Group items tagged

"Last Sunday, I received a note via the contact form on my blog that was a first for me in many ways. It was the first time I had ever been contacted by a parent via my blog, the first time I could not put a comment out of my mind until I had addressed it, and the first time I ever thought about the impact a school's 1:1 take-home technology initiative could have on a family."

For Halloween 2016, I did a version of Halloween Wars (a Food Network show) with my two classes of gifted elementary learners. I am sharing this lesson through my blog post as it reinforces how I approach lesson planning and teaching. Background Information Principles that drive my instructional approach. regardless of theme, include: Instructional challenges are hands-on and naturally engaging for learners. There is a game-like atmosphere. There are elements of play, leveling up, and a sense of mastery or achievement during the instructional activities. The challenges are designed to be novel and create excitement and joy for learners. There is a healthy competition where the kids have to compete against one another. Learners don't need to be graded about their performances as built-in consequences are natural. There is a natural building of social emotional skills - tolerance for frustration, expression of needs, working as a team. Lessons are interdisciplinary (like life) where multiple, cross-curricular content areas are integrated into the instructional activities."

"In our #bigmakerbook, I suggest crafting with paper circuits to learn about simple and parallel circuits before delving into sewing circuitry. Last year, my GirlsinTech campers had a great time with paper circuits, but when we began to explore sewing circuits, they ran into many roadblocks. Some had never sewn before, some couldn't thread the needle, some had pre-conceived ideas about sewing that led to disastrous short circuits, etc. (Note: I did have great success with teaching a parallel circuit bracelet at the DPL, but I also had 3 extra helpers for that workshop!)  So I wanted to try something new this year to get students started sewing and creating circuitry knowledge, but still keep the project simple. I wanted to share that project with you, and give you a list of some of my favorite sewing electronics books that aided me in my own journey to learning about creating and debugging soft circuits."

"Here's a computer science lesson and craft activity that speaks to my geeky heart.  I do it with groups of all ages, and it would be perfect for Activity Day girls. It could also work for Cub Scouts, perhaps with a hemp cord for a masculine look. It was inspired by the Code.org-sponsored "Hour of Code" event last year. The lesson plan by Thinkersmith is excellent,  and covers everything you need to know. It is comprehensive enough for someone without any computer science background to run the activity successfully. I'll summarize a few points here, but you should go read it. The necklace craft was my own addition. My daughter is modeling her necklace in the photo at left."

"The idea for this bot came from the book Robotics: Discover the Science and Technology of the Future. The specific project that motivated this activity was the Art-Making Vibrobot on pages 24 to 26, though I modified the supplies considerably and the technique slightly. Basically this little "robot" is just a cup with marker legs that vibrates and spins due to the motor being off balance. As it jiggles around on a piece of paper it makes interesting designs. While I hope to make more exciting and complicated projects with my kids as they get older, this was a nice unthreatening activity to start with which showed my child how to hook up a simple DC motor to a battery. He's already familiar with some of these electrical concepts through our Snap Circuits set (link to my review), but this was a fun, hands-on supplement to the more structured activities in that set."

"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?"

"Aah February; a month of love, of reading, of waiting for spring if you in the Northern Hemisphere.  While February may  be the shortest month of the year sometimes in teaching it can feel like the longest of them all.  While I love this month for the work I can do with my students, I find that sometimes the dark nights and cold Wisconsin winters can be positively slump inducing.  Rather than dread the slump, why not do something pro-active? So this year I plan on doing my very own unslumping challenge and you are more than welcome to join me.  Every day for the month of February, I plan on doing something to either reinvigorate myself or make a difference to others.  It will not cost me much money but will hopefully instead lead to a deeper level of gratitude for the incredible job I have, the amazing students I get to teach, and the wonderful people in my life. Here is what I plan on doing"

""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?"

"When I wrote the lesson plans for Makey Makey, I really had to push my thinking about how I could take this invention kit and really make it educational. I'd seen enough lessons driven by technology and not by educational concepts and did not want my lessons to feel forced or feel like technology for technology's sake. I wanted the educational necessity to drive the lessons and not the other way around. My first step in creating lessons was to do a little crowdsourcing for research. I had to look at the ways other people were using Makey Makey as a way to get myself beyond the banana. But I think the reason I really like the term "invention literacy" is because after spending last summer pushing myself to create, make, and dream up projects with Makey Makey and make all those things- well it changed me."

"At ISTE 2016 I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel, sponsored by Samsung Education, with other educators and industry experts, spending an hour talking about literacy in the age of technology. It was an engaging discussion that looked at how one district in Tennessee leveraged technology to improve reading in the middle grades and also how literacy instruction is being impacted by the use of technology. My role in the discussion was that of a former District Technology Leader and what I've seen when implementing district technology programs centered around literacy. For me this discussion really hit home. As a Father of a 2 daughters I see on an almost daily basis how computers, tablets and apps are impacting their literacy skills. For my 7 yr old she uses her tablet to find books she wants to read and also is able to practice her skills through read aloud and other features in the books. For my 3 year old she is able to use her manipulatives and other apps to practice her letters and letter sounds. It's truly incredible to watch both of them using the technology and its power to learn. As I've reflected on this panel a lot there are some important themes to remember when it comes to literacy and technology that we need to remember."

"I wrote in my book about the power of using word clouds in the classroom. They are such a good tool for activities linked to literacy, problem solving and much more. The classic Wordle and Tagxedo still rank highly in my estimation but as more and more use of technology moves to tablets and other mobile devices; so the search for a decent word cloud generator moves from the desktop to the mobile device too. Over time, more and more Apps have become available on the App Store and so in this post I'll explore my top six Apps for creating word clouds using iOS devices. Note, not all of these apps have Android alternatives although some have."

""My generation sucks." "Embarrassing to be apart of the "handout" generation offended by everything." "I'm a millennial and I'm NOT proud, my generation is so brainwashed and could easily be conditioned to losing America they way we know it." "We are the laziest piece of crap lol" "As a millennial myself, I absolutely hate my generation." This is how you feel about yourself when you've been told for the past 15 years how bad you are at life. This would be comical if people didn't actually believe it. But since they do, it's disturbing. Look for yourself. What do you get when you google, "Millennials are.." "

"Earlier this school year I began volunteering in my child's Kindergarten class with my two iPads and a suite of apps that focused on early literacy skills. Now half way through the school year, I've discovered more about engaging kids with learning apps. You can read my first post, "iPads in Education - How you & your iPad can volunteer together in your child's classroom" here: http://digital-storytime.com/wp/?p=916."

"As I've moved into the second half of my 20's and noticed my metabolism slowing down I've begun to pay more attention to my health. MyFitnessPal HD is a free app touted as one of the best for keeping track of your daily calorie intake and exercise regimen. "

"Today was my first lesson in my new iPad Rock Star Boot Camp that I am doing with the 4th and 5th graders at my elementary school. The funny things is that I know nothing about music - just to prove that anyone can really rock the iPad if they know a few tricks. So here are the things that we covered today."

"What lies at the center of my work productivity? What are the things I want to do with my iPad at work? These two questions are what each of the requirements below seek to answer."

"Last Wednesday I did my second class of my new iPad Rock Star Boot Camp with my students in fourth and fifth grade and I wanted to give you a brief update. "

"While my school district has a very clear Media/Website consent form specific to public media and our school district website there is no consent form yet in place for the on-line activities I do with my class. These activities include but are not limited to our class blog, my students' individual blogs, our class tweeting, our class skyping, and the global projects we take part in on-line."

"My children started attending Dayton Grade School this past week and to my surprise my son's class provides an iPad for every student. Even today with the proliferation of mobile technology, classrooms across the US run the full spectrum when it comes to technology."

"A few months ago I took a survey of my elementary kids to see what kind of mobile technology they had at home and it turned out that 53% of my students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades had iPads and 82% had iPods! With over half of my students having iPads, there is no doubt that soon they will be bringing these devices to school - so it go me thinking…"