics to ensure learning is organic and granular.
Today: K-12 Technology Curriculum
Overview
The K-12 Technology Curriculum is Common Core and ISTE aligned, and outlines what should be taught when so students have the necessary scaffolding to use tech for grade level state standards and school curriculum. You can purchase just the teacher manuals or student workbooks to serve a 1:1 environment, Google Classroom, and hybrid teaching situations.
Each grade-level PDF or print book (both are available) is between 175 and 252 pages and includes lesson plans, assessments, domain-specific vocabulary, problem-solving tips, Big Idea, Essential Question, options if primary tech tools not available, posters, reproducibles, samples, tips, enrichments, entry and exit tickets, and teacher preparation. Lessons build on each other kindergarten through 5th grade. Middle School and High School are designed for semester or quarter grading periods typical of those grade levels with topics like programming, robotics, writing an ebook, and community service with tech.
Most (all?) grade levels include keyboarding, digital citizenship, problem solving, digital tools for the classroom, and coding.
The curriculum is used worldwide by public and private schools and homeschoolers.
Who needs this
Tech teachers, tech coordinators, library media specialists, curriculum specialists
Classroom grade level teachers if your tech teacher doesn’t cover basic tech skills.
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40+ Word Study Websites
Here’s a long list of Language Arts and Word Study websites (check here for updates).
- Contraction Games
- Contraction Practice
- Feast of Homonyms
- Glossary of Poetry Terms
- Grammar Gorillas
- Grammaropolis
- Punctuation Games
- Suffix Match
Word Study
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21 SAT/ACT Prep Online Resources
Here are popular online resources to prepare for ACT and SAT tests (click for updated list):
- Albert Online — lots of SAT practice exams, including subject areas.
- College Board
- Kaplan Test Prep
- Khan Academy reading-writing-practice
- Mindsnacks SAT Vocabulary–a big part of succeeding on the SAT essay is knowing the right word
- Number2.com–for SAT, ACT, GRE
- Perfect Score Project--to prepare for SATs
- Prep Factory–for SATs, ACTs, other
- Quizlet–hundreds of SAT vocabulary prep flashcards
- UWorld SAT Prep
- Veritas Prep–free and fee tips, videos and more
SAT Exams
Here are some that specialize in SAT exams: