Group items tagged

""Hey Siri!" My husband continues to roll his eyes every time he hears me call my girl. However, I have to be honest...I haven't always used Siri. This is more of a recent habit that I have fallen into, quickly. Every day it seems like I learn something new about what Siri can do. She is one smart cookie! Have you ever thought about using Siri in the classroom? I use her occasionally on my iPhone; however, why couldn't we use her on our classroom iPads or iPods?"

"You know you have "arrived" when the White House honors a week just for you. This June 17-23 President Obama and his staff will host the National Week of Makers. With the support of the President, it's safe to say that making is not just a trend, rather it is a movement rapidly spreading across the educational landscape. It has become commonplace to hear of urban makers quarters, events such as Maker Faires, and schools building maker spaces in community areas. As is with most frenzies, while it can be invigorating and inspiring, it can also feel intimidating and overwhelming. If the later descriptors speak to you, never fear because there are baby steps you can take to integrate making into your curriculum."

"One of my favorite innovations in recent years is the idea of TED Talks. Whether you attend a session in person or watch online, you can learn and gain inspiration and see and hear people tell their stories and share their expertise firsthand. It's accessible, substantive information on virtually every topic imaginable. If reading the news first thing in the morning is bringing you down, why not save that task for a bit later in the day? Instead, take in one of these great TED talks with your breakfast. Since they're under 20 minutes, it's the perfect amount of time to spend with your breakfast and coffee--and you'll start the day informed, motivated, and ready to go do great things."

"If you read my blog then you know I love all things Makey Makey!  While I was writing Makey Makey lesson plans last summer, I was super stoked to hear the announcement of their Kickstarter campaign for the super portable Makey Makey Go. Mine came just in time for Christmas, but unfortunately, I had to hold off on tinkering with it right away because Aaron and I have been busy working on projects for our upcoming book deadline. We've finally had some time to work out a few projects with the Go and I am in LOVE with it!"

"If you're brand new to the world of web design and web development, it makes sense to get started learning to code by utilizing all the free resources available online. This way, you can discover what you like (and more importantly don't) before financially investing in a certain set of courses. However, there are so many free resources, classes, and books to pick from! It's easy to become overwhelmed. (Ever hear of too much of a good thing?!) To make things easier, I compiled a list of 64 FREE web design and development resources."

"In his new book, Raising Kids Who Read, Daniel Willingham wants to be clear: There's a big difference between teaching kids to read and teaching them to love reading. And Willingham, a parent himself, doesn't champion reading for the obvious reasons - not because research suggests that kids who read for pleasure do better in school and in life. "The standard things you'll hear about why kids should read I actually don't think are very strong arguments," he says. "Because if the goal is to become a good citizen or the goal is to make a lot of money, I can think of more direct ways to reach those goals than to read during your leisure time.""

"Ten years ago, I walked past a newsstand and out of the myriad of multicolored covers, one jumped out at me: MAKE magazine. As someone who grew up making stuff, this magazine spoke directly to me. I bought copies and immediately brought them to the director of my school. I remember triumphantly exclaiming "We should show this to all of the teachers-think of the projects we can do!" A decade later, well-intentioned schools that create dedicated "maker spaces" worry me. For the uninitiated, a maker space often houses ultramodern tools like a laser cutter or 3D printers, mixed with drill presses, table saws, and soldering irons, or perhaps screen printing equipment or sewing machines. My fear is that stand-alone maker spaces will cause the powerful act of creation to be confined to only certain parts of the school building. I worry that yesterday's centralized computer lab-which we rightly democratized and decentralized by putting computers in every classroom-is today's maker space. When I walk past a new room being outfitted with a laser cutter or a drill press and hear, "This is our maker space!" I am tempted to ask: "What happens in all of the other spaces? What do people do there?" The act of creation is transformative. An individual's self-image is forever changed when he or she can hold up a real object-a real contribution to the world-and say, "I made this." In a time when students' lives are increasingly virtual, abstract and vicarious experiences, it is every teacher's job to make learning, and life, "hands-on." "

"Here is a collection of some good iPad apps for teaching kids and students sign language and American Sign Language (ASL). The collection which we have curated from iTunes App Store and App Advice, embeds some of the most popular sign language apps out there.  We have based our selection mostly on user reviews and ratings. Whether you are a parent, a teacher dealing with deaf or hard of hearing students, or simply interested in learning an extra important communicative code, the collection below is definitely a great place to start with."

" lot of words have been added to the dictionary over the past few decades thanks to social media, but few have become so widely used and accepted as "hashtag." For a long time, the hashtag symbol (#) was known simply as the "pound" symbol. Now, I could swear that the only time I hear it referred to as a pound symbol is when I enter my PIN number to pay my cell phone bill. Manage and plan your social media content with the help of this free calendar template. While hashtags were originally made famous by Twitter, they're now used on many major social networks, including Facebook and Instagram. Let's explore what a hashtag is, why they're so great, and how they work on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram."

"I often talk with educators (and parents and administrators) who are convinced that their students are working within Project Based Learning environments. They tell me about the wonderful projects the kids have created and how much fun the kids have. I'm always delighted to hear the kids are having fun in school! However, I find that when asked a few probing questions, it becomes clear whether or not PBL is actually happening or if the teachers are merely creating projects for students to complete."

"A while back I wrote a post about two great resources for math instructional videos. I enjoy exposing kids to these instructional videos because it gives them the opportunity to hear other teachers and students explain things. After much hemming and hawing I've found a way to easily and quickly make and integrate my own videos into my classroom. "

"The iPad makes new assessment practices possible. First, just being able to hear a student explain his or her thinking is a transformative event."

"I read an article yesterday that was really an extension of an ongoing conversation that I have been hearing for some time now. The article was "Mobility and its Impact on Learning" and was written by Ruth Reynard over at the Campus Technology site. Make sure that you have a look, it discusses some of the issues around the move to mobility and the implications for education. What it did do was get me thinking. "

"You can play YouTube videos in the background of iOS and hear the audio while you perform other tasks on the device, just like you can with any other music player on an iPhone or iPad. If you've tried this before and discovered the audio stops once YouTube is in the background, you just need to complete one additional step, here's how:"

"It might be true that some parents prefer to give their kids print books - even if they choose e-books for themselves - but when it's holiday travel time, it might be nice to keep stories on a single device. Apart from traveling lighter, these apps and games can keep kids engaged by allowing them to create stories, too."

"Closed Captioning places written text at the bottom of video content, allowing for anyone to read along with the video rather than listen to the audio. This is an essential feature for certain accessibility purposes and for individuals who are hard of hearing, but it's also just a useful feature to enable if you want to watch a movie silently and read subtitles. "

"I have aversions to certain colors. I'm sure I'm not alone in this - most people find themselves drawn to either warm colors or cool colors, and there is a whole business of the psychology of colors. The handy infographic below takes a look at the psychology of colors and how they're used in branding. Not applicable to the classroom, right? Wrong. There are so many different ways you can incorporate color into what you're doing in your classroom to help boost your efforts. From designing your presentations mindfully to how you mark student work, color can come into play a lot more often than you may realize. So what colors should you use for what? Take a look at what the infographic below has to say about colors with branding, and we'll give you an idea of how this crosses over into the classroom. We'd love to hear if you've used colors intentionally in your classroom setting, or if you have other ideas. Leave a message in the comments!"

"When it comes to New Year's resolutions, we all hear about the typical weight/health/finance related promises we make to ourselves - but why not use this yearly changeover to make some classroom promises instead? We can all use some new goals, and our students will be the ones benefiting from the changes with us. Win-win, I'd say! The modern teacher juggles a dynamic sets of roles and tasks, from friend, coach, and leader, to agent of literacy, technology pioneer, and stoker of curiosity. To help you get started on your personal list of classroom resolutions and goals, here are five great ideas that can be implemented in any level of class."

"At this point, some of you are probably sick of hearing about Minecraft. It has gone from game to phenomenon, selling bajillions of copies and crowding the mindscape of 6th graders everywhere for what seems like centuries. But before you go, there may be some lessons you can takeaway for your classroom-lessons that can help promote the creativity in students you've been looking for."