Author: Jacqui

Often, students are expected to work independently at school and on their homework. That is a great idea for learning if you provide simple guidelines that allow them to be more effective, less frustrated. Here are tips to help your children get more out of homework time:

Helping Your Child with Homework: 5 Tips to Help Kids Get Better Grades

Homework is a key part of the school experience. Not only does homework help students get a better grasp of the lesson, but it also helps teach about responsibility. While it’s always a good idea to also teach kids to be independent and do their homework on their own, there’s no harm in providing some help, especially in lessons or even subjects where your child may have challenges with.

In order to effectively help your child with homework, here are some tips that you should know:

Allot time for homework

Helping your child with homework doesn’t just mean doing the homework for them. The essence of homework is giving your child some form of responsibility so let them take charge in accomplishing their homework.

However, what you can do is to help your child in keeping a homework schedule. This further helps your child learn about time management. 

One of the best practices in allotting time for homework is to schedule it before a fun activity such as watching TV or playing, as this helps your child feel rewarded for being able to finish his homework. It is best that you also keep yourself available during this time so that you are there in case he needs guidance from you.

Maintain a conducive learning environment at home for your child

It’s always a good idea to maintain a study room for your child, free from distractions. Or, if a separate room cannot be provided, set a study desk for your child in a part of the room that is not facing things that might distract him while doing his homework. 

The idea is to make sure that your child can focus on doing his homework and that he will be away from distractions. 

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Are you looking for grading apps, tools, and resources that you can use to collect, calculate, and analyze your student’s grades? Or maybe you are looking for apps that allow students to calculate their own grades, which will save you time and effort. If so, check out our list below. If there are any apps that we missed, let us know.

Gradebook and Grading Apps (for teachers)

1st Class GradeBook – 1st Class GradeBook app provides educators with contemporary grading features, including class and student activity, grade reports, and more. Educators can also send reports to parents to keep them informed of their children’s progress. This app comes with a money-back guarantee.

BigSIS – BigSIS is a cloud-based, customizable student information system, providing solutions to private schools across the United States and Canada. BigSIS is made of modules that manage admissions, gradebooks, and more. You select the modules you want to buy; many modules are included in the software package at no cost.

Class Action Gradebook – This grade book app lets you import student data, import assignments, and maintain a journal. It has dynamic features such as seating charts, attendance, data export, and import. This app supports K-12 schools through colleges.

ClassMate Gradebook – This grading and class management program is designed for all education levels. It is flexible and easy to learn, so the educator can monitor learner activities. This app was created to support educators in the classroom.

Edusight– Edusight is an app that allows elementary educators to collect and monitor accurate data about their learners. Edusight Gradebook has an easy-to-use interface that helps educators better understand their learners’ performance and determine how best to help them. Edusight Notes allows educators to record video, text, and audio observations of a learner’s performance in class.

GradeBook Pro– GradeBook Pro is designed with educators to help record grades, learner performance, and attendance. With this app, you can set your default grade scale to any grade range you desire.

GradeBookWizard – GradeBook Wizard is a gradebook and attendance program that enables educators, students, and parents to communicate in a secure online community. Educators can log into their grade book from any computer with Internet access. Students can use their class website to post learning activities, grades, and handouts for students and parents to access through individual, secure logins.

Jupiter iO Gradebook  – A grade book for educators from K-12 to college. Use with your SIS or Jupiter SIS is possible. It provides automatic English-to-Spanish translation and text-to-speech conversion for special needs students.

TeacherPlus Gradebook – TeacherPlus is an online teacher grade book designed to integrate with the Administrator’s Plus student information system. It allows educators to use their grade book on any browser or device, anywhere and anytime. Real-time tools are available on the website to help educators and parents monitor a child’s progress.

Grade Calculators (for students)

College GPA Calculator– Enables college students to calculate and save their college GPA, record their semester performance, and track their entire academic career.

High School GPA Calculator– Enables high school students to calculate their high school GPA, record their scores and track their cumulative academic performance.

Cumulative GPA Calculator– Enables high school and college students to calculate and save their cumulative GPA and determine how their future and current grades will affect their academic performance.

Grade Calculator– Enables students to determine their class grades by adding their assignments to calculate their total score.

Weighted Grade Calculator– Enables students to swiftly calculate their weighted class grade by adding each assignment and its total value.

Final Grade Calculator– Enables students to calculate what score they must receive on their final exam to achieve their desired final class grade.

Are there any apps that you would add?

—Matthew Lynch is the Editor of The Edvocate and The Tech Edvocate.

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, an Amazon Vine Voice, 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.

I’ve collected a series of back-to-school tips that are suited for in-person or remote learning. Pick those that work for you:

1. 8 Tech Tools to Get to Know Your Students for Back to School
2. 3 Apps to Help Brainstorm Next Year’s Lessons
3. 11 Back-to-school Activities for the First Month of School
4. Great Back to School Classroom Activities
5. Plan a Memorable Back to School Night
6. New School Year? New Tech? I Got You Covered
7. 5 Top Ways to Integrate Technology into the New School Year
8. 5 Ways to Involve Parents in Your Class
9. 6 Tech Best Practices for New Teachers
10. 5 Tech Ed Tools to Use this Fall
11. How to Build Your PLN
12. 5 Ways Teachers Can Stay on Top of Technology
13. 5 FREE Web Tools for a New School Year
14. Dear Otto: I need year-long assessments
15. Great Activities for the First Week of School

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Every month, subscribers to our newsletter get a free/discounted resource to help their tech teaching.

August

If you have a print copy of the K-8 curricula, you find that the posters are b&w (if you have the digital version, they’re in color). Send us an email at [email protected] and we’ll send you a free digital copy of “65 Posters for your Classroom”. This will include not only the posters in the curricula but more.

In the subject line, put:

Request for free posters

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Ask a Tech Teacher contributor Nicole McCray, has some thoughts on music and education. I think you’ll enjoy them:

There are many schools that undermine the importance of music in schools. Yet, many benefits stem from a musical education. Musical training enriches students, and music plays an integral role in culture and overall development, spilling into other areas within our lives.

Music is always present at important events, such as celebrations, worship, and ceremonies. In addition, education in music is a way to take student learning to new levels and higher performance. Because of this, music education should be an essential aspect of children’s education. 

Musical learning presents multiple advantages for students, and there are even studies to back them up. Read on to see why music education needs to play a vital role in children throughout their educational development.

MUSIC EDUCATION & STUDENT LEARNING

Students who study music practice consistently, many times committing the musical piece to memory. The activation of this brain power helps with recall across other academics for students and when using music as a mechanism to help them remember. 

Any student who is having difficulty learning something can be aided by ng the concept into a song. The music pattern allows them to recall the words. Also, the music lyrics, or words, help with language development, stimulating the brain, exposing students to massive vocabulary in short periods. Thus, music can provide for memory recall and language development by its impact on the brain.

MUSIC EDUCATION & YOUR BRAIN

Music has a complex structure, and your brain has to work hard to make sense of it. Therefore, music education for students provides an opportunity for advanced academics, from a study done at Case Western Reserve University. Music programs in schools have been shown to have higher graduation rates, attendance rates, and students who are more likely to excel in their studies.

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Here are the most-read posts for the month of July

1. Tech Tip #63: Reset Default Font
2. Tech Ed Resources–Mentoring and Coaching
3. A Year to Remember, A Year to Reflect:  Pandemic Instruction
4. 11 Websites for Thinking and Learning
5. We Landed on the Moon July 20 1969
6. 5 (free) Posters on Teaching I
7. Tech Ed Resources–Lesson Plans
8. Tech Tip #44: Computer Safety
9. 9 Websites for Comics in Teaching
10. Revealed: The Secrets to Studying Success

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Here’s a preview of what’s coming up on Ask a Tech Teacher in August:

1. Why Music Education is Important
2. Subscriber Special
3. Back to School Resources
4. Grading Apps, Tools, Resources
5. Tech Tip: Create a Macro
6. Lessons Learned my First 5 Years of Teaching
7. Websites for HS Drivers Ed
8. Must-have Apps for Curious Students
9. 5 Steps to Personal Privacy
10. Genius Hour–Why You Should Love it

Please note: Schedules change so these articles may be moved to the next month.

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If you’re teaching high school videography, you want your students to use the programs that will be required in the job they end up in after graduation. You don’t want an ‘easy’ program. You want one that demonstrates the student’s expertise at an interview. But what are those programs? Here are some good suggestions:

What is the best video editing software for professionals?

Having your content in video format surely engages more people in your business or project. Nowadays, people are keener to watch videos instead of reading texts. But having average video editing software is one thing, and professional, high-quality software that makes your videos stand out is another thing. Having a low-quality video can decrease the interest of the viewers immediately. And to avoid such inconvenience, it is best to use software that is compatible with the up-to-date video editing trends. 

If you want to keep up with the newest trends of video editing and increase your brand reputation, finding the best video editing software is an important task for you. Either your videos are for entertaining, business, or personal purposes, professional editing will definitely stand out from the crowd. And to find the best video editing software for professional use can sometimes be overwhelming as there are so many options in the market. Moreover, the best video editing software is individual to each user. 

With the constantly developing and quickly advancing video editing technologies, many video editing programs offer similar editing features, including similar user interfaces, special effects, file import formats, etc. And this is where the confusion of the definition “best” starts. 

It depends on your needs and goals for your projects. Moreover, it depends on your video editing skill level. So when you look for the best video editing programs, ask yourself, “What video editors do other professionals in my industry use?”

Studying the market of professional video editors in your specific industry will help you understand better which software will work for you best. And when you find software that is strongly recommended by professionals, do some tests yourself. You will find free trial offers from most of the video editing programs that will help you understand whether it works for you or not. This way, you will not waste your money on software that you’ll give up using after a while. 

Below, you will find some of the most used and most recommended video editing programs that can meet your preferences as well. 

Adobe Premiere Pro

If you are using a PC for video editing, Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the most popular options for professionals. With this program, you will have a chance to have unlimited customizations to your files. Thanks to its nonlinear editing capabilities and extremely powerful and expansive feature set, many users prefer this program for video editing.

Pros 

• It has unlimited multicam angles editing capabilities
• Offers outstanding stabilization tools
• You can import videos of up to 8K resolution
• Straightforward and uncomplicated interface

Cons

• Sound effect samples are not included
• Frequent crashes and bugs during the editing process

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In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip: How to Auto Forward a Slideshow

Category: MS Office, Google Apps, Webtools

Q: My students want slideshows to automatically forward without requiring a mouse click or spacebar click. How do we do that?

A: Auto-forward isn’t difficult in PowerPoint:

• Go to Transition on the menu bar.
• Go to Timing on the right side.
• Set the timer to serve the needs of the slide. This will require students to practice before presenting so they can put the correct time in. A good default of 5-10 seconds.

It’s easier, but more basic in Google Slideshow: When you play the slideshow, it has an autoplay button that looks exactly like you find on videos

Online tools like Haiku Deck usually have an easy-to-find option for manual or auto-advancing slides.

Sign up for a new tip each week or buy the entire 169 Real-world Ways to Put Tech into Your Classroom.

What’s your favorite tech tip in your classroom? Share it in the comments below.

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At a time when coding careers continue to flourish – despite the Covid19 pandemic and its adverse effect on the world economy – it is not surprising to see kids learning programming at an early age. And the coding language of Python has won what can only be described as a growing following over the years. Not just among grownups but kids too.

So what is Python and why should kids learn it? Let’s start by taking a quick look at this programming language. A high-level general-purpose programming language, Python is being hailed today as the best coding language for beginners, including kids and teens.

Below are the top reasons why kids should learn Python:

1. Ease of Learning: Boasting a syntax that is very similar to that of English, Python is easy to learn, especially when compared to most other programming languages. In Python, one can write concepts in fewer lines of code, making it a very useful and fast choice for tasks, especially for beginners, including kids. Moreover, Python affords a great deal of flexibility as a coding language which means kids can experiment easily and more often.
2.  Soaring Popularity: Python is one of the most popular programming languages in the world now. In fact, it is said to have secured the second place in last year’s ranking of programming language popularity as published by the analyst firm Red Monk. This has definitely added to its appeal making more kids want to learn Python.
3.  Good Documentation, Community Support and a Big Network of Python Libraries: There is no dearth of guides and video tutorials for those working with Python. The community support makes it very easy for kids to learn computer science with Python. Plus, Python has several libraries that help minimise one’s time and effort during development. For instance, Matplotlib is used for plotting charts and graphs; SciPy for engineering applications, science, and mathematics; Beautiful Soup for HTML parsing and XML and NumPy for scientific computing.
4. Highly Versatile, driving up its Cross-Industry Appeal: Python is being used in different types of environments such as mobile applications, desktop applications, web development, hardware programming, and many more. This makes it a highly versatile programming language. Today, it is widely used in Big Data Analytics, Internet of Things (IOT), Full Stack Web Development, Computer Vision, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.
5.  Enjoys the Support of Leading Colleges and the Corporate Sector: Typically the first language taught in the computer science curriculum, Python has the backing from most of the top computer science college programs. It also enjoys support from Facebook, Amazon Web Services and Google. Thanks to the above reasons, more kids are learning Python today than ever before. It also helps that there is no shortage of learning resources today – both online and offline. There are many free learning resources one can find today but if you are looking for greater accountability, it is recommended to join a coding class. A leading coding program for kids and teens, YoungWonks provides students individual attention in 1:1 live lessons, fostering an environment where kids feel free to explore their creativity by experimenting and making new programs, apps, websites, games, robots and electronic devices. Not surprisingly, its students have even won first prizes at the RoboRave International 2018, RoboRave California 2018 and RoboRave US National 2017, making it a good choice for a kid looking to learn coding. Students even get a free trial to test the quality of lessons before they join the program.

–thank you to Ask a Tech Teacher contributor for this article (more…)