Week 21

Here are some highlights from Technology this week:

Week 21 (January 29 – February 2, 2018)

Thursday Giggles:            Why did the iPad go to the dentist?
                                                It had bluetooth.

Pick and choose your favorites.  Don’t use every tool. 
Chefs don’t use every ingredient.  Gardeners don’t plant every type of plant.

OPTIONAL PD for February:

     

February 21 Eventbrite LINK HERE
February 28 Eventbrite LINK HERE

Mid-Point Feedback.  Team, I welcome your feedback.  Let me know how things are going.  The close date for this survey will be Thursday, February 1 at 3:25pm.  Email is necessary so that I can select a winner.  One winner will receive a $25 gift card (movie theater, Starbucks, Chipotle, something local). LINK HERE

     

Blendspace.  Blendspace was renamed to Tes Teach.  You can still find it via a Google search for Blendspace.  I am thankful for this website as it stores key ideas in a tidy spot for me.  It is a digital lesson library.  Lesson by lesson, I can store core learning information in one spot.  Next year when I teach that lesson again, I have my PowerPoint, Word files, hyperlinks, and teaching videos all in one tidy spot.  You can also share your ideas with others easily.  Use this YouTube video tutorial to get started.

Google Add-ons.  Short video.  Great tools.  If you are using Google Docs, check out these add-ons: LINK HERE

Image Credits: Screen capture from video.  Link above.

Padlet app.  I’ve used Padlet before.  But, I found out a few weeks ago that they had an app.  If your learners have devices in-hand, this may be a tool to consider.  Six computers?  Five phones/iPads?  Have those students be the typing agent for their individual groups.  How might you use this efficiently in the classroom? 1)Story starters 2)Dialogue scenarios in a narrative, 3)Research themes, 4)Thesis development, 5)Math-oriented metacognition, 6)Vote on the next novel to read together, 7)Alternative endings to a story, 8) Links for research on a science topic that you want to share out whole-class.  The teacher can share these findings in Google Classroom so everyone has access to these great ideas.  Other ways to use this?  Staff Meetings.  PTC meetings.  

Deploy.  In your grade level do you have one team member who is more skilled in technology than the others?  Have you thought about using the deployment model to help your students access more technology?  Teacher A could teach technology on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday (for example) while teacher B teaches Social Studies and Teacher C teaches Science. The children would rotate through these lessons and each have access to all the content.  These teachers would then teach the same lesson three times.  Or, three weeks consecutively.  Some teachers in the North area have teamed up to make the deployment model work for them.  Are you using this model?  How is it working for you?  I’d love to hear your successes and your learning curves.  Please share.

Science and Engineering.  Are you studying space or space travel with your students?  Gravity?  Anti-gravity?  Friction?  Force?  Speed?  Planets?  Maybe this 3D model of a space craft could fit into your lesson plans somewhere.  Journal starter, maybe.  See what the interior of the Apollo 11 looks like – all around.  Click and drag to move around the interior cabin space.  Zoom in or zoom out to investigate various parts: LINK.  This website has other links and resources to add more content to the lesson: LINK.  How’d they do that?  They have videos to reveal how this was made possible: LINK HERE.

Image credits: Screen capture from link above.

X-Ray Goggles with Mozilla.  Try this LINK to explore a fun web tool.  Are your students curious about web design?  Do they want to know what goes into the coding on ANY webpage?  X-Ray Goggles will let them explore the details behind the design.  Try it out.  See if your kids enjoy this exploration-oriented tool.

Image credits: Screen capture from link above.
Kindly,