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"Digital environments mediate the navigation, length, and complexity of texts, requiring composers to adapt to audience, tone, and purpose in ways that previous generations were never required. Digital environments have disrupted the writing process as we once knew it due to an interwoven combination of traditional narrative sequencing, hyperlinks to other digital sources, infusions of multimedia texts like videos and podcasts, and interactive response fields. A new Digital Writing Process SOARS!"

"Coding is believed to be the 21st century literacy par excellence. Codes make up the totality of our digital world. They are a universal language that every computer speak. Teaching kids coding will not only enable them to better understand the digital world surrounding them but, more importantly, will equip them with skills integral to their overall learning. Coding is all about creativity, imagination, problem solving and strategic thinking. There is a wide variety of ways to make learning programming and coding a fun an enjoyable task for kids. One of them is through the use of engaging and interactive games. Below is a collection of some of the most popular iPad apps for helping kids learn coding through games. Check them out and share with us if you have other suggestions."

"I have been asked to return to teach summer enrichment classes on maker education for elementary-aged learners at a local school during the summer of 2016. One of the new classes I am designing is called Coding and Bots. The description is: Learn how to code first by playing games and then by coding some bots including Sphero, OZOBOT, and Dash and Dot. All ages are welcome but the child should have basic symbol recognition/reading skills. Two things to note about this class are, first, I learned last summer not to underestimate the learning potential of very young kids. These classes are mixed ages ranging from 4 to 10 year old kids. For most of the maker education activities, the very young ones could perform them, sometimes better than the older kids. Second, I am a strong proponent of hands on activities. Although I like the use of iPads and computers, I want elementary aged students to have to directly interact with materials. As such, I am designing Coding and Bots to include using their bodies and manipulating objects. This translates into having all activities include the use of objects and materials excluding and in conjunction with the iPad - not just using the iPad and online apps/tools to learn to code. The activities I plan to do follow:"

"Quizizz is a great web tool we discovered through Learning in Hand. Quizizz allows you to create interactive quiz games to use in your instruction for a number of educational purposes including formative assessment. Quiz games you create have up to 4 answer options including a correct answer. You can also add images to the background of your questions and customize the settings of your questions the way you want. When your quizzes are ready you can share them with your students using a generated 5 digit code."

"Not all apps are created equal. Not all teacher planning and instructional design are created equal. Mash the two, and we're beginning to see the opportunity for some real disparity. In response, we've taken the popular SAMR model and use it as a framework to understand how to better teach with apps. This post started as a look at "app workflow"-the patterns of student and teacher interaction, the movement of learning artifacts, the visibility of quality criteria, assessment results, and so on, but we thought it might be better to start with some concrete examples of the movement from basic technology integration-in this case, apps-to that which redefines the learning process entirely. Below, then, are 21 ways apps can be used to teach-and learn-with varying degrees of ambition, from mere substitution of existing teaching practices, all the way to full-on redefinition of what's possible. (This post also presumes you're familiar with the SAMR model-if not, here's a good primer.)"

"Make your very own interactive pixel pet with this Raspberry Pi Sense HAT tutorial. Learn how to program with python to make a moving pixel avatar that is triggered when you shake the Raspberry Pi. Suitable for beginner coders!"

"The Pixar In A Box lessons start with a technical problem that animators face and work into the math from there. In each video a real Pixar animator lays out the technical problem, and then students get to experiment with interactive elements to better understand the problem. Gradually the video works towards a more explicit explanation of the math involved, and by the end the student is calculating to solve the actual problems faced at Pixar. "

"Starting from next week, EdTech and mLearning will be featuring a series of posts on the best educational web tools and mobile apps we have covered during this year. Today as we were working on some literacy and language arts' tools we thought to give a quick shout-out to two of the best resources to help you with the teaching of reading. These websites provide a wide range of materials (lessons plans, interactives, printables, graphic organizers...etc) all of which are designed specifically to help students develop their reading skills and become better readers."

"As an administrator, I think about the most enjoyable times I have had at school. Frankly, none of them include sitting in my office doing paperwork, disciplining, or attending meetings. The most enjoyable and productive times I have experienced are when I have been in the classroom observing teachers and interacting with students and teachers."

"MathsLinks.net is a great site created by a mathematics teacher for mathematics teachers. On the site you will find collections of games, interactive demonstrations, and lesson ideas for use in elementary, middle, and high school mathematics lessons."

"Finding new and human ways to connect and empower the next generation to play is one of the ways that Ikea says it hopes to change the world, and bringing extra life to cardboard that would otherwise end up in the recycling bins is part of that push. It's an idea that came about quickly, and was revealed at a panel at Cannes today (20 June). Wunderman, Kantar Consulting and Mini Mad Things decided to put the pedal to the metal and workshop an idea in just five weeks. The catch? The idea had to be 'prototypeable' as the final would be presented on stage at Cannes Lions, alongside Ikea's chief marketing officer. Ultimately, the brief was to come up with an idea that shows how Ikea inspires and facilitates child's play, all while helping to improve home life for parents, whole families and even communities. After evaluating 17 years-worth of online conversation with parents and analyzing 15m rows of dialogue data, the team realized that behavior and development is the most talked about topic within childcare, second only to pregnancy. Pressing further in the research, the team learned that 50% of parents surveyed struggle to find ideas to encourage creative play amongst their children. Ikea, which has been one of the largest distributors of cardboard packaging, and team were able to flip their script so the brand could see the world through a child's eyes and create an interactive mobile app that brings cardboard waste to life. By following simple instructions any piece of cardboard can be transformed into something new. The Ikea Toybox app gives cardboard waste a new lease on life and, as play doesn't require a price tag, families will see big results with small means."

"Each year at the Build Math Minds Virtual Summit, I bring in the nation's top math education experts to discuss issues concerning the teaching of elementary mathematics.  These sessions always give practical tips and thought provoking conversations that will help make decisions about how your students will interact with mathematics this coming year.  But, the BEST part is that it's all online! You don't have to leave the comfort of your home (or your pool) this summer to get some amazing math PD. Plus, did I mention it's FREE?!?!  You will be able to watch all the sessions as many times as you want through August 6, 2018. After that, the sessions all go inside my Build Math Minds PD Community for members to have access to at anytime."

"Apple is launching a new Measure app in iOS 12 in the next few months that will let you size anything with just your iPhone. You no longer have to go searching for a tape measure while hanging pictures or when trying to determine if a couch will fit in your living room. I recently tried the new Measure app in Apple's iOS 12 developer beta. It uses the advanced cameras on newer iPhones like the iPhone X, and will presumably work on Apple's new batch of devices coming soon. Other augmented reality apps - the type that let you interact with the real world through your phone - have been available in the iTunes App Store and for Android phones. But this is the first time Apple has introduced its own version. Here's a preview."

"Jacqueline Prester was a self-proclaimed hustler in middle school. Mowing lawns, babysitting-she took the initiative to earn her own money. But she was also a responsible moneymaker, using the envelope system to budget every cent before she knew it was an actual budgeting strategy. Back then, her friends rolled their eyes when she tried to share her financial savvy. Fast forward two decades and Prester is a popular business and technology teacher at Mansfield High School in Massachusetts, working to give students real-life financial skills. Only this time her audience is keen to learn. (Her Personal Finance classes always reach their 28 student capacity.) Students are learning about personal finance, but not just because that's the name of the class. They're making it personal. Prester's passion is infectious, and the content she chooses-like Pathway To Financial Success created by Discovery Education and Discover-immerses students in authentic lessons with videos, interactive modules and real-world connections. Pathway To Financial Success Video: Being Financially Responsible EdSurge caught up with Prester to find out how she packs her classes with willing learners and to uncover her secret to finding compelling financial literacy content. She also shared how and why she helped pass a new Massachusetts bill focused on financial literacy."

"Digital citizenship has stepped into the forefront of a modern-day education. Experts indicate that as schools roll out tech, they also need to be rolling out digital citizenship education. Tech giant Google heeded that call and partnered with experts to launch Be Internet Awesome, an interactive campaign that educates students on how best to act on the internet. One part of this Google campaign is Interland, a game that has students travel an imaginary world where they need to fight hackers, phishers, oversharers and bullies with digital citizenship skills. While game-based learning can be effective, educators also need to be armed with skills to teach their students to be citizens of the web. This month, Google extended its Be Internet Awesome program to include a free online training course to help educators establish foundational skills needed to teach their students to have a safe and positive experience online."

"As a school librarian, I always thought of the notion of collection as expansive. Collections might include any of the experiences we discover, as well as any of the people we meet who might enhance learning for our communities. Among those experiences are virtual field trips. Opportunities now abound for connections to curriculum and student interests. And easier strategies for video conferencing, combined with new types of interactions, make virtual field trips even more affordable and engaging. You don't risk weather conditions or losing any wandering kiddos who can't find their way back to the bus. You can ignore issues of distance relating to both space and time. And these escapes from daily classroom routine can result in very sticky learning."

"Cardboard Creations Maker Education Camp utilized no technology (except for projecting images of example projects on the whiteboard) and low/no cost materials. Many of the discussions about and actions related to integrating maker education into educational environments center around the use of new technologies such computer components (Raspberry Pis, Arduinos), interactive robots for kids (Dash and Dot, Ozobots, Spheros), and 3D printers. These technologies are lots of fun and I facilitate Robotics and Computer Science with my gifted students and at one of my summer camps. The learners engaged in these high tech learning activities with high excitement and motivation. Such high excitement, engagement and motivation, though, were also seen at my low tech/low cost maker education camps: LED crafts, Toy Hacking and Making, and Cardboard Creations."

"Media Literacy Week highlights the importance of teaching children and teens digital and media literacy skills to ensure their interactions with media are positive and enriching."