Nonfiction LIteracy and Current Events

I heard of a great web site on Edmodo this morning. The website is Newsela. This has informational text and current events in several different subjects. This web site is free, has leveled reading passages, and built in quizzes (for some of the articles). 

Teachers need to register for this site, but they can then create a classroom for their students to join. The terms of service state that you must be 18 to create your own account, but teachers can create accounts for students under 18 with parental permission.

On several articles there is an anchor with a number beside it. This is the ELA Common Core Anchor Standards. When you choose an article to read (teachers who create a class can assign articles to students; read about it in the FAQ section), on the right hand side is a blue bar. This allows you to differentiate between Lexile Levels for your students. Not all articles have quizzes attached to them, but those that do give you the grade level and standard that it meets. These articles would be good for grades 3 - 12.

If you would like to know more about Newsela, they have a wonderful FAQ section.

image created by Dorene Bates at wordle.net

Read More

STEM: Strategies That Engage Minds

When you hear or think about STEM, what comes to mind?

Is it just Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math?

Or is it something more?

What are the connections between those topics?

Is there anything that you do that does not involve one of those areas?

I heard a new meaning for the letters in STEM yesterday from Cindy Moss:

Strategies That Engage Minds

Here are 5 STEM Resources to explore:

• Engineering is Elementary
• Connect A Million Minds
• Edible Schoolyard Project
• Academy of Achievement
• Gooru: A Search Engine for Learning

What resources and ideas did you learn about and/or share yesterday? 

photo credit: @Doug88888 via photopin cc

Read More

Wonderopolis has a new look!

And new features ...

You can search by Common Core Standards ...

There are even some questions to go along with the text passage ...
 

Read More

Let's Celebrate Children's Book Week!

Did you know it is Children's Book Week?




In celebration of Children's Book Week, Here is a list of 10 sites which offer children's books online )most of the offer a read aloud option too):

• Online Storytime from Barnes and Noble
• Online ReadAlouds for Kindergarten
• Read To Me
• Speakaboos
• Online Picture Books Read Aloud
• Between the Lions from PBS Kids
• SillyBooks
• Mighty Book
• Online Read Aloud Stories
• Mem Reads Aloud

Read More

Chat With A Future Astronaut

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I talked to someone today who has set a goal and is working towards it! 

As a result of my NASA Launch Adventure, I have become much more interested in things related to NASA, space, and astronauts. That interest led me to Astronaut Abby ... Have You Heard About AstronautAbby?

I had such a great chat with her about her dream and the steps she is taking to get there!

We recorded the chat so you can watch it below!




What is your favorite thing she shared?

Did you learn something?

I know I did!

Abby and I would love for you to go explore her website, http://astronautabby.com/, and check out the many possibilities there!

I can't wait until Abby and I get to chat again!
_____________________________________________________________________

There are ways you can use technology to bring people like Astronaut Abby into your classroom!

We can help you use technology to find people to bring into your classroom too!

Read More

The Good, Bad and Ugly on Ladibug 2.0 Software

2.0 or not 2.0 that will be the question that is answered hopefully at the end of this Blog post.

Recently the Lumens company has updated its software for its famous Ladibug brand document cameras (Doc Cam).  When Lumens decided to update from the earlier Queue to Ladibug software it was a huge transition for users to get accustomed to, but was also leaps ahead in the features that it offered.  Now recently, the Ladibug software has gone through another transition as it has upgraded from version 1.1.. to version 2.0.3.

Let's take a look at the changes and talk about the Good things.  One of the obvious changes that you will notice is that when you activate the software and hover over the Ladibug Icon you will only see a 4x4 grid.  If you remember in the earlier version you hovered and saw a 3x3 grid and then had to click the Advanced button to see the 4x4 grid.

On the 4x4 grid there have been a couple of new feature icons that have been added for you to use along with the ones that you have become accustomed to.

One of them is the Mask Mode, which is similar in look to a cover shade over the information. If you remember putting a sheet of paper over the overhead machines to block certain information you were sharing this will be the same, just through the software.

The other is the Spotlight Mode, which allows you to focus in on an area of the screen while blocking out the rest of the viewing area.



The biggest change that you will notice when you turn on the software that is completely different on version 2.0.3 is in the viewer window when you click the Display Live Image button.

You will now see something extra, the Thumbnail Viewer, which is attached to the left side of the viewer window that offers some additional available options that you have not had the ability to do before.



Any images that you take with the Camera Button will display in the thumbnail viewer for you to use.  To display one of the images, click the Thumbnail you want to use.  To go back to the live image hover over the Ladibug Icon and click the Display Live Images button again.

Some of the other features on the toolbar are:

• You can Save the Image anywhere on your computer.  
• Open a Directory of Images from your computer, CD-rom, Thumb Drive or other removable storage device to display inside of the Ladibug software. 
• You can Delete items in the viewer that you do not want.  
• You can also email images directly from the Ladibug software 

Now you know whenever there is good I always seem to find something bad to go along with it.  Well the only thing that I could find can count as both bad and ugly at the same time.  The Delete feature is the culprit that has caught my attention.  I said earlier that you can open a Directory of images and bring them into the document camera and use them in the software.  Well you will need to make a copy of all of the images first before you open them in the Ladibug software.  What happens is that the software does NOT create a duplicate of the image, it attaches to the original.  Why is that bad you may be asking?  Well it comes in when you want to Delete an image you no longer want to use.  If you Delete an image that you have pulled from a Directory.  It is permanently deleted from the original location.  Yes gone for good, I learned the hard way believe me, I lost an image that I did not have a duplicate of.  

So all in all the software update is great and so much more user friendly that its predecessor with the exception of the Delete feature.  I would have to challenge Lumens to work on fixing the system so that it will duplicate the images when you open a Directory of photos to use in the software. 

Read More

This Little Teacher Went to the App Store

This little teacher went to the Apple Store.  This little teacher stayed in her classroom.  This little used lots of technology.  This little teacher used none.  This little teacher went wah wah wah all the way home.

photo by edenpictures

Which little teacher are you?  Which little teacher do you want to be?  These aren’t all the little teachers out there, just the number of toes on one foot!  There are many many more types of teachers out there.  In today’s world there can’t be much talk about teachers without the word technology popping its name up.  So how important is technology and when integrating technology what’s really important?

Over the past year I have had the wonderful opportunity to oversee a few classrooms in our district where each student had access to a device provided by the district.  Some had laptops, some had tablets.  The teachers and I were truly excited about the opportunity for each kid to have a device.  We spent hours in the summer exploring the devices, exploring classroom management of the devices, and also exploring new ways to teach.

What’s the most important feature in their classroom?  In our field, Instructional Technology, we often look at the technology and train teachers on the technology.  With these classrooms we tried something a little different.  We looked at pedagogy!  Although, curriculum is the place to start these teachers had just spent much of their time with the new Common Core and Essential Standards.  They had the content knowledge.  

Pedagogy!!!!  That was the place to start.  Or was it?  We have stressed and  evaluated over the year our different lessons and looked for ways to improve.  Many of the teachers in the pilot have shifted from front of the classroom teaching to more authentic learning using PBL or a similar methodology.  There have been many great successes in student learning and each teacher has grown tremendously in making their classroom more authentic.  This change has led their technology implementation rather than the technology taking the lead.

But is this really the most important piece?  In a recent blog post I expressed how important listening, reflecting and understanding human needs are.  In my opinion, there is no piece of technology that can replace this critical piece.  Relationships are most important when motivating anyone about anything.  So with that, positive relationships and building trust in the community should come first when it comes to technology integration in the curriculum.  We must take this time!

It is the critical first piece that we often times neglect.  Sometimes we get so busy and hear the buzzwords technology yada yada that we forget the persons behind the technology integration.   What if we first turned off the buzzing so that we could truly connect with the important people that could make this integration truly happen?

Photo by: Cindy Andrie

The revelations from this past weekend and the experiences I had come at a perfect time.  Our district is moving to a Mobile Learning Community (MLC) environment.  This is similar to many district’s initiatives of BYOD or BYOT.  With the movement of students bringing in their own devices there are many questions that arise.  What if kids text during class?  What if they are on different websites than the one I directed?  The list of what ifs could go on and on and on.  

In thinking about these questions my big “what if” is, What if we build positive relationships with trust, respect, communication and forgiveness with our teachers and students?  With these attributes, many of the questions and concerns that we have will fade away.  Many of the issues we think we will have or have had in the past will simply become non-existent.  Relationships are hard work but when cultivated and tended with care, the results could be plentiful and exciting.  

Just imagine a world where teachers and students go wee wee wee (with excitement) all the way to school and all the way home.  

Read More