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"This past year, fourth and fifth grade students at Independence Elementary School in Yukon, Oklahoma, have had the opportunity to participate in an after-school Scratch Club led by STEM teacher Chris Simon. Scratch is a free program from the MIT Media Lab, which permits learners of any age to create games, tell stories, make animations, and much more. In its new 2.0 version, Scratch is entirely web-based, so it can even run on a Chromebook! Yesterday was the final day of "Scratch Club" for students at Independence Elementary this year, and several students shared the reasons why they enjoy Scratch and have loved the Scratch Club. In this five minute video compilation of their ideas, pay attention to how several students mention the importance of "agency" and choice. Many report how they love the opportunity to be self-directed in their learning and to have opportunities to use their imaginations to create. Also notice the way one student references the "hard fun" of programming, which is something Gary Stager talks about often in the context of students learning to code. "

"When teachers know their students well, they can build strong connections that lead to better learning. Knowing students' interests, strengths, and weaknesses help teachers tailor learning experiences for their students. Formative assessment is how teachers collect information about what students know, don't know, and want to learn. Formative assessment takes many forms, including exit tickets, discussions, games, and quizzes. These kinds of informal assessments can also help teachers get to know their students as learners and as people. There is a very wide variety of digital formative assessment tools that can be used for free (often charging for extra features). I've written a little about 15 of them below. Most of these tools work with any web browser, so they are great for laptops, computer labs, iPads, Chromebooks, tablets, and smartphones."

"As a fifth grade teacher I loved exploring earth science topics with my students. Finding earth science apps for a classroom with iPads and earth science websites for students on Chromebooks can help you point students find useful information. You can use these online tools for inspiration for research projects, a place for students to find answers to questions on a new topic, or to simply locate and share a video clip or idea with your class. On this list of earth science resources, you'll find options for classrooms with a range of technology tools. The favorites below could be used for small group explorations of a particular topic or to kick off a lesson with your whole class. As you make a plan for your next earth science unit, identify your learning goals and think about the ways technology tools can energize this experience!"

"While Apple products are known for their integration in classrooms, increasingly Google is the choice for schools and districts looking for something organized, useful, and inexpensive that's available on tablet, laptop, Chromebooks, desktop, smartphone, and more.  In fact, the sheer diversity of Google products might make them a more natural fit in the classroom in lieu of the iPad's gravity. Below we've listed 50 ways teachers can get started using Google in the classroom. "

"Quite often, we find ourselves focusing on what we can do in our classrooms while using our Chromebooks.  I've even heard once or twice technology in terms of "Classroom" and "Mobile" technology.  This, of course, brings up the question, "Why not think of classroom technology AND mobile apps in the same sentence?" Today, lets take a look at 8 great apps that should be found in your mobile classroom in 2017."

"This is our first year of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), and boy, did the students bring it. They brought it all! We have iPads, Surface RT and Pro, iPhones, Droids, Chromebooks, Macs, and PC laptops. Here's my current thinking. Please share yours in the comments section below. "

"Think back 20 years. Pay phones still worked, and only doctors carried pagers. Laptops weighed as much as bowling balls, and few of us had Internet access. In fact, much of what we now consider commonplace -- Google, email, WiFi, texting -- was not even possible. If that was 20 years ago, where are we going in the next 20? We are all going mobile! Tablets, smartphones, Chromebooks -- and yet, these devices only serve as the most recent iteration of mobile technology in the classroom. Remember Netbooks? How about those old-school Macbooks that looked like toilet seat covers? What if we go back further? What about chalk and slate?"

"For students to discuss a Google Presentation that was created on a computer/Chromebook, we used Explain Everything to annotate and/or record audio notes to enhance the presentation."

"Earlier today I received an email from someone who had found this comparison chart of student response tools. He was interested in learning a bit more about each of them beyond what was in the chart so I put together this collection of information about popular student response tools. Each of these tools can be used on iPads, Android tablets, and in the web browser on your laptop or Chromebook."