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

1. Groundhog Day and the 100th Day of School
2. #WorldReadAloudDay February 2
3. Simulations as a Teaching Strategy
4. Model Teaching–How Today’s Educators Learn
5. Translate Webpages In a Second
6. 14 Valentine Sites For Students
7. How Does the Metaverse Fit into Education?
8. Random Acts of Kindness Day
9. Track Your Stuff
10. Logitech Pen–No Setup, No Batteries, No Problems

Here’s a preview of what’s coming up in March:

1. Subscriber Special
2. Social Media or COVID: Which is more dangerous to students?
3. Free Posters
4. Invention Convention
5. Pi Day
6. Apps for Curious Students
7. St. Patrick’s Day REsources
8. Resources for Architecture/Engineering
9. World Backup Day
10. How Twitter makes you a better writer

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A lot of teacher-authors read my WordDreams blog. In this monthly column, I share the most popular post from the past month on that blog:

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Tech Tips for Writers is an occasional post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future tip.

This tip is about spam. I am fed up with it! The law requires email senders include ‘unsubscribe’ in the email (at least, they do in America–not sure about other countries), but that doesn’t apply to text messages. I didn’t get much spam there until recently and they’re annoying!

Here’s a trick that will stop some:

• Select the text message.
• Select the sender from the top detail with click-hold (in the case of the video, I click-hold the phone number). It will open the contact card
• Click ‘Info’
• One of the options toward the bottom will be ‘Block’. Click that.
• When you return to the email, it will show it’s blocked.

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In my classes, there are still a lot of technology skills that are difficult for students. One–developing good enough typing skills that they can find keys without slowing their thinking. Another–all those menus! They want to jot a note on a PDF or a webpage, but don’t know where to find the tool for that. Keep in mind, I’m the tech teacher and still, I complain heartily about technology!

Enter the stylus. It’s touted to write on a touchscreen as easily as pen on paper. Sure, in its absence, kids–and adults–could use their finger, but there are a lot of reasons why a stylus is better:

• It’s faster for notetaking and more precise for drawing.
• Little hands are dirty, as are big hands, and full of germs. A stylus minimizes those issues.
• Users with hand issues–or orthopedic disabilities–can’t use fingers well. A stylus makes up for that.
• If you’re using a digital device outdoors, it may be too cold to take your gloves off. A stylus solves that.

But styluses have problems, too:

• Most run on batteries that always seem to be out.
• They are typically paired to a particular computer that always seems NOT the one the student (or adult) is using.
• Some have to be turned on.

Until Logitech entered the marketplace with their Logitech Pen.

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From Ask a Tech Teacher contributor, retired teacher and education consultant, Christian Miraglia:

Instagram: A Student Vehicle for Social Change

In my last post, I wrote about using Twitter for classroom instruction. Here, the focus is how students use social media to advance their causes and concerns. As a history teacher, I emphasized the concept of taking action on social issues to affect change. Having grown up in the sixties and seventies, I saw the civil rights movements and the anti-war movement at their height. These social movements involved a network of people intent on making a change in a world that was deaf to their concerns. The organizing of the various marches was primarily done by word of mouth and using the latest technology; the phone. Tracing back centuries, we see information being transferred by horse and by foot, which could take days, weeks, and even months. 

Entering the third year of the pandemic, we see students marching out from schools in frustration with the inconsistent policies and the lack of voice in decisions affecting their education.  As these became more prevalent over the last month, I was intrigued by how the students organized their walkouts. The method they used their phones was reminiscent of the Arab Spring in the early 2010s. 

From the Wired feed from January 17, 2022, the headline reads Inside the Student-Led Covid Walkouts US high school students are demanding safer classrooms, and they’re mobilizing through group chats, Google Docs, and homespun social media campaigns. In Oakland, students used a shared Google document to start a petition as a vehicle to address inequities and health concerns of their education. Not only did the students use the document, but they also had to manage the settings to assure that it would extend beyond a few students so they could demonstrate a united front. 

Because the students also are pretty adept at using social media, platforms such as Instagram were an easy go-to.  What seemed to be a local movement soon spread across the nation to Boston, New York, and Denver. Just glancing at the Instagram feed organized by New York students, one can see over 4800 followers, some of which were parents. This feed is unique because it has an update button, essential links, Q&A, and a thank you button, all of which are part of the Instagram story feature. Even more remarkable in the nycstudentwalkout2022 feed is how the students organized their resources to make an understandable and navigable platform to spread the word about the walkouts. As a history teacher who demanded the sourcing of claims made in classwork, I felt the nycstudentwalkout2022 group put together an exemplary of sources related to their health concerns. 

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Here’s a great list of shortkey helps for keyboarding on the Internet, software, or anywhere else:

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Here are popular 3D Printing resources teachers are using:

1. 3D Bear
2. Cricut Machine–to cut materials

Create 3D Printing Designs

1. 3D Doodler Pen
2. MakerBot PrintShop
3. Onshape
4. SculptGL
5. Sketchup
6. Tinkercad–create your own 3D print designs

Download 3D Printing designs

1. GrabCad
2. Smithsonian X3D–download 3D print designs of Smithosonian artifacts
3. Thingiverse–download lots of 3D designs, like an iPhone case
4. Youmagine–find 3D print designs

Click here for updates to this list.

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K-12 grading hasn’t changed a lot in decades. Edutopia thinks they’re due for an update. Here’s an eye-opening article on three grading practices that should be overhauled:

Teacher: Reconsider these traditional grading practices

There are three key grading practices that should be overhauled, writes Alexis “Lexy” Tamony, a high-school math teacher in California. In this article, Tamony asserts that teachers should reconsider averaging scores over time, allowing in elements other than content understanding and reporting “opaque scores.”

Read on…

For more about grades, check out these Ask a Tech Teacher articles:

• 16+ Websites on Assessments
• Grading Apps, Tools, and Resources We Love
• 12 Fresh Ways to Assess Student Learning
• Helping My Daughters Prepare for the ACT Exams

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This is not part of the 169 tech tips for your class book but it will be when I update the ebook:

Tech Tip #173: Track Your Stuff

If you follow me on Instagram, or my writer’s blog, WordDreams, you already saw this tip!

This is a very cool tip: Track anything with Apple Air Tags. I hid one in my husband’s car, labeled it ‘Dad’s Car’. Now, when it’s away from me, it sends a message to my phone like this:

Though the Air Tags might be best suited to finding a car lost in a parking lot, it also works if someone steals the car by setting the Air Tag to ‘lost’. Because the Air Tag itself only tracks within Bluetooth distance, ‘lost’ engages the assistance of the 1 billion users with Apple devices to notify you if they pass the Air Tag’s location. Let me stipulate: The effectiveness depends heavily on having Apple devices close enough to catch the Air Tag’s Bluetooth tracking signal.

Here’s a longish video I became addicted to watching. A YouTube influencer techie sort of guy tested the findability of lost Air Tags vs. Squares. It’s pretty interesting. He starts with a discussion of both items. If you’re looking for the test, it’s in the second half:

Anyone else use Air Tags for clever reasons?

Note: It’s become a ‘thing’ for thieves to drop Air Tags into purses and pockets of unsuspecting people so they can follow them home. The iPhone–besides tracking your personal Air Tags–lets you know if unknown Air Tags are traveling with you, such as a thief’s. Good to know!

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I’ll never forget the day years ago when I stood in a donut shop, half asleep, bed head, with a monster sugar deficit. As I got to the front of the line, the man before me said, “I’ll pay for hers, too.” I didn’t know him. We hadn’t commiserated over how Krispy Kreme was always crowded. I’d just slogged onward, waiting my turn, eager to taste my apple fritter. His simple act of paying for my donut made me feel special, brought a smile to my face all day, and lightened the load of whatever happened after that.

That was one of my first Random Acts of Kindness, the feel-good event started in 1995. Now, February 17th in America is called the Random Acts of Kindness Day (September 1st in New Zealand) and is when everyone encourages acts of kindness without any expectation of consideration in return.

“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” — Mark Twain

What is Random Acts of Kindness Day?

February 17th — Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Day — is twenty-four hours when anyone who chooses to participate agrees to perform unexpected acts of kindness to pay it forward for that time they need a little bit of unexpected care.  We flaunt our altruistic side by doing something nice for another without a thought for the consequences.

Why is Kindness important?

Why kindness is important seems obvious but really, it isn’t. I can name a whole lot of people who have succeeded despite being, well, jerks so why should we think there’s merit in a gentler approach?

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Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February–this year, February 19, 2018. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, it is still unofficially called “Washington’s Birthday” by many. The holiday became known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. Several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and other figures.

Here are nine ways to celebrate in your classroom including websites, games, activities, printables, quizzes, audios, songs, interactive maps,  crafts, flashcards, videos, webquests, books, posters, trading cards, lesson plans, word searches, puzzles, speeches, articles, animations, biographies, and more (click the titles for the link):

1. Activities

From Apples 4 the Teacher, a well-known resource site for teachers and homeschoolers, this site provides links to President-themed coloring pages, stories, biographies, word searches, word jumbles, puzzles, and book reviews that can be used to reinforce learning about all of America’s presidents.

2. More activities

Created by Family Education, this site includes President’s Day quizzes, crafts, flashcards, as well as patriotic activities.

3. BrainPop President videos

With the quality and ease-of-understanding teachers expect from all BrainPop resources, this link provides classroom resources on fifteen presidents including Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Madison, Adams, Jackson, Nixon, Clinton, Kennedy, Reagan, and Obama. It also includes videos on the Presidential Election and Presidential Power.

4. Enchanted Learning Activities

From Enchanted Learning, one of the most respected names in classroom printables, find crafts, printables, short printable books, a general collection of activities, spelling and writing activities, math worksheets, US symbols activities, quizzes, and more.

5. Games and online activities

From Primary Games, popular home of a wide variety of edutainment for kids, this link includes a President’s Day Wordsearch, games, coloring pages, worksheets, jokes, stationary, and mobile games.

6. Google explores Presidents

This site is part of Google’s Arts and Culture, reputed to be well-done, visual, and immensely enticing to viewers. It is a curation of websites and web-based resources on each president, as well as general information on life in the White House. Each President’s archive is anchored by his official Presidential portrait.

7. History and background

From History.com, this is one of the most comprehensive, engaging collections of Presidents Day activities you’ll find online. It includes videos, animations, Presidential speeches, and articles as well as background on the White House and the holiday itself.

8. Learn about each President

Curated by WhiteHouse.gov, this site includes links to each President. From there, you get a fairly short though comprehensive biography of each president, interesting facts, and the part he played in creating the nation.

9. Presidential Timeline

From Education World, this lesson plan guides students and teachers in creating a timeline of events in the life of the president. It includes materials required, time allotted, objectives, lesson plan, assessments, and tie-ins to academic subjects.

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There you are — nine highly-differentiated activities for students on President’s Day. Do you have a favorite I missed?

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.