Let’s face it. Teachers juggle an exhausting schedule of parent conferences, administrative tasks, and specialized student needs. They take work home evenings and weekends and often are forced to choose between family and job when it comes to allocating a finite quantity of time over what surely seems to be infinite needs.

The teachers I know want to be more organized, work more efficiently, use available tools to complete tasks faster, and prioritize needs. Knowing this, I look for tools to energize my teaching, do stuff like:

• save time
• accomplish common tasks more quickly 
• make access from digital devices easy and intuitive
• are simple to use so even when my mind is somewhere else (like on the child across the room or the admin peeking in my door), the tool performs flawlessly

Here are three apps I love that meet these qualifications:

Flip

Flip is a freemium discussion app where teachers (or even students) pose a discussion topic (via video) and students respond with a short video. The post may include a recording, an attachment, decorations, or any number of other tools to share their knowledge. Responses show up in a grid format that’s easy to view and fun to read for students and teachers.

Educational applications

This app is a wonderful method of differentiating for varied student needs. Here are just a few ways to use it in your class:

• ask questions about reading material or the lesson plan as a formative assessment to measure student understanding of the topic.
• let students pose questions about material that classmates can answer–a backchannel approach to learning
• have students share a quick video about themselves at the start of a new school year
• extend a classroom discussion so all students can offer their ideas, even the shy members
• brainstorm on a topic to collect lots of ideas before drawing a conclusion

IFTTT  

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I’ve been working from home for years but most people haven’t. I posted this article about a year ago but have updated it for the challenges we now face with #covid19

Truth is, life often interferes with work. Vacations, conferences, PD–all these take us away from our primary job functions and the environment where we are most comfortable delivering our best work. But you do need the right equipment and setup to make that happen. Here’s what I  currently use to teach from home or can easily arrange:

1. 1. Have necessary apps on iPads and smartphones. This includes your LMS, virtual meeting tool, cloud accounts, email, scan, social media, and sharing.
   2. Have a digital notetaking program–Evernote, OneNote, Notability, or Google Keep for example.
   3. Wean yourself from printing hard copies. It’s easier to do than it sounds. My printer broke–well, it wouldn’t print more than one page without jamming. That made it hard to print a lot of documents. Instead, I loaded the document onto my iPad (or laptop) and interacted with it there. PDFS: I can annotate with the Edge browser or a dedicated app. Google and Microsoft docs: Easy to work with those right from the platform.  Once I’ve marked them up as needed, I can email the file, take a screenshot and share it, or do nothing (in the case of Google docs). No printing required. I am now completely used to that–would never go back to the paper-wasting approach.
   4. If you go somewhere else to work (I was going to say a coffee shop but that’s out of bounds this month), don’t use a public WiFi. Use a hot spot connected to your phone. Public WiFi like Starbucks are notoriously insecure.
   5. Be brave about solving problems associated with online work. Don’t let setbacks and roadblocks stop you. Be accountable to yourself or you won’t get stuff done. I have to say, so many of my fellow teachers are risk-takers. When this remote teaching problem was dumped in their lap, their attitudes were positive, can-do, and try to stop me!
   6. Have a virtual meeting program like MS Teams, Zoom (if your school allows it), Google Hangouts, Google Meet, Webroom.net, Big Blue Button, or another. These are for larger groups (like a book club meeting). Small group video calls work nicely with programs like Facetime, Skype, or Google Hangouts.
   7. Student collaborative groups can be addressed with a mix of Facetime on phones and the Google Doc on the digital device. Or another way–I’d love to hear how your students address this.
   8. Have backup batteries for your phone, laptop, and iPad. You’re using them a lot more than usual. They’ll run through your power more quickly than you’re accustomed to. And, videos, personal hotspots and Google Maps burn through power. What should last nine hours turns out to be two.
   9. Have redundancy where something is important. For example, my external battery charger died and my iPad ran out of juice. Since then, I purchased a redundant backup power supply.

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MTI 563: The Differentiated Teacher

MTI 563 starts in one week–Monday, April 27, 2020! Last chance to sign up. Click this link; search for MTI 563 and click for more information and to sign up.

What is it

Differentiation in the classroom means meeting students where they are most capable of learning. It is not an extra layer of work, rather a habit of mind for both teacher and student. Learn granular approaches to infusing differentiation into all of your lesson plans, whether you’re a Common Core school or not, with this hands-on, interactive class. Ideas include visual, audio, video, mindmaps, infographics, graphic organizers, charts and tables, screenshots, screencasts, images, games and simulations, webtools, and hybrid assessments.

Assessment is based on involvement, interaction with classmates, and completion of projects so be prepared to be fully-involved and an eager risk-taker. Price includes course registration, college credit, and all necessary materials. To enroll, click the link above, search for MTI 563 and sign up. Email askatechteacher at gmail dot com for questions.

What You Get

• • 5 Activities (topics)
  • tech ed videos, lesson plans, articles
  • 5 weeks
  • 4 virtual meetings
  • Unlimited questions/coaching during virtual face-to-face meetings and other pre-arranged times. We stay until everyone leaves.
  • 3 college credits

Screenshots

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Articles on #CoronaVirus you won’t want to miss:

Resources You Need During #COVID19

Teaching Online During #COVID19

Teaching Online During #COVID19–More from my Inbox

#CoronaVirus–This Week’s Inbox

Teaching During #CoronaVirus–An Old Strategy That’s Perfect

10 Tips for Teaching Remotely

13 Teaching Strategies to Shake up Your Remote Teaching

8 Ways Parents and Teachers Support Remote Teaching (coming May 28)

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A problem with online teaching is that students have to sit through a long lecture-sort of presentation–if you’re trying to replicate your classroom teaching. Some good advice I see over and over regarding teaching online is DON’T try to replicate your physical classroom. Instead, teach using online’s strengths. A good way to do that is with a flipped classroom. Chris Landry, an eighth-grade science teacher at Memorial Middle School, said he’s been able to continue teaching students amid the closures through videos and has even provided them with fun activities to do at home. What made it easier? Flipped Classrooms:

“…adjusting to the new way of teaching was easier than expected because he was using a “flipped classroom” while schools were in session.

For a thorough overview of flipped classrooms, take a look at this infographic from Cool Infographics:

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A growing focus of schools is STEM. Ask a Tech Teacher contributor, Brianna, has some general observations about STEM education in 2020:

Stem Education in 2020

About two decades ago, the sciences were not so popular among younger generations. People keen on mathematics, physics, or IT were awe-inspiring and seemed to have supernatural abilities. But, the importance of sciences and technologies has grown; that’s why professionals in certain fields have become headhunters’ “targets.” The world’s workforce lacked a lot of science specialists, that is why STEM education became more popular.

So, what is STEM education? STEM is an acronym that stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These subjects are being taught cross-disciplinary and in a complex which refers to real situations. This approach fosters the motivation of students which tend to make use of essay help service and tutors to have work done. You might think that there can be nothing new about STEM education in K-12 and higher education. Still, there are several facts you may want to know about.

The Role of Technology

The essential component in 2020 is a T-part of STEM – Technology. It is not only an object of education but a necessary and irreplaceable means of teaching STEM as well. For several years now, we observe a rapid growth of online and remote teaching, learning, and even practicing. Education in various disciplines has undergone significant change with the introduction of VR and AR into the classrooms. Now it is possible to create virtual reality and virtual laboratories for students to practice in. And this is only a small part of the technologies’ influence on modern life and education.

Grants and New Opportunities

Currently, numerous STEM courses and grants are launching in many universities and organizations. Moreover, famous corporations and brands are funding them, making it possible for students with limited financial possibilities to get quality education free of charge. Such examples are Ford Motor, Toyota Foundation, and Toshiba. They offer grants not only to students of higher education institutions but at a school level too. The NEA Foundation also promotes grants and projects to underserved communities that do not have access to a quality education process and resources. 

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Here are the most-read posts for the month of March:

1. Tips to avoid plagiarism
2. College classes in blended learning
3. New book from Ask a Tech Teacher: Inquiry and PBL
4. How to Eteach in a COVID-19 Pandemic
5. 2020 Edtech trends
6. Why teach poetry?

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Most of us are only a few weeks into teaching remotely. It’s still chaotic, messy, but we’re trying to make it work. We have the will, just need the way.

Lots of education companies are stepping up to make that possible. Here’s a sampling of the many and varied emails I got this past week offering help:

More Resources to teach remotely  

• Babbel–free language learning for all US K12 and college students
• Book Creator–if you use Book Creator, they have help for you as you teach remotely
• Flinn At-home Science
• Free resources for educators during the coronavirus pandemic–from SmartBrief on EdTech
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt online At-home Learning Resources
• PBS–free curated standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more for CA
• STEM Remote Learning Solutions from Vernier–free for a limited time
• Thoughtful Learning Writing Units–free during Pandemic
• Wide Open School–from Common Sense Media

Remote Learning Tips 

• Home Network Tips for WiFi use from the FCC
• Here’s what schools can do for students without internet–from EdSurge
• Tactical Ideas for Virtually Coaching Your Newly-virtual Teachers–a 35-minute video from Adam Geller
• Working from Home Tips for Teachers–from Edublog

More about COVID-19

This next shows how US school districts are managing remote teaching. Map of responses to COVID 19 from schools—pretty scary, at least to me. This updates constantly so what you see below may not be the most current. Click through:

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There is a lot of conversation about college vs. career–the pros and cons of each weighed against the needs of individual students. Here’s a thoughtful article from Peter MacCallister, an Ask a Tech Teacher contributor, on why college is a good idea even when considering a career in tech:

Why College Matters for a Successful Career in Tech

Technology is one of the areas where self-education, or autodidacticism, can bring outstanding results and allow an individual to achieve professional success without holding official certifications to prove his knowledge and skills. Self-taught people study better without guidance and prefer to have full control over what, when and how they study. Why would such a person interested in a tech career spend thousands of dollars to go to college instead of learning at home? The reasons are plenty so let’s delve deeper into this issue.

A Prestigious College is a Playground for Networking

Getting into a highly-ranked college or university can give your career an incredible impetus if only for the fact that you’ll be surrounded by intelligent and accomplished people with similar interests. Colleges offer countless possibilities for networking both with professors who are experts in your field and with fellow students.

Imagine having attended classes with Elon Musk or Warren Buffet as a fellow student at an elite institution like the University of Pennsylvania. Good colleges and universities are filled with incredibly driven and passionate students from whom you can learn a lot and with whom you might collaborate professionally one day. Having many bright minds in one spot increases your chances of meeting future visionaries in your field.

Colleges Have an Extensive Network of Resources

At first glance, it seems that programmers, software developers and other tech professionals need little more than a computer with an Internet connection to develop their skills. However, no matter how motivated and passionate you are, there is a cap to self-education. A point comes when you need serious output from the external world to continue to grow at the same rate.

Libraries, laboratories, expensive software licenses, access to reputable academic journals and career assistance – all these represent only a part of the wide range of resources that a good university provides to students so they can excel in their field. Hunching over your computer for weeks and months to find a solution to a problem that your peers have solved long ago is counterintuitive. Meanwhile, having access to valuable resources allows you to keep in touch with the latest developments in the sector and make sure you stay on track.

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I am so proud of how the education community has stepped up to the challenge teachers face to continue the learning despite apocalyptic changes in the delivery system. Definitely this means teachers, administrators, parents and students, but I also include the companies and resource providers in the education ecosystem.

Here’s a sampling of the many and varied emails I got this past week offering help:

• New Remote Learning Tools and Resources
• How to teach remotely

New Remote Learning Tools and Resources

• America’s Pledge of Allegiance–this video teaches kids how to do it and this video makes it more of an event
• Canva for Education–Free (oh boy, I love this website)
• Checklist for Remote Learning
• Microsoft Distance Learning Tools from the amazing Dr. Monica Burns
• Two Collections of Hands-on Science Experiments to do at Home–From Richard Byrne
• Using buses as mobile hotspots--park the bus by a park for 30-60 minutes so students can download what they need for the day.
• Zapzapmath–automatic upgrade to premium until the end of the school year

Zoom is also offering a free upgrade to educators to help them to teach remotely during the pandemic. Here are a few tips on using Zoom to teach remotely:

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