Category: Teacher resources

Did You Miss These in November?

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

9 Good Collections of Videos for Education

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When I started teaching, videos were a rarity. Common practice was to assign a chapter to read in a textbook and then a worksheet to assess student knowledge. This placed the responsibility for learning on the students, using teacher-prescribed methods, even though decades of research screamed that lots of kids perform better with images than pages filled with black-and-white text. But the excuse I used, as did most of my colleagues, was: It takes too much time to find the right videos to support so many different personal demands.

Back then, that was true. It’s not anymore.

Now there are dozens of online free educational videos that address most every academic topic imaginable. And they’re put out by recognized names in education — Khan Academy, BBC, Microsoft, Teacher Tube, as well as textbook providers like Origo. Here are ten of my favorite virtual places to find clear, effective educational videos that not only support teaching but can be used to enrich lessons for students who want more and/or backfill for those who might need a bit more help:

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16 Back-to-School Articles

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On everything from get-to-know-you activities to getting yourself ready:

For the entire list, click this Back-to-School category tag.

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What You Might Have Missed in August

Here are the top five posts for the month of August:

Basics of internet safety
Why Kindergartners Must Learn Technology
Classroom tech resources
How Behaviorism can turn your classroom around
eSpark–Self-paced Learning for Math and Reading

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, 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.

What You Might Have Missed in July

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

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What You Might Have Missed in June

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

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Last Chance for this College-credit Class 558

MTI 558: Teach Writing With Tech

Starts Monday, July 8, 2019! This is the last chance to sign up. Click this link; scroll down to MTI 558 and click for more information and to sign up.

Educators participate in this three-week hands-on quasi-writer’s workshop as they learn to use widely-available digital tools to help their students develop their inner writer. Resources include videos, pedagogic articles, lesson plans, projects, and virtual face-to-face meetings to share in a collaborative environment. Strategies introduced range from conventional tools such as quick writes, online websites, and visual writing to unconventional approaches such as Twitter novels, comics, and Google Earth lit trips. These can be adapted to any writing program be it 6+1 Traits, Common Core, or the basic who-what-when-where-why. By the time educators finish this class, they will be ready to implement many new tools in their classroom.

Assessment is project-based so be prepared to be fully-involved and an eager risk-taker. Student joins a Google Classroom-based class and meets weekly with instructor to discuss class activities and assignments.

What You Get

5 weeks
3 college credits
Price includes course registration and all necessary materials.

Course Objectives

At the completion of this course, you will be able to:

Use technology to drive authentic writing activities and project-based learning.
Use traditional and non-traditional technology approaches to build an understanding of good writing and nurture a love of the process.
Guide students in selecting writing strategies that differentiate for task, purpose and audience
Assess student writing without discouraging creativity via easy-to-use tech tools.
Provide students with effective feedback in a collaborative, sharing manner.
Be prepared for and enthusiastic about using technology tools in the writing class

Who Needs This

This course is designed for educators who:

are looking for new ways to help students unlock their inner writer
have tried traditional writing methods and need something else
need to differentiate for varied needs of their diverse student group
want to—once again—make writing fun for students

What Do You Need to Participate

Internet connection
Accounts for Canvas (free–you’ll get an invite to respond to)
Ready and eager to commit 5-10 hours per week for 5 weeks to learning tech
Risk-takers attitude, inquiry-driven mentality, passion to optimize learning and differentiate instruction

NOT Included:

Standard software assumed part of a typical ed tech set-up
Tech networking advice
Assistance setting up hardware, networks, infrastructure, servers, internet, headphones, microphones, phone connections, loading software (i.e., Office).

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Here’s a Preview of July

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

Curriculum-based Assessments–a Powerful Diagnostic Tool
Innovative Ways to Co-Author a Book
Great New Reading App: Word Zoo
Upcoming online college-credit classes
Constructivism and How it fits your class
Tech Tips You Can Use
Wonder Workshop–the Amazing Dash
How to Help Students Find Their Passion
Assessing Student Work with Student-led Conferences
Behaviorism and How it Can Turn Your Classroom Around

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, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today and TeachHUB, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

10 Books You’ll Want to Read This Summer

Summer is a great time to reset your personal pedagogy to an education-friendly mindset and catch up on what’s been changing in the ed world while you were teaching ~~eight~~ ten hours a day. My Twitter friends, folks like @mrhowardedu and @Coachadamspe, gave me great suggestions on books to read that I want to share with you but first:

A comment on the selections: I did get more suggestions than I could possibly list so I focused on books that were positive and uplifting rather than dark and foreboding. Yes, there is a lot wrong with education around the world but I wanted a selection of books that would send me — and you — back to teaching in the fall with a can-do attitude for how to accomplish miracles with your next class of students.

Having said that, here’s a granular list of teacher-approved books to keep you busy this summer:

Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times

by Eric C. Sheninger

Digital Leadership defines a strategic mindset and set of behaviors that leverage resources to create a meaningful, transparent, and engaging school culture. It takes into account recent changes such as connectivity, open-source technology, mobile devices, and personalization of learning to dramatically shift how schools have been run for over a century.

Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns

by Clayton M. Christensen

Selected as one of Business Week’s Best Books on Innovation in 2008, Disrupting Class is filled with fascinating case studies, scientific findings, and insights into how managed innovation can unleash education. As important today as it was a decade ago, Disrupting Class will open your eyes to new possibilities and evolve your thinking. For more detail, read my review, Disrupting Class.

For more on how innovation is changing education, see also Disrupting Class, Expanded Edition: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns.

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Looking for Trusted Advisers? Look No Further

Summer is the push-pull of regeneration and rejuvenation: Should I spend my summer weeks learning my craft or relaxing? Me, I have no regular winner but the more convenient learning is, the more likely I’ll squeeze a goodly quantity of learning into my vacation that serves me in the long run. Where years ago, that used to be attending a conference at an out-of-town hotel that required traveling expenses, now, I’m more likely to pick online classes. In fact, I’ve talked about these choices in other posts. Today, I want to talk about podcasts, webinars, and screencasts of knowledgeable educators who quickly can become your trusted advisors on a wide variety of education topics.

Here are my favorites:

Alice Keeler

Blog: Teacher Tech with Alice Keeler

Books: Get Started with Google Classroom, Ditch That Homework, and more

Training: Go Slow Online Workshops, CoffeeEdu, and more

Social Media: @alicekeeler, YouTube

Alice Keeler is a Google Certified Teacher, New Media Consortium K12 Ambassador, Microsoft Innovative Educator and LEC Admin & Online and Blended certified. Professor of Curriculum, Instruction and Technology at California State University Fresno and Teacher on Special Assignment at ACEL Charter High school. She has developed and taught online K12 courses as well as the Innovative Educator Advanced Studies Certificate (cue.org/ieasc). Her goal: to inspire and help teachers to try something new. With a boatload of accolades, certifications, and followers, she is often a keynote or presenter at ISTE and CUE conferences and is the number one choice for those interested in anything Google.

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