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"Right now I'm lucky enough to be collaborating with the amazing educators, Michelle Hiebert and Jason Graham. They've invited my class to work on creating a collaborative book. The idea is for one class to write a bit and then pass it on to the next class who in turn adds a bit and then passes it on etc. We've decided to use the Book Creator app on the iPad to create our book. My kinder students have had success in creating books with this simple to use app. We have decided to use DropBox as a way to share the book back and forth with each other. (I recently learned this process from @KLirenman, another awesome educator.) What I thought I'd do is provide a simple how-to on this process. "

Chrome add on for Google Docs - looks very powerful

"A notepad test: take a pen and a piece of paper or notepad and write a few words or your name. Easy, isn't it? Now what about doing that on your iPad, but add the ability to carry with you many pens and paper types, preprepared perfect shapes, highlighter pens and a virtually unlimited reference book that you could cut and paste from (the Internet). Sound a little bit better than the pad and pencil? You'd like to think so."

"Looking for a GREAT presentation app for your iPad? Check out Haiku Deck. It's a great way to create a quick presentation using the IPad! I'm already loving how easy it is to use. I love that you can import a pic or snap one right around you, and add it right to your slides. It speaks to the visual learner inside me. Here are a few ideas of using Haiku Deck in education…"

"Creating picture stories can be a very effective activity in unleashing students creativity. There are now some great apps that students can use to create and narrate their stories on iPad. I have picked for you two of the most popular apps in this regard. related: Excellent iPad Apps to Create eBooks To create a picture story, students will either use the pictures they have in their camera roll or take new ones and do some customization to them then add audio narration and text before sharing them with others via emails or through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Here are the titles I have for you today:"

"Great apps for educators and some just for fun too! In true "smackdown" fashion we will continue to add the apps that we believe can be most helpful to educators as we discover them. So follow the boards and Get HappY!"

"Create Google Slides with a photo of where you see math. Share it. The idea here is quick and dirty. If it's a whole process of making elaborate lesson plans we won't do it. Create a plain white Google Slides presentation, add a picture and a slide with your thoughts on how you could challenge students to see math in the photo."

"The guy who helped create the "Hour of Code," an event that even got President Barack Obama pecking out a line of JavaScript, almost sounded apologetic. "Not everyone should 'code,'" acknowledges Hadi Partovi, CEO and founder of Code.org, in a chat with EdSurge. But everyone should learn to think like a computer scientist, he adds. "We're about helping schools teach computer science," Partovi says, namely, to frame questions or information the way that computer scientists do."

"Makerspaces are a really hot commodity in schools and the focus of a lot of the conversation that surrounds improving learning spaces.  That's exciting, and an opportunity to provide new spaces that add capability for students and teachers is always a good thing. So, given this interest, what are some design questions to consider when thinking of adding a space that has maker capabilities?  Here are my top five which focus on the design of such a space:"

"A paper circuit is a low-voltage electrical circuit that is created on paper or cardboard using conductive copper tape, LEDs and a power source such as a coin-cell battery.  Creating paper circuits is a good way to teach the basics of electricity and how circuits function.   In addition to being educational, they can also be a fun makerspace project that helps to bring artwork and paper craft to life.  By adding sensors, buzzers and motors to your circuit, you can also add another dimension of interactivity.  These simple projects are great for all ages and all makerspaces."

"Technology moves far too fast to know every detail. That's what's changed.  In a society that moves quickly, we have to find ways to slow down, be in the moment, and process what's happening on the screen, in the device, or in the conversation around us.  People love to say that our kids are different - for their world is different than ours was.  The truth is, we have to adjust AND be ready to help guide them.  It's a challenge for sure, but it's going to be all about our ability to slow down, process, and deeply understand.  To get out of their way. But it's the reason I believe in the deepest part of my soul, that making is the future of education. Entrepreneurial-ship. Ideas that change our world.  Connecting with each other. Being a community.  Thinking deep about improving something, then doing it.  Helping our kids be WHATEVER they dream of and DREAMING big.  Because when we use technology that's one thing. But when we create with technology, and add in tangible, hands on materials?  It's us slowing down, and somehow in the midst we become the kind of learning environment that kids need, simultaneously becoming the kind of learning environment our kids need.  Because we are all learners."

"The Big Book of Makerspace Projects is definitely the next book you should add to both your school and personal library.  Colleen Graves and Aaron Graves offer up 51 awesome makerspace projects in this book that are fun and doable no matter what level you're at."

"I love it when I find a new app or extension that does something cool. Whether it's a new function, a more efficient workflow, or it will block spoilers for Star Wars, a good extension is a powerful tool. As I often write about, there's not enough time in education to waste, so I'm particularly fond of the tools that help save clicks and make our work more effective, both for students and teachers. Lately, I've been exploring new online tools to add functionality to Google Chrome and improve the way we are using presentation tools. I wanted to explore better ways to screen shot (RIP, Snagit), annotate, and work smarter within the G Suite ecosystem. Here are three extensions that are new to me that have had a big impact on my practice, along with some practical ideas of how I use them in my classroom and coaching. The images are courtesy of the Chrome Web Store, and each link will take you directly to the extension for more information"

"Mention robots to many English teachers and they'll immediately point down the hall to the science classroom or to the makerspace, if they have one. At many schools, if there's a robot at all, it's located in a science or math classroom or is being built by an after-school robotics club. It's not usually a fixture in English classrooms. But as teachers continue to work at finding new entry points to old material for their students, robots are proving to be a great interdisciplinary tool that builds collaboration and literacy skills. "For someone like me who teaches literature by lots of dead white guys, teaching programming adds relevance to my class," said Jessica Herring, a high school English teacher at Benton High School in Arkansas. Herring first experimented using Sphero, essentially a programmable ball, when her American literature class was studying the writing of early settlers. Herring pushed the desks back and drew a maze on the floor with tape representing the journey from Europe to the New World. Her students used class iPads and an introductory manually guided app to steer their Spheros through the maze. Herring, like many English teachers, was skeptical about how the Sphero robot could be a useful teaching tool in her classroom. She thought that type of technology would distract students from the core skills of reading, writing and analyzing literature. But she decided to try it after hearing about the success of another English teacher across the country."

"There's an old saying that the things that change your life are the books you read, the places you go, and the people you meet. But I'd like to add a fourth: the challenges you face (and how you face them) will always change your life. If we want our students to respond to challenges with creativity and inventiveness, we must create the conditions in which innovation is not only possible but encouraged. You don't help students learn to invent by giving worksheets or cookie-cutter assignments. In fact, these one-size-fits-all approaches may actually take up the time that could be used for such creativity. ADVERTISEMENT According to the Torrance Test-which measures CQ, or creativity quotient-the United States has been declining in creativity since 1990. There has to be a reason. Perhaps it is because we focus on students' weaknesses instead of their strengths. In many schools, we'll put a math genius who struggles with grammar into extra English classes. Should we not give this math genius access to college-level advanced math work, and figure out the basic English requirements he or she needs for a basic understanding of grammar? Why do we think that all students should be good at everything? We can either be average at everything or exceptional at something. With this in mind, here are some things we need to do to encourage student inventors as we nurture student passions, interests, and strengths."