9 Quick Takeaways from CUE 2019

A few weeks ago I traveled to the CUE (Computer Using Educators) Annual Conference in Palm Springs, CA. As with any large conference, it was definitely a whirlwind of new ideas. I've sifted out a few resources and tools that really stood out to me.

Ways to Foster Class Participation with Technology

 

1) Flipgrid

#FlipgridFever is still going strong! Popular with the public school set, Flipgrid is a website that teacher can use to encourage student participation through video. Students can create videos (in the style of their favorite social media outlets) that respond to a teacher prompt, and then watch and interact with videos their classmates are posting on the same topic. The whole thing is free (Flipgrid was bought by Microsoft a while back) and easy to get started. Flipgrid is also VERY customizable so teachers have quite a bit of control over how students post videos.

Things to check out:

• the Mixtapes feature - teachers can curate videos in all of their grids
• the Disco Library - educators share lessons with each other
• #gridpals - like pen pals, but with videos 
• #fliphunt - Flipgrid student scavenger hunts

2) Nearpod Collaborate

Nearpod now has a stand-alone posting board that you can create quickly, without having to create an entire presentation around it or even log in! This is like a quick Padlet board that you can use to add engagement or a backchannel conversation during a lesson or presentation. It isn't permanent - it self-destructs in about an hour after you create it.

3) AnswerGarden

AnswerGarden is a quick & easy way to poll an entire class or large audience to get short (40 characters or less) responses to a question or topic. It's kind of like a crowd-generated Wordle.

4) Quizziz 

Quizziz is a website that helps you creates gameshow-like quiz/review for your class, much like Kahoot. Some argue that it's better than Kahoot, especially for LD students, because it allows students to see the question on their device, not just the screen in front of the room, and it allows students more processing time because they can work through the game at their own pace. Also, teachers can import questions from already-created quizzes directly into their own. 

Creation Tools

 

1) Apple's Everyone Can Create Resources

Everyone Can Create is Apple's guides for creative expression using their products. You can download the iBook guides on an iOS device or through iTunes. There is a Teacher Guide, as well as an iBook for Drawing, Video, Photo, and Music.

 

2) Glogster

Glogster allows students and teachers to create multimedia posters very easily. Students can add photos, videos, text, 3D models, and titles to a "poster" to create presentations, resource boards, and more. Unfortunately, Glogster is very limited for free, but a basic Elementary license for 1 teacher and up to 30 students is $39/year.

General Time Savers & Teacher Helpers

 

1) flippity.net

This amazing website allows teachers to easily convert a Google Sheet into online flashcards or a ton of other cool tools (crosswords, word hunts, bingo games, name & team pickers, tournament brackets, matching games, and more!). Teachers also don't need a Google Sheet to get started - they can create usable lists directly within the site.

 

2) Google Keep

Google Keep is a catch-all organization tool that is now fully integrated with Docs and Slides (you can pull photos and text between apps!). In particular, the mobile version of this app does a lot: you can create voicenotes, take a picture and grab the text from the image to edit it or have text-to-speech software speak it, annotate on an image, or transcribe handwriting to typed text.

3) Remember the Milk

Remember the Milk is an online To Do List app with lots of features. You can organize tasks by priorities, share lists with others to collaborate, and much more. You can also access Remember the Milk from a variety of different platforms so you always have your lists on the go. The free version has some important functions and the upgrade to the Pro version for $40/year unlocks a ton of other useful features.


Happy exploring!

What We Can Learn From the Momo Challenge

Whether you were browsing the news, listening to your students chat at lunchtime, or talking to your own kids, you might have hear about something called the "Momo Challenge."

This supposed challenge is where a creepy bird-woman appears in the middle of random kids videos (like Peppa Pig) and urges unsuspecting viewers to commit self-harm and even suicide. The good news about this story is many of the original claims and scares about Momo are completely unfounded. Many claim that this social media tidal wave was fueled by a community of scared and reactionary adults who were quick to judge and post unsubstantiated news.

Many reliable media outlets have started reporting about the Momo Challenge hoax. Here is an article in The New York Times about the whole phenomenon, as well as an opinion piece from NBC News and another one in The Washington Post. Common Sense Media has come out with an article that discusses Momo along with other major "challenges" getting online attention, ranging from the fairly innocuous (Mannequin Challenge) to the alarming (Tide Pod Challenge). This week Vicki Davis dedicated an episode of her 10 Minute Teacher podcast to the topic.

This situation highlights the importance of teaching our students, and ourselves, the habits of responsible digital citizenship. We need to monitor young people's use of digital media, while also modeling good habits and providing a safe space for kids to seek out our help when they need it. A digital world demands that we consume content quickly, and we can get overwhelmed and make rash decisions without thinking critically to what we read, watch, and post online. As adults, it's easy for us to get caught up in "isn't it horrible what kids are doing these days" conversations. We don't realize that's its exactly this kind of talk that sometimes prevents opportunities for authentic conversations with kids and discourages them from reaching out for help when they really need it.

In her podcast, Davis outlines a few simple steps we can teach kids to do when they encounter something uncomfortable or inappropriate online:

1. Stop - take a moment to gather thoughts
2. Screenshot - collect evidence
3. Block - if possible, block a social media follower who is posting inappropriately
4. Tell & Share - tell a trusted adult and share screenshots

The Momo Challenge is a hoax, but that doesn't mean it's not real or relevant for educators and students. At the very least, it serves as a reminder about how important it is to educate them about slowing down, thinking critically, and not being afraid to ask for more information or help.

Assistive Technology Basics

 

 

"Technology is anything that was invented after you were born." - Alan Kay

The term "assistive technology" might sound overwhelming, but chances are that everyone at some point in their lives uses it for a variety of academic and non-academic purposes. The term really just refers to devices that help people with physical, learning, or other disabilities operate more efficiently and effectively in their day-to-day lives.

One particular assistive technology has helped me immensely since I was in the 6th grade: contact lenses. This assistive device not only enabled me to see the directions written on the whiteboard when I was in school, but contacts help me drive safely, play basketball, and spot my kid in a crowd at the airport. Assistive devices in the classroom can be "low-tech" like my contact lenses, pencil grips, or slant boards for students with handwriting difficulties, or "high-tech" devices like speech-to-text tools on phones, tablets, or computers.

Some educators still think that students with learning differences should not use assistive technology in a school setting because it is cheating, or that these students really should be taught the "real way" of doing things without assistance. I'm certainly glad that my teachers didn't make me take out my contacts during tests, or force me to undergo hours of vision therapy interventions to attempt to teach me how to see better. My teachers also did not deny the effectiveness of contact lenses even though the kind I used was invented well after they were born.

Assistive technology can help students with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences access information and communicate. Tools like speech-to-text and text-to-speech capabilities have ingrained themselves in our mobile devices and home assistants (familiar with Siri and Alexa?), and technology is allowing people to make their reading and writing environments increasingly customizable (Dark Mode on the new macOS, anyone?). Assistive technologies can also help those with attention difficulties direct their focus, and those with executive functioning difficulties remember, plan, and prioritize tasks.

Here are some more resources to get you more familiar with common assistive technology tools for learning differences and more:

Assistive Technology Basics from Understood.org - this has many great resources!

Apple's Accessibility Features on the Mac

Apple's Accessibility Features on the iPad

Google's Accessibility Tools on Chrome & Android devices

Have an assistive tech tool that you or your students can't live without? Leave a comment!

Two Free Resources That Build Students' Global Awareness

While I'm skeptical of the overuse of technology in classrooms for game and "free time"-related purposes, I also know that on a day-to-day basis, teachers need a bank of self-explanatory and highly engaging resources for students to use when they are finished early or when you're working one-one-one with other students. Here are two tools that fit that need, but also build upon students' global awareness, problem-solving skills, and vocabulary.

1. Freerice

This website has been around for more than 10 years now, so it's nothing new in the EdTech world. It is, however, still a quick and effective way for teachers to pair rote memorization tasks, like memorizing multiplication facts, with a larger humanitarian goal.

Freerice allows players to play multiple-choice quiz games in certain subject matters. For every question that a player answers correctly, 10 grains of rice are donated to populations in need via the United Nations World Food Programme. The questions will start off fairly easy, and progressively get more difficult the more a player chooses correct answers. Quizzes are available in a variety of subjects, including English grammar and vocabulary, multiplication facts, world capitals, and even the periodic table of the elements.

2. Geoguessr

This app and website is a game that plops players down in the middle of nowhere in Google Street View, and based on evidence from the local surroundings, players have to figure out where they are in the world. This game can definitely get students to employ problem-solving and research skills to triangulate their location. They might come up a street sign in a different language, or a phone number of a real estate add, or a significant landmark that they can use to research where they are in the world. Each "game" is five rounds long, and players can set time limits on how long they can spend figuring out their location.

Using any other games/tech tools with a global focus in mind? Comment below (I actually think the comments work now!).

Video Apps/Tools that Support Student Creation

Remember Bloom's taxonomy from your college/ed credential schooling? The original framework consisted of six major categories (Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation). It is used to organize cognitive skills from the most basic to the most complex. The taxonomy was revised in 2001, and the new authors changed "Synthesis" to "Creation" and placed that category at the top of the hierarchy. This structure basically says that while it's very necessary for students to recall facts (Knowledge), it is important for them to move up the hierarchy and use their knowledge to create new and original works.

Of course, the standard mode of getting students to create is a written report, a 5-paragraph essay, or a poster. One of the most important elements of current technology in schools, or course, is that it gives students access to a wide range of tools with which to create new multimedia works. Why not let them create a video to show their understanding, analysis, and application of a concept instead of an end-of-unit test or report? Requirements and learning objectives can be just as rigorous, if not more so, than the more "traditional" means of assessment.

If you've decided to take the leap and have students create a video in your class, here are a few simple apps and tools that can help get them creating right away:

1. iMovie

This app comes preloaded onto pretty much everything Mac/iOS these days, so many students and teachers are already familiar with using it. You can get fairly sophisticated with it, or keep it simple and create a slick-looking video with younger kids using the "Movie Trailer" option. There are plenty of guides and tutorials out there online for iMovie, from Apple's official support page, to their Starter Guide in iBooks, to this YouTube video tutorial by Justin Brown.

2. The Screen Record feature on the iPad

The screen record feature is a great way for students to make a video on any app and then record their screen and any narration they want to add. For example, a student could create their visuals in an app like Notability or Google Slides, select the Screen Record feature, and then scroll through these visuals while narrating.

How do you screen record?

1. Launch the “Control Center." On iPads running iOS 12 or later, swipe down from the top right corner with one finger.
2. Tap the screen recording icon – two concentric circles.
3. Your iOS device will start screen recording with a 3-seconds countdown.
4. A red bar on attached to the top of your screen signifies that the screen is being recorded.
5. Tap the red bar to stop recording. The recording will be saved in your Camera Roll.

 

3. Adobe Spark Video

Although I sometimes have complaints about Adobe's usability and their account management, there's no denying that Adobe Spark Video is a very powerful tool for student creation. The interface is simpler than iMovie for beginning filmmakers, as students make movies by layering narration over still images and/or video clips. Spark also contains story templates, including "A Hero's Journey" and "Tell What Happened" that support students in telling a complete story. It's very quick & easy to get started and make a good-looking product with this tool. If you are interested in using this with your class, you do need to contact you school's tech department/IT admin to see if you already have an Adobe Admin console (ugh). The app itself is free, but it's a little bit complicated to get the teacher admin/dashboard up and running to use with students.

4. Stop Motion Studio

This free app (iOS & Android devices) provides the basic tools students need to get started making a stop-motion animation. The interface looks a lot like iMovie, and I was able to figure it out and teach myself how to use it within a matter of seconds.

5. ChatterPix Kids

This free app is perfect for getting young ones (PK-2) interested in simple movie-making. Basically, you take a picture of an object, draw a line where you want the "mouth" to be in your picture, and narrate what you want to object to say. When you play the movie, the picture you just took will speak your narration from the mouth you chose! Students can also choose from a selection of decorations and designs to add to their pictures.


Happy creating!

A New Years Challenge

Happy New Year! 'Tis the season of resolutions, and while I'm not a huge fan of resolutions, I do see the value in using the new calendar year as a springboard for fresh starts and new beginnings. As a teacher, I've always felt that "real" new year came in August and September. As I've gotten more experience, I've learned to see the value of reassessing my work in January. It's a time usually midway through the year when routines have been set, the curriculum is rolling, and I feel more comfortable with my students because I know them better than in the fall.

With the coming of 2019, I have a challenge (not necessarily a resolution, if you're not the resolution type), should you choose to accept it. It is:

Try one new thing that will allow students to either...

         ... engage more fully with your academic content

         ... express their ideas in multiple ways, OR

         ... access academic content

One of the key words in this challenge is ONE. It can be small - in fact, it should be small and completely manageable. I am certainly not proposing a complete overhaul of your curricula, or your teaching methods, or your teaching mindset. As Vicki Davis, host of the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast frequently says, "Innovate like a turtle." It's easy to get overwhelmed with all of the great new methods you "should be" using, the research you "should be" reading, the mindsets you "should" adopt, and the professional development opportunities you "should be" taking advantage of.

My hope is that if you focus on changing one small thing in your routine, or an upcoming project or assignment, you'll realize that small changes are easier than you think. Perhaps most of your students won't even notice this change, but think about the impact it would have if one student learned how to express her ideas more clearly, or if one student could comprehend what he read better because of a tool you introduced.

You might have already sniffed it out - this is totally a UDL challenge! There are many resources on the CAST UDL website that are extremely helpful. Want to get some ideas of tech tools that are out there? Check out this post from the Cult of Pedagogy blog by Jennifer Gonzalez.

Have an idea about what would be your one new thing? Leave a comment below (for those of you who have tried to comment previously and were unsuccessful, I think I figured out the glitch - please try again!).

3 Tech Tools to Encourage Writing

Sustaining a regular writing practice can be tricky, so why not let technology help? These three tools help redefine writing so that students can easily create multimedia masterpieces. All three of these tools can be used for a particular project or teacher-directed lesson, or they have great possibilities for more independent writing activities.

1. Younger Grades: MyStory App by Bright Bot, Inc. (free for basic with upgrade option)

MyStory is a great tool for younger students (K-2) to create stories using visuals, text, and audio. Students can create books by freehand drawing, adding icons from the icon bank, and record their voice or sound effects on each page. An adult can choose from multiple sharing options, and if you upgrade, you can export the book to a printable PDF.

2. All Grades: Book Creator iPad App ($4.99)

Book Creator is now a "tried and true" app that has been around for quite some time. Part of its appeal is that its simple interface allows for a wide range of complexity and variation. Students can add a wide variety of content to the pages of their books, including text, photos from their Camera Roll (if using the iPad app), and audio recordings. Students can export their books in ePub files, PDFs, or videos to share online.

3. Upper Elementary & Older: Storybird (free online platform)

Storybird is a website that helps students get visual inspiration for their writing and publish to an online (students in a class can see each other's stories). For free, teachers can quickly create a class management dashboard (no email addresses needed!), assign students writing "Challenges," and see what students are writing. Students can also browse from a bank of thought-provoking illustrations and create poems, picture books, or long-form writing inspired by their chosen artwork. Within the platform, students can earn badges and crowns for their writing achievements.


Have you used any of these tools in your classroom? Have an app or tech tool that helps your students with writing? Feel free to share in the comments section below!

Universal Design for Learning: A Brief Introduction

I stumbled upon Universal Design for Learning when I was researching scholarly articles for my Master's thesis several years ago. Since then, I have seen it become a more widely used term and practice in my school. I have also seen it appear more in the EdTech podcasts I listen to, blogs that I read, and sessions that I attend at education conferences. This fills me with joy! The UDL guidelines, which I admit were a little overwhelming to wrap my head around when I first learned about them, were a useful framework to guide my thinking about how to make my curricula accessible to all of my students.

What is Universal Design for Learning and how did it come about?

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a way for teachers to think about how they can optimize teaching and learning. It is based on the concept of Universal Design, a design approach that emphasizes the composition of an environment so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people (National Disability Authority). Researchers and clinicians at CAST (The Center for Applied Special Technology) refined the UDL guidelines to what they are today.

UDL is organized in 3 main guidelines: provide multiple means of engagement, provide multiple means of representation, and provide multiple means of action and expression. These guidelines are further broken down into 3 checkpoints that guide teachers in providing options for accessing, building, and internalizing information (see graphic organizer below or click here for a larger version).

 

How can I learn more about UDL?

If you're curious about UDL, there are many resources out there to help you learn more about the guidelines.

• Into podcasts? Check out the Assist Learning podcast from Jennifer Cronk - a teacher and LD learner. In particular, I enjoyed her interview with Dr. Katie Novak, the author of UDL Now!


• Read Dr. Katie Novak's book UDL Now!. You could even start a book study group with some other interested teachers like a few of my colleagues did last spring.


• CAST's website has A TON of free materials, including their UDL Guidelines site, a FAQ page, and a free and accessible version of Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice by Anne Meyer, David Rose, and David Gordon.

How can I start to apply UDL in practical ways in my classroom?

Education theory and research aren't very useful or practical for teachers if they're not applicable on a day-to-day basis. Here are a few resources to help you start applying the guidelines in small, meaningful ways.

• Check out CAST's Free Learning Tools Page. In particular, look at the UDL Exchange, a place where teachers can browse and build lesson plans and resources.


• ISTE's blog post "30+ tools for diverse learners" helps teachers sift through the sea of edtech tools to find the "tried and true" ones.


• This post on Understood.org suggests 5 simple ways for teachers to jump in and start applying UDL in their classes

Are you using UDL or are starting to use UDL to think about your students' learning? Feel free to share your thoughts and comment below!

Happy Halloween! 4 Resources to Help You Make it Through the Week

For teachers, Halloween is often filled with excitement and fun, but also anxiety about what to do with a whole room full of students who are definitely thinking way more about trick-or-treating than they are about anything you're teaching. Here are 4 resources that can help pass the time until the big day! They are ordered from "most academic" (in my opinion) to "least academic."

1. Halloween Articles and Texts Sets from Newsela

Newsela is a website that provides high-interest news articles to students. Teachers love Newsela because they can level articles according to students' reading needs.

2. Halloween Lessons on Nearpod 

Nearpod is a very popular multimedia presentation tool. With a paid subscription (either individual or through a school license), you can access these pre-made lessons having to do with math, history, and ELA.

3. Halloween Kahoot Trivia

Kahoot has an extensive list of Halloween-themed trivia games.

4. Halloween Mountain Games from Dimension's Edge

Halloween Hangman is an all-time classic, and now they have even more fun games to offer! This site does use Adobe Flash, so if you are using an iPad, you will need a browser like Puffin to play them.



Whatever you decide to do in those tricky days leading up to Halloween - good luck to you!

5 Tech Tools that Are Just So Random

Nothing generates creativity like randomness! Mouse pad! Tire swing! Broccoli! Delaware!

Here are five websites dealing in randomness that help teachers (and students) think creatively and organize efficiently:

1. Random Emoji Generator

This simple site is filled with potential for creative applications in a variety of subjects. Think about a writing exercise in which students had to incorporate the list of emojis successively into their stories! Perhaps students could complete an art assignment in which they needed to depict of scene involving random emojis. Maybe in an improv, acting, or movement class, students physically embodied those emojis. The great thing about this too is that it was created by a teacher who had the good sense to filter out the questionable emojis, like the happy poop one. Sorry, kids.

2. Random Name Generator

Do your students need a character name for an upcoming story, movie, or script that they're creating? Look no further than this random name generator. Older students can certainly utilize the "generate life story" option, in which other facts about a character are created, like their birthday, age, location, blood type, and cause of death (these are not graphic, but try it out just to see if it will work for your students...).

3. Random Group Maker

A few years ago I would play an online game with my students that happened to randomly group them into teams. I couldn't change this feature, and initially I was nervous that I would need to give up the control I desperately clung to while I tried to pre-make teams that were balanced and conflict-free. Of course, there were inevitably conflicts and "stacked" teams, and the students often protested my motives in making the teams I did. When the computer randomly sorted the teams, I saw that many conflicts disappeared. There was no one responsible for grouping the team together, and no one felt left out. A random grouper works well for games or activities that are fairly short in nature and those that have the potential for many different groups, so if a team doesn't work out so well, it's not a big deal.

4. Random Name Picker

Like the Random Group Maker, the Random Name Picker neutralizes the often onerous teacher task of picking students to do something. There are endless ways to apply this tool, and chances are that if you're a teacher and you're reading this, you've thought of at least a few already. This name picker has a suspenseful carnival-spinner-type interface that makes it especially exciting.

5. More Random Lists

This site is dedicated to all things random. Here you can find random generators of all kinds, such as the random animal generator, the random word generator, and the random NBA team generator. This site has great potential for creative writing endeavors. It could also be used to get your students thinking about how to connect seemingly different things and building arguments. Be aware that this is a fairly ad-laden site, and you will need to sift through some of them that seem like part of the site to get to the actual content.

Have any more ideas about random generators that would be of use in an educational setting? Leave a comment below.

How Can Your Students Become Digital Citizen Superheros? Start this Week!

October 15-19, 2018 is Digital Citizenship Week!

This week is a good time for teachers to reflect upon their teaching of digital citizenship and how the topic affect them and their students. 

Check out this page and video from Common Sense Media, as well as the week's official webpage from the California Department of Education. Their Digital Citizenship Week Plan contains some useful resources and ideas.

Have some time to listen to a podcast during your morning or afternoon commute? Check out Vicki Davis's 10-Minute Teacher podcast. In this episode, she discusses 5 ways to teach Digital Citizenship, as well as her "9 Key P's":



Along with Common Sense Media's curriculum, both BrainPOP and Teaching Tolerance also have great lesson resources on the subject.

But why should we devote so much time and effort into teaching students about Digital Citizenship? Check out these eye-opening statistics from Common Sense Media:

 

Among 0- to 8-year-olds, 98% live in a household with a mobile device (2017).

The average 0- to 8-year-old spends 48 minutes of time on a mobile device. This is up from 15 minutes in 2013 and 5 minutes in 2011 (2017).

70% of teens (13-17 year-olds) report using social media many times a day (2018).

74% of teens believe that tech companies manipulate users to spend more time on social media platforms (2018).

85% of parents say that monitoring their children's media use is important for their children's safety (2016).

41% of parents say that they check their children's devices and social media accounts "always" or "most of the time" (2016).

44% of kids (age 10 to 18) feel that they can tell fake news stories from real ones. 31% of kids who shared a news story online in the last 6 months say they shared a news story that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate (2017).

Happy Teaching!

A Way for Students to Actually Understand Your Feedback

As a former English teacher, I have spent hour upon hour writing feedback on students' work and papers. There was a point there where I'd set myself up at my desk at home with a cup of tea or coffee and my favorite purple felt-tip pen. I'd end my comments with smiley faces with the hope that students would see my good intentions in my constructive criticism and be motivated to make the changes that I suggested. I hate to say it, but I would take it a little personally when students did not read my feedback, let alone make actual changes to their work according to my suggestions.

I should also mention that I work in a school for students with dyslexia, and therefore reading and writing are a challenge for most. Perhaps giving students a paragraph of handwritten feedback wasn't the best way to communicate with them in a meaningful way. But then, time just didn't allow for me to have an individual conference with every students every time a big writing assignment came around. What was I to do?

Technology is a beautiful thing. It allows teachers to be in many places at one time in meaningful ways. If I was still teaching students how to write essays today, I would definitely use more tools that allow me to give video feedback to students. Research is starting to prove that video messages are more effective that written ones because they carry more nonverbal cues, such as tone of voice and facial expressions. Check out this article from KQED's MindShift blog about the effectiveness of video feedback. You can also read the article on The Hechinger Report.

There are many simple and free tools that can help with video, or even audio, feedback. The middle school teachers at my school use a workflow iPad app called Showbie. Within the app, teachers can leave voice comments on students' work with the click of a button. Teachers can also use the screen recording feature (available in iOS 11 or higher) on their iPads to give video feedback as well. You can find it in the menu bar that pops up when you swipe up from the bottom of the screen.

On computers, teachers can also use free online tools like Screencast-O-Matic or Screencastify for the Chrome browser to create simple and shareable videos quickly.

Whatever the tool, it's important that teachers make sure that video feedback stays manageable. Develop an efficient system for sharing video files with students and make sure that you're okay with recording okay-quality videos that won't win you any Golden Globes. As the saying goes, perfect is the enemy of the good.

Trying out video feedback? Leave a comment below. Bonus: Send me some video feedback about video feedback! Whoa!

Participate in the Global Read Aloud - It's Starting Soon!

The Global Read Aloud started in 2010 when a teacher named Pernille Ripp set out to connect students with the world through reading. Since then, the program has reached more than four million students from over 80 countries.

What is it?

During a 6 week period spanning from October to November, participants pick from set list of books to read aloud to students. Using those books as a catalyst, students make as many global connections as they can. There is no set way to connect with others, but many teachers use tech tools like Facebook, Padlet (see my previous post about Padlet), Skype, Edublogs, and Twitter (see my previous post about Twitter) to facilitate communication. Of course, you get more information about making these connections once you sign up to participate on the site. Imagine Skyping with a classroom in Singapore to engage in a debate about a book's conflicts! Wouldn't it be cool to collaborate on a Padlet board with a classroom in Brazil about how you connected to a story's main character?

When does it start, how do I learn more, and what books are on this year's list?

The 2018 GRA starts very soon: October 1! If you are interested in learning more or perhaps want to participate, head over to the event's main webpage to sign up. This year's books are listed on GRA's blog - they include picture books, early readers, middle readers, and a Young Adult choice.

Why is it important for students to make global connections?

 

The term "Global Competency" gets thrown around a lot when we hear talk of "21st Century Skills." And now as technology makes our world smaller and smaller, recent news headlines only remind us that we can run into trouble if we don't consider others' perspectives, communicate well, and make compassionate decisions. A 2016 article from the Harvard Graduate School of Education titled, "How to Thrive in the 21st Century" makes the argument that informed citizens with strong intra- and interpersonal competencies will be the ones who can make the most positive global change.

More questions about the Global Read Aloud? Head over to the extensive FAQ page on the GRA site!

Mindfulness Tools to Make it Though September

Since I've been a teacher for most of my professional life, the months of September and October are known to me as "the doldrums." I pretty much go underwater for these months because I'm so swamped with back-to-school tasks.

I know I'm not alone in this struggle.

This summer I was lucky enough to take an online Mindfulness course for educators through Mindful Schools. Practicing mindfulness allowed me to learn strategies I can use to get the space I need in a hectic day to slow down and breathe. I know, I know - "mindfulness" has become a big buzzword in schools and I fully admit that have been skeptical of the hype surrounding it. As with any new education trend, I try to adopt it with open-minded skepticism, and not treat it as a "cure all" for all of my teacherly frustrations.

This article focuses solely on mindfulness resources for teachers since that's what I'm most comfortable writing about. Also, it's important to take care of yourself before you attempt to care for others... there's an airplane oxygen mask metaphor in there somewhere...

Here are 5 mindfulness resources to get you started:

1. Calm

This subscription-based app (available for iOS, Android & Kindle Fire devices) promotes guided mediation centered around a variety of topics, such as relaxing before sleep, forgiveness, gratitude, and more. It is feature-rich and simple to use. There is also a free educator subscription available - yay!

2. Headspace

Headspace is a subscription-based app (available for iOS & Android devices) that provides daily guided meditation focusing on a variety of topics - from "Basics" to more specific sessions like "Panicking," "Pain" and more. I personally really like Andy Puddicome's voice (he's the creator of Headspace) which is ultimately why I decided to sign up for the $79/year subscription. I know, I know... The app looks sleek and is easy to use.

3. Smiling Mind

This non-profit organization from Australia works to make mindfulness accessible to all. They offer a totally free and feature-rich mediation app, as well as a mindfulness curriculum for parents and educators. They focus on mindfulness in the workplace, in education, and for adults.

4. Three Good Things: A Happiness Journal

Three Good Things is a very simple digital happiness journal that you can keep on your phone (and it's free!). Every day, it prompts you to record three things that went well in your day, in 100 characters or less. This app is great way to divert some of your mindless phone browsing energy towards a daily gratitude practice.

 

 

 

 

5. 5 Minute Escapes

This free app (available for iOS & Android devices) uses music, sound effects, and guided visualizations in its short guided meditations. You can "escape" to placed like "Tropical Island" and "Desert Night Sky." The free features are limited, however, and it cost about $8 to unlock all features.




Trying out one of these mindfulness resources or absolutely love one that I haven't mentioned? Leave a comment below!

Teacher Summers: Balancing PD, Planning & Plain ol' Relaxing

One of the big perks about being a teacher is Summer Vacation, but any teacher with a few years of experience can tell you that summer becomes a time to catch up on all of those tasks you neglected to do during the school year - from personal business, to reading those teaching books you've wanted to read, to lesson and unit-planning, to attending professional development. Of course, we all need time to relax and recharge, and sometimes it's tricky to balance "free time" and "work time" when the days stretch out ahead of us without a strict bell schedule.

Here are three resources to help teachers balance work and play over the summer:

1. Angela Watson's blog post: "How to make a (realistic) plan for summer that will leave you feeling rejuvinated" 

This information is also available in audio through Watson's "Truth for Teachers" podcast. Watson outlines a way for teachers to prioritize tasks they want to accomplish over the summer (both personal and professional), set deadlines for yourself, choose a "theme" for the summer based on your priorities, and create a realistic to-do list.

2. Chris Nesi's "House of EdTech" podcast episode: "How to Grow Your #EdTech Skills During Summer"

Nesi's podcast has some useful tips for teachers wanting to learn more about educational technology this summer.

3. Read George Couros's recent post on his blog, "Principal of Change," and reflect!

Couros walks through four questions that will challenge teachers to think critically about their teaching practice and allow them to focus on how they want to grow in the next school year. I recommend that you do this in June, when the school year is still fresh in your mind.

Have more tips or ideas about how to balance your summer? Leave a comment!

Further Your Professional Development & Become a Google Certified Educator!

I can't wait to sign up to start my Google Certified Educator training from Kasey Bell! Bell's website and blog Shake Up Learning is excellent and has a wide variety of Edtech resources, especially having to do with all things Google.

Her post and video walk-through about how to become a Google Certified Educator caught my eye this week because sign-ups for her trainings over the summer open on May 28 and close on June 10. Trainings are online and self-paced: the perfect kind of summer PD.

The Level 1 class focuses on the basics of using Google apps, as well as how to meaningfully use them with students. Level 2 provides educators with a deeper understanding of Google apps and how to integrate them even more effectively with students. Each class is about $300, but I think it's worth the investment since becoming familiar with Google apps and technology integration is becoming more of a necessary teacher qualification in the education (at least the public education) world these days. Definitely something you want on your resume!

5 Ways to Engage Students at the End of the Year

The end of the school year is upon us! I always found the last few weeks a challenging time to keep students engaged in meaningful activities until the very end of the year. I fully believe that creative/interactive/highly-engaging learning tasks need to be a mainstay throughout every teachers' curriculum. However, I totally understand that May and June are great months for teachers to take some more steps out of their comfort zone and try out some crazy ideas. Let's face it - the same old stuff gets stale at the end of the year as weather gets nicer and the countdown until summer starts.

Here are 5 ways to captivate students with highly-engaging and meaningful learning tasks:

1. Make Movies!

Want to breathe fresh life and creative energy into students' movies? Try out iOS apps like Clips, PuppetPals, or VideoScribe Anywhere.

Also, before you start or if you need inspiration, check out an amazing database of example videos at Nextvista.org - a website by the fabulous Rushton Hurley.

Insider Tips: Set limits. Think about time limits, what student videos need to contain/convey, and what props/sets students can and can't use. If students are speaking or there is narration, make sure scripts are properly vetted before filming begins!

2. Go on Academic Scavenger Hunts Using Goosechase

Goosechase is a digital scavenger hunt platform where students need to find photographic/video evidence that they have completed certain "missions" created by the teacher. Teachers can create games for teams or individuals, set up how long a game will last, and accept or deny student submissions. I love Goosechase because it uses technology to get students up and moving around a classroom or school campus.

3. Use the Quiz Site Kahoot! for Homework

Check out this video from Common Sense Media that explains how to use the very popular education quiz game platform, Kahoot, as a homework option.

4. Try a BreakoutEDU Game

BreakoutEDU is a platform that lets teachers turn their classrooms into "academically focused escape rooms." There are physical and digital components. You can purchase BreakoutEDU boxes, locks, and other gear from their site, as well as access to their digital lessons library.

5. Explore in Virtual Reality with Google Expeditions

Google Expeditions is an iOS and Android app that lets students embark on field trips across the globe - all from the comfort of their own classrooms. Teachers can customize Virtual Reality experiences for their students and immerse students in worlds they otherwise wouldn't get to experience.

Use these tech tools to help end your school year with a bang! Have another exciting EOY suggestion? Write in the comments below!

What Do You Wonder?

Wonderopolis.org is a site dedicated to collecting and fostering curiosity about our world. The site was created by the National Center for Families Learning in 2010, and it contains short articles that attempt to answer questions that students have submitted.

A main feature of the site is its Wonder of the Day articles that answer questions such as, "How many sharks are in the ocean?" and "Why do some things burn while others melt?" The great thing about these articles is that they contain a built-in text-to-speech feature, a short video about the topic at hand, highlighted vocabulary with pop-up definitions, and a few "Try It Out" extension activities at the end of the article. I can see these daily articles being a great addition to a morning or weekly reading routine in a classroom.

Wonderopolis's Wonder Jar page gives ideas and instructions for a jar in which families or classes can collect their own wonders. The Interactive Wonder Jar on the top of the page also automatically generates questions. Students can also submit questions to the Wonder Bank, vote on questions that have been submitted by others, and explore from where people are submitting questions.

As summer nears, check out Camp Wonderopolis, a place where students (gears towards grades 2-8) can enroll in a free virtual Summer Camp. Each summer has a theme, and this year's theme is "Symphony of Wonders" in which kids can explore and learn about music. Families can also buy a Campsite Kit from the Wonderopolis store to enhance their "camp" experience.

Wonderopolis is definitely a site to check out with curious elementary-aged students!

Tips to Help Report Card Writing Drudgery

May is a conflicted month for teachers. On the one hand, school is winding down and summer is within reach, standardized tests are over, and you've really had a chance to develop relationships and rapport with students. On the other hand, there's so much to do before the school year really ends, like cramming in those Units you'd thought you'd get to by January, filling out end-of-year paperwork, and of course, writing report card comments.

Here's some quick tips to help with report cards to save your time and sanity. One great resource is Angela Watson's blog and podcast on stress-free report card writing. Watson outlines a 5-step formula for report card comments, which is basically a more nuanced take on the "compliment sandwich" form of report-card writing (positive statements at the beginning and end that sandwich a "needs improvement" statement).

Here are 4 more tips that have worked for me (some of these Watson also mentions):

1. If you're someone who works well with To Do lists, make a detailed schedule or list that itemizes every comment you need to write. It sounds like work on the outset, but it has kept me focused and on task. When I stick to it, I usually end up finishing comments early (yes, really). The key is in the detail. DO NOT just put "Write report card comments" on your list! This task is way too overwhelming and you'll probably just end up ignoring it or feeling like you'll never get to cross it off. Instead, write something more specific like, "Write Nathan's Math comment." Then, figure out how many comments you need to write each day in order to finish by the deadline and stick to your schedule.

2. Analyze your working style. If you had a choice, are you the type of person who works better if you sit down for one long stretch of time to write comments? Are you the type who works better if you only have to subject yourself to the misery of report card writing for 30 minutes a day? Do you write better in the morning before school starts? During your prep time? At home at night? Think intentionally about how long you need to write and what type of time you need to complete your comments efficiently.

3. It's okay to pull from "stock sentences" as long as there's still plenty that personalizes the comments to the performance and personality of each student. Instead of writing each comment from scratch, pull material from the comments you've already written. Report cards comments aren't priceless works of art! This page with 101 Report Card Comments from Scholastic has some great sentence starters for those times when you're really at a loss for words.

4. Take time to think about the importance of the comment in the grand scheme of things. Is it really worth spending an hour on each report card comment if you have 24 students? How many parents actually read the comments? Do you also have a follow-up parent-teacher conference in which you can expand and explain your comments in more detail? Which is better at your school and for your community/colleagues: long comments completed late or shorter comments completed early?

Happy Report Card Writing! Have any more tips? Leave a comment below.

5 Alternatives to the Google Image Search Abyss

If you're a teacher who has recently lead students in creating any sort of presentation using technology, you know that many can get lost searching for photos in the vast abyss of Google Image Search. Not only that, but safe filters might not be reliable, and students end up using copyrighted material.

I urge you - end the days of using Google Image Search with your students! It's important that students learn that although it is easy and a lot of people do it, they can't just copy whatever pictures they want off the internet and use them as if they are their own.

Here are some alternative photo sites to use with your classes, as well as for your own presentation purposes:


Photos for Class - "Search now to download properly attributed, Creative Commons photos for school"
Out of all of these sites, Photos for Class certainly has the most appropriate content for all ages.

Unsplash - "Beautiful, free photos"

Pexels - "Best free stock photos in one place"

Stocksnap - "Beautiful free stock photos"

CC Search - search feature on the Creative Commons website - good for content other than photos


Students need to also get in the habit of crediting the sources of the photos they use, even if they are licensed to use/reproduce freely.


Diversity Red Flag! While I have been using these sites, I've noticed that many searches yield photos almost exclusively of white people. I'm guessing, based on limited experience, that this is typical to the image search world in general. Perhaps a worthwhile phenomenon to point out to students, and also to have them notice while searching for photos of people for different purposes.