Group items tagged

"The next time you see a study that reminds us that dumping materials off to kids doesn't result in some kind of magical osmosis on a child's brain, it should be no surprise. There is no magic tool when it comes to student success. The magic comes from the tool combined with support, collaboration, coaching, modeling, and more. "

"If you think that magic is something you only see in the Harry Potter series and you can't create anything even similarly engaging in your classroom - think again! Augmented Reality has a magical power to make your lessons so exciting that students don't want to stop exploring mathematics when the bell rings."

" Sentence Reading Magic is a free iPad app from Preschool University. Sentence Reading Magic introduces students to simple three letter words. The app has a reading mode and a sentence building mode. In the reading mode students can read and hear words read to them by a male or female narrator. "

"Invention literacy is the ability to read and write human made stuff, from toasters to apps. People think inventors perform magic, but invention is no more magical than reading and writing a sentence. There is a grammar to inventing from mechanical tools, to design thinking, coding, and beyond. There is a literature of inventions, from bicycles to televisions, all around us to draw inspiration from. "

"What are the latest emerging trends in education? As trends to do, these are changing almost yearly. Consider how quiet iPads in the classroom have been recently, whereas three years ago they were going to replace teachers and were (unsarcastically) compared to magic. While mobile devices like the iPad can indeed parallel a kind of magic in the learning process, it obviously has to 'fit' into a progressive supporting ecology of assessment, curriculum, and instruction. With that in mind, we've created a list of 15 (the graphic plus 3 bonus items below) new ideas every teacher should try. Not all will fit or work-again, it depends on the ecology of the classroom, school, and so on. But each of these ideas below-some learning models, some concepts, and some technologies-can be transformational for students, and your teaching."

"I'm assuming you've seen at least one of the eight Harry Potter films. In the films, one everyday magical experience is that photos are always moving as if they were video screens, even though they are 'printed' on paper. Newspaper photos act out the news event as film too, whilst you walk down the road reading. It seems so magical and yet, like so many things these days , there's an app for that!"

"In spite of the before-mentioned dynamics, Kindergarten classrooms are really magical places where kids are able to collaboratively and independently create and design. Kids move like a well-oiled machine from one center to the next with very little if any teacher direction. These students, most of whom have never been a part of such madness, are able to find structure and are able to be trusted to do the right thing. Students are able to 'playfully work together and learn about the creative process: how to imagine new ideas, try them out, test the boundaries, experiment with alternatives, get feedback from others, and generate new ideas based on their experiences.' Kindergarten classrooms are a hotbed for makers and the maker movement. Kindergarten classrooms are spilling over with exploration and discovery. Kindergarten classrooms beam with pride as kids put their best efforts forward to please their teachers and expand their knowledge of the world. Kindergarten classrooms are indeed a magical place. "

"This lesson/series of lessons is designed to give pupils an introductory understanding of key computational thinking skills and help them to discover that in fact, computers don't solve problems, but are used by us to aid the problem solving process. This will be shown by using the BBC Micro:Bit device, both emulated via online tools and with a real Micro:Bit if available - and adding a touch of magic."

"Step right up to see impressive iPad and iPhone tips and tricks! Learn stunts like annotating photos without an app, compelling Siri to flip a coin, conjuring up keywords on a page, hearing highlighted text, making clutter on web pages vanish, closing all Safari tabs in the blink of an eye…the magic at your fingertips seems limitless. So many secrets are unleashed below!"

Magic in the Making Tips & Tools for Getting Started

"Remember Lieutenant Dan (Gary Sinise) in the movie Forrest Gump? How did Hollywood make his legs disappear? Click here for a short video clip explaining the magic. How can you make your lessons more meaningful? How can your students use Green Screen to demonstrate their learning? Using Green Screen in the classroom is easy, economical and appropriate for all grade levels and subject areas! Green Screen allows you to create a video using an image or video for your background. If your students are studying about the Pyramids of Egypt, they can create a video report with the Pyramids in the background. What about a weather report from the banks of the Nile River or on top of Mt. Everest? The possibilities are endless, so let's get started!"

"Makerspaces have the power to transform learning.  They can be amazing spaces of informal, hands-on learning and libraries are the perfect place for them because they make the space available to ALL students.  But a makerspace can't fix everything all at once.  I have many librarians ask me for help in starting their makerspaces.  And sometimes I tell them they need to go slower or deal with the underlying issues of their space first.  A $1,000 makerspace grant is not going to instantly change your school culture.  This wasn't a fun post to write, but I feel like it needs to be a part of the discussion of makerspaces and school libraries."

"The maker zeitgeist has evolved far beyond the day when an educator might set objects-say, a box of robotic LEGOs-in a library corner and call it a "maker lab." Educators are now focusing on how the maker movement can be truly meaningful: it's not about where making is happening, but about how creating, experimenting, and collaborating impact education. In addition, some high schoolers tinkering their free periods away can discover a passion-sometimes leading to a future educational focus or even scholarship money. "The maker movement…encourages a growth mind-set, which tolerates risk and failure and maybe even encourages it," says Laura Fleming, library media specialist with the New Milford (NJ) High School. "It has been the great equalizer within, and in some ways against, our modern education system by allowing opportunities for creativity and innovation to take place through informal learning.""

"A few weeks ago, we got the idea to have students create video app reviews and tutorials using Reflection. Now it has become a popular event. Students visit me during advisory and I set up the mirroring with Reflection and the screen recording with Quicktime on my MacBook and in 2-3 minutes, we have pure app magic."

"Augmented reality allows someone to add another layer to an existing image. For example, imagine holding your phone over a poster on the wall as if you were going to take a photo of that poster, and then instantly a video starts playing to offer you additional information about that particular poster. Pretty cool, right? The first time it happens, it seems like magic."