Group items tagged

"This week Epic! offered classroom teachers and school librarians in the U.S. and Canada free, forever, single subscription access to its iPad app, an "ever-growing library of high-quality children's books from some of the world's best publishers." Epic! calls itself the first "All-You-Can-Read" eBook service for kids. It currently offers thousands of digital titles from 40 publishing partners, including HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, National Geographic, Kids Can Press, Blue Apple Books. The growing digital collection of titles for ages 2 through 12 includes many recent and award-winning books and represents a mix of fiction and nonfiction. New titles are added each week."

"In this introductory Keynote for iOS tutorial from The Epic Guide to Keynote for iOS, you are introduced to Keynote's interface and learn how it is laid out. We look at the buttons and toolbars in some depth and learn what each button in Keynote actually does. The Presentation Manager and Presentation Editor How to create folders in Keynote How to duplicate and delete Keynote Presentations How to create, import and share Keynote Presentations The Slide Manager and how to create new slides The Keynote Toolbar Explained (undo/redo, the format inspector, add new objects, Keynote settings, sharing and Presentation Mode) "

"Making Your Library Epic: Creating Innovative Spaces for Student Learning"

"To be honest, I had longed for the epic Lego wall that has graced so many makerspace blogs and websites.  But I didn't have the wall space for it, and I prefer furniture and resources that can serve dual purposes. Being a proponent of Theodore Roosevelt's motto of "Do what you can with what you have where you are" I became resourceful.  So with my Scholastic Book Fair points, I chose a metal cabinet from the rewards catalog to serve as both makerspace storage and a movable awesome Lego wall. With some heavy-duty magnets affixed to the back with a hot glue gun, our baseplates could be used both horizontally and vertically.  Bound by limitations, I was able to find a away to create something new that would fit the needs of our library and our students."

"Apps should make you more productive. Not make you feel guilty. Not distract you. They should help you do more than you would have done if you didn't have it. I've picked my most epic productivity apps and given you tips for how these apps truly make me more productive"

"The breakthrough happened after the student took the Bartle's Gamer Profile Quiz and we found out that he was a "killer." Off-the-charts killer, but achievement meant nothing to this student. Just like grades. No, we haven't identified the next school shooter, and I sure wish that Bartle hadn't named one of the four gamer profiles "killer" -- but nonetheless, this student identified with this profile. Jane McGonigal mentioned it in her Gaming Can Make a Better World TED Talk when she discussed an epic meaning. My so-called "killer" student (and we really should rename this when applying it to education!) simply saw things as a battle between good and evil and wanted to fight on the side of good in an epic quest to make the world a better place. Points don't matter in gameplay, and grades don't matter, either. But when we tweaked the kinds of work he was doing in our Gamifi-ED project to focus on "world-changing games," he was suddenly engaged. Now his face lights up when he sees me. He's one of the first kids to class. He's an engaged gamer and, finally, an engaged student. "

"eBooks are around us. Do you know how to find them? What apps should you use? Do you know how to publish one? This epic eBook guide will help you understand how to download ebooks, use ebookstores, and how to find free and inexpensive ebooks and how to self publish. (If you're not sure why you should be interested in ebooks, read 11 reasons eBooks can improve your life.)"

"Yesterday I wrote about everything that led up to us creating our Epic Library LEGO Wall - check out the post here.  Today is going to be more of a how-to.  I've had many, many people ask me how to build a LEGO wall, and while there's tons of great information out there, I'm going to put my own spin on things, so here goes."

"Looking for some good summer reading books for your kid? Epic has you covered. It provides a huge library featuring over 20.000 eBooks designed specifically for kids 12 and under. The library also includes audio books, comic books, graphic novels, educational videos, read-to-me, fiction and nonfiction books from leading publishers such as Scholastic, Macmillan, National Geography, and HarperCollins.  Epic is free for elementary teachers and librarians in the US and Canada."

"When my grandpa died, my grandma told me that she missed the small stuff. She had plenty of photo albums packed full of memories, but what she missed the most was waking up next to him in the morning. I remember visiting her on a hard afternoon. She had accidentally poured two cups of coffee and brought them into the family room and placed one next to his empty chair. She spent the next hour crying. This moment had me rethinking what it means to live an epic life - which is ultimately why I created the following video:"

"Minecraft has become arguably one of the most popular games in history. This is evident not only with gaming communities, but also among educators. If you're not familiar with Minecraft, imagine a Lego-meets-SimCity stylized world with your only limit being your creativity. Why is it so popular?"

"Take a look at the definition of student-centered learning, and let me know what you think: Student-centered learning (SCL), or learner-centeredness, is a learning model that places the student (learner) in the center of the learning process. In student-centered learning, students are active participants in their learning; they learn at their own pace and use their own strategies; they are more intrinsically than extrinsically motivated; learning is more individualized than standardized. Student-centered learning develops learning-how-to-learn skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and reflective thinking. Student-centered learning accounts for and adapts to different learning styles of students (National Center for Research on Teacher Learning, 1999)."

"December is one of the most exhausting months of the year for teachers. The days are shorter. The weather grows colder and (at least here in Oregon) wetter. Students are anxious - whether it's a buzzing excitement for vacation or a sense of dread that some kids feel in homes that are unsafe during the holidays. And teachers are tired. They're tired of redirecting behaviors and tired of the mid-year pressure of the test and simply tired of the sheer energy it takes to be a teacher. It's no wonder that so many teachers begin playing holiday movies around this time of year. They want to create a sense of fun and escape and enjoyment, and a motion picture promises exactly that. Maybe that's okay. Maybe that's a part of creating a culture of joy. But for me, movies always fell flat. For my first few years, I showed a movie the day before the winter break. However, within minutes, kids were disengaged. They were passive. It wasn't special. My students could go home and watch a movie whenever they felt like it. It had me wondering . . . was there something that they could do in my class that they couldn't do anywhere else? Was this actually the chance to do something epic and make something memorable?"

"Why is it that sometimes we only see the extremes in our work? Picture your strongest lessons, activities, and projects juxtaposed against ones that just didn't work, and that's how it's been so far with our Digital Shop capstone projects. Some experiences make me want to high-five the entire class all at once. Others deserve an epic facepalm. As of this writing, we still have a month of school left. How will the remaining capstones go? What have we learned in the process? Can we "fail up" and finish strong, sending kids into summer vacation with school-year memories that will last forever? As I explained in my April post, I wanted the capstone projects to: Be genuine design thinking experiences. Allow kids to showcase the skills and dispositions they worked to acquire all year. Be based on and help people from the community and the world. The results have been mixed, as this post will illustrate."