Search Results for: common core
How to Adapt Lessons to Common Core State Standards
Common Core State Standards, proposed by the National Board of Governors and adopted by 46 states to date, provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn in the critical areas of math, science, language, reading, writing, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.
They don’t specifically mention technology as a separate subject, but assume technology will support the teaching of math, science, reading, language, and writing. Last week, I discussed CCSS in general. This week–here are a few of the specific elements that technology can address and examples of projects (not in any particular grade-level order):
Anchor Standards
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing–Production and Distribution of Writing–6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
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How to Align Technology with Common Core State Standards
This past month, I have had a rash of requests from school districts to assist them in aligning their technology program with Common Core State standards. This takes me back to the days when everyone wanted to match their lesson plans with ISTE NETS standards. We all had to review our activities, rethink connections and rework details.
Now, for the 46 states that have adopted Common Core State Standards, that’s happening again, with a different tilt.
Let me back up. What are Common Core State Standards? According to the Mission Statement posted on their website:
The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.
Their bi-line speaks volumes…
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Subscribe to my Blog–Get Special Gifts Every Month
If you subscribe to my blog, you are eligible for specials on tech ed books and ebooks every month. Here are some of the specials subscribers have received:
- 5 for $25 on tech themed bundles
- Discount on Tech Tips
- Free 65 Posters
- 50% off Sidebar Sponsorship
- Savings on Common Core math lessons
- Holiday project book
- Discount on Back to School Survival Kits
Here are some coming up in future months: (more…)
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13 Tips to Solve Unusual Problems
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: Solutions to unusual problems
Category: Problem-solving
Whether you follow Habits of Mind, Common Core, Depth of Knowledge, IB, or another K-12 learning strategy, every student must learn problem-solving to become a functioning, contributing adult. There are thirteen great strategies that can be taught as part of ‘problem solving’ between kindergarten and eighth grade—a few each year, when they’re age-appropriate for your group.
Here’s a poster with the strategies. Post it on the wall in your classroom. Let students notice when they’ve accomplished one and what’s coming up in their future:
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.
–image credit Deposit Photos
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What Happens When Technology Fails? 3 Work-Arounds
Has this happened to you? You spend hours rewriting an old lesson plan, incorporating rich, adventurous tools available on the internet. You test it several times just to be sure. It’s a fun lesson self-paced lesson plan with lots of activities and meandering paths students undoubtedly will adore. Technology enables it to differentiate authentically for the diverse group of learners that walk across your threshold.
Everyone who previewed it is wowed. You are ready.
Until the day of, the technology that is its foundation fails. Hours of preparation wasted because no one could get far enough to learn a d*** thing. You blame yourself–why didn’t you stick with what you’d always done? Now, everyone is disappointed.
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Free MLK Lesson Plans
In honor of Martin Luther King:
MLK Day in the US is the third Monday of January, this year, January 15, 2024.
Ask a Tech Teacher’s 19-page two-lesson plan bundle to teach about Martin Luther King (click for more information) is
66% off January 12, 2024 through Jan. 15, 2024.
Lesson plans include:
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- an Event Chain of Dr. King’s impact on American history (adaptable to other historical events)
- interpreting his words with a visual organizer
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Subscriber Special: Lots of Coding Resources
Every month, subscribers to our newsletter get a free/discounted resource to help their tech teaching.
December 14-18th
Buy the K-8 curriculum; get the 55-page Hour of Code bundle for free
Perfect if you’re doing Hour of Code in December.
What’s in the Hour of Code bundle?
30 K-8 coding activities, organized by grade
138 images
aligned with ISTE and Common Core
lots of options to differentiate for student needs
Questions? Ask Jacqui Murray at askatechteacher at gmail dot com.
How do you get your free book: Email your receipt to us at askatechteacher at gmail dot com. We’ll verify and then send you the PDF bundle.
Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:
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.
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Dozens of Online Resources for Assessment
Assessment of student work is a crucial aspect of learning. It helps students recognize important lesson goals and teachers gauge understanding. While multiple choice, short answer, and essays are still proven methods, there are many alternatives teachers can use for their particular student group. Here are some you can look into–and all online:
- Easy CBM
- Educreations–video a whiteboard explanation of how students are completing a task (app)
- Edulastic–formative assessments; work on any devices (app)
- Flip — record a video question from your desktop; add attachments; students respond from the app with their answer
- Flubaroo (app)
- Gimkit–gamified assessment, like Kahoot; freemium
- Go Formative (app)
- Google Forms (app)
- Kahoot–quiz-show-like format (app)
- Socrative (app)
- Stick Around–turn questions into puzzles (app)
- ThatQuiz.org
Add-ons
Badges
- BloomBoard–badges for teacher PD
- Credly
- Open Badges
Class Review
- Digital Breakouts–review or assessment in a gamelike format; includes mostly history, but other topics; high school
- Kahoot–with a new team mode
- Quizlet Live–students join with a code, break into teams, and are quizzed on a Quizlet
Common Core Prep
- ReadyTest AtoZ--from RAZ Kids, freemium
Flashcards
Grading
- Gradescope (from Turnitin)
- Paperscorer–create quiz in Google Forms, grade it through Paperscorer
- Planbook–online lesson planning and gradebook
Quizzes/Tests
Peer Review
- PeerGrade–automate the process
Rubrics
SAT/ACT Online Resources
Warm-up/Exit Tickets
Failure
- The Crossing–attempts to cross a gorge; some fail; all result in success
Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:
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.
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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 needs ideas on how to integrate tech. They are well-suited to classroom teachers as well as tech specialists.
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Unconventional Research Sites to Inspire Students
Pew Research recently reported that about half of Americans regularly get their news from social media. Really? Isn’t SM where you share personal information, stay in touch with friends and families, post pictures of weddings and birthdays, and gossip? So why do students turn to it for news?
This stat may explain it: 60% of people don’t trust traditional news sources. That’s newspapers, evening news, and anything considered ‘mainstream media’. They prefer blogs, Twitter, and Facebook.
So when it comes to research, are you still directing kids toward your grandmother’s resources — encyclopedias, reference books, and museums? No doubt, these are excellent sources, but if students aren’t motivated by them, they won’t get a lot out of them. I have a list of six research sites designed by their developers with an eye toward enticing students in and keeping their interest. It’s notable that most are free, but include advertising. The exception is BrainPOP — there are no ads, but it requires a hefty annual fee: