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The Coconino County Health Department is introducing a new sexual health education text messaging program for local teens called SexFYI. The program provides teens a confidential way to get automated, scientifically accurate answers to commonly asked sexual health questions. SexFYI also provides local teens with information on where they can acquire more information and sexual health medical help.

"A backchannel -- a digital conversation that runs concurrently with a face-to-face activity -- provides students with an outlet to engage in conversation. Every time I think about this tool, I remember my student, Charlie (not his real name). Given his learning challenges, he struggled to keep up during class discussions. Long after his classmates grasped a concept, he would light up in acknowledgement and then become crestfallen as he had no way to share his revelation. Charlie needed an alternative means to participate, and a backchannel would have provided him with that outlet. "

"A few days ago I shared here PBS Kids Video app that provides a wide variety of educational videos for kids. Today I am adding another wonderful iPad app in this direction. Brainfeed is one of the top ranked apps in the iTunes store. Designed to inform, entertain and inspire, Brainfeed provides children 7+, tweens, teens and even inquisitive adults with a safe corner of the web to explore a universe of educational videos. Each video in Brainfeed  is handpicked by a team of enthusiastic educators from around the globe who are tasked with finding short (under 10 minutes) and documentary style videos that meet the following criteria:Curriculum-based, entertaining & engaging, visually stimulating, high quality content, age-appropriate , and child-friendly."

"At Branson Junior High, our amazing team of teachers and principals, along with the encouraging support of our school district superintendents to be innovative with a purpose, are on a journey to personalize learning for every child. We are starting small, but dreaming big and have already experienced some momentous transformations in our school culture. At this school year's kick-off orientation event for parents and learners, we built on the familiar analogy of a go-kart track to communicate the vision of personalized learning at BJH (Branson, MO is a big tourist destination in mid-America). Most junior high/middle school aged kids would be excited to hear their parents say they were going to the go-kart track for a night out of family fun. However, if when they arrived at the track the parent asked the attendant for a two-seater go-kart and then directed their son/daughter to climb in the passenger seat, the child's excitement level would immediately deflate. You can easily picture in your mind's eye the typical response a child would have to their parent's action: "I thought we were here to have fun?! Can't we each have our own go-kart to drive?" Likewise, if we desire fully engaged and responsible learners, then we must provide them the opportunities to drive their own go-kart. Just like a go-kart track, we set-up safe boundaries, provide some initial guidance, but then let the learner buckle-up and drive!"

"Thinking Blocks is a nice site for elementary and middle school mathematics teachers. Thinking Blocks provides interactive templates in which students use brightly colored blocks to model and solve problems. As students work through the problems they are provided with feedback as to whether or not they are using the correct sequence to solve each problem. There are templates and problems for addition, multiplication, fractions, and ratios. You can also develop your own problems using the modeling tool."

"4). Stop thinking it's your school or district's responsibility to provide professional development learning opportunities. We all expect our kids to be self-autonomous learners who take some ownership of their learning; educators should be no different considering all the avenues and paths that exist."

"When you point your iPhone or iPad at a web address (like osxdaily.com), iOS will perform a DNS lookup to send you to the proper location. DNS servers handle part of that lookup service, translating numerical IP addresses into the readable domain names we're all more familiar with and associate with web sites and other internet addresses. Most internet service providers provide their own DNS servers, but let's be honest, they're not always the fastest, thus you can sometimes speed up your internet service or even resolve some networking issues by changing DNS settings to another set of servers. Changing the DNS settings in iOS are what we're g"

" When schools lift the ban on cell phones, they need to decide if they want to embrace the use of student devices for learning. If they do, it doesn't "start" with inviting devices into the classroom.  It starts in student's homes.  What better way to help parents understand the instructional value of cell phones than to use these devices to strengthen the home-school connection?  Cell phones provide a terrific means for connecting with parents. Teachers can begin using phones to develop and strengthen those relationships. This can provide a foundation and help develop understanding around the benefits and value of cell phone use in general and later for use with students. "

"Read and Write for Google is an excellent Chrome app that provides text-to-speech functions from your browser. They have just released a free iPad and Android app. The apps provide text to speech functions, which are great for ESL, learning disabled, visually challenged and struggling readers, on your device, just like the web app does in the Chrome Browser and Chromebooks."

"Google Drive on the iPad provide teachers and students an effective way of accessing, organising, sharing and providing feedback on student work. In the following slides an effective workflow is proposed with examples.  View the slides for step by step instructions or download it as a PDF (below)."

"Tinkering activities provide a powerful way to inspire students' interest, engagement, and understanding in science. The Tinkering Fundamentals course will help educators and enthusiasts develop a practice of tinkering and making. This course will focus on key design elements of high-quality, science-rich tinkering activities, effective facilitation strategies and environmental organization. Watch Intro Video About the Course The Tinkering Fundamentals course will offer educators and enthusiasts an opportunity to develop a practice of tinkering and making.  We see tinkering as a serious endeavor -- one that is generalizable across content and especially good at interweaving disciplines in a way that leads to complex projects and individualized learning opportunities.   Tinkering has recently been introduced into the educational field as a potential driver of creativity, excitement, and innovation in science learning. It is seen by many as an effective means to engage in exploring STEM concepts, practices and phenomena. Tinkering typically blends the high and low tech tools of science along with a strong aesthetic dimension that supports children's (and adults) self expression.  For over a decade, the Exploratorium has been developing science-rich tinkering activities. Working with learning scientists, we have identified a set of design principles and indicators of learning that can help you to integrate tinkering activities into your elementary and middle school science programs. This course will focus on key design elements of high quality science-rich tinkering activities, facilitation strategies, and environmental organization. Selected  tinkering activities will be centered around circuits for this course.  We will review the ways in which tinkering supports science learning through providing opportunities to deepen engagement, intentionality, innovation, collaboration, and understanding. This course will excite you, inspire you, and get you tinkering in

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The author provides a short history of information discovery that provides a fascinating context for the article.  You see the evolution of web info over the paste decade. You also get some true insight on how to consume information using social tools.  Abundant links to web 2.0 apps make this article well worth the time to read (and re-read it).  

"Write About is a new site co-founded by educator John Spencer (his name may be familiar with readers since I've previously shared his work many times here). His co-founder is Brad Wilson. And they've created what might be the Education Site of 2014. Write About provides many (and I mean many) images with writing prompts. Students can write their response and do an audio recording of it. Teachers can create virtual classrooms and provide individual written feedback to student writing. Student creations can be shared publicly or just with their classmates. Teachers can change prompts or upload their own photos."

"Innovation… Versatility… Performance… What teacher doesn't want to provide the best technology has to offer for students? But with a plethora of choices, sometimes it's overwhelming trying to determine what device best suits the needs of all learners. So, what should educators choose-the power of a laptop or the compact, lightweight portability of a tablet? Well, it's no longer necessary to settle for one option when the best of both worlds are at your fingertips. Yep, it's true. With the latest and greatest technologies currently available on the market, students now have access to the functionality of a laptop while also having the capability of completing captivating assignments and/or creating meaningful content via a tablet. And better yet: The instruction and learning goals can dictate the type of device being used as opposed to the reverse, which typically occurs in classrooms today. Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? In case you haven't figured it out by now, I'm referring to a super cool technology known as the 2-in-1. Whether your students need to generate a document or spreadsheet, transfer files, read an e-book, capture photos or create media, this hybrid does it all with just one simple twist, click or flip. Not only is this option flexible and convenient, but cost-effective as well because schools no longer need to provide students with more than one device to achieve desired outcomes. It's really all that-and much more!"

"Abstract Universal Design for Learning is a framework for the design of materials and instructional methods that are usable by a wide range of students. One aim of UDL is to provide full access to students with special needs, but it offers significant affordances for all students, allowing them to benefit from learning presented through multiple sensory avenues and a variety of conceptual frameworks. Early research about the influence of UDL is positive, showing that it improves engagement and performance among all students. The 7 Things You Should Know About... series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues."

"At first, I have to admit I was not the greatest fan of the iPad. Aside from its obvious advantages, like the battery life and the time gained from not having to get the class to 'log on', it seemed like an expensive gimmick. However, after experimenting with iMovie, I began to see some of its potential and I was hooked. I soon found that many of the content-free apps, such as iMovie, Keynote and PuppetPals provided me with a medium through which I could teach in an inspiring and innovative way. Three years on, the school now has one iPad between two children and the opportunities to use the technology in a creative way have multiplied. The iPad is a valuable and powerful resource which has changed my approach to teaching and learning. My lessons are now more dynamic, with greater opportunities for the children to make decisions and choices for themselves. The pupils are often scattered around the school working in small groups to develop creative ways to record, present, evaluate and explain. My role as a teacher has also changed as I have become a facilitator and guide, providing quality control and advice. I have been able to introduce longer integrated projects combining different subjects and skills where the iPad is a key tool in the process. The iPad has been invaluable in enabling me to make the curriculum change I wanted. I can now say the skills of curiosity, collaboration, critical thinking, reflectiveness and creativity are being practised on a daily basis through this technology. However, it is the ease with which you can create on the iPad that has had the most impact in my classroom. The controls are so intuitive that very little time, if any once an app has been introduced, is spent teaching the children how to use the technology. This means that tasks that would have seemed too complicated or time consuming in the past are now possible."

"Instructables supports teachers by providing free pro memberships and awesome project ideas for your classroom. We provide plug and play hands-on projects to let you supplement your curriculum with the best projects that other teachers have to offer. You don’t need to be a traditional classroom teacher to participate, either. If you are an after-school teacher, a scouting leader, a librarian who runs programs, or anyone whose job is explicitly educational, you are invited to participate."

"I'm a fan of the writing workshop. That means I also write with my students, and I allow plenty of time for students to conference with me and with each other. I also provide models of what good writing looks like -- and lots of them. Here's what the classroom writing process looks like: Brainstorming (Think About It) Drafting (Getting It Down) Revising (Making It Better) Editing (Making It Right) Publishing (Sharing It!) At the beginning of the writing process, I have had students write silently. For it to be successful, in my experience, students need plenty of topics handy (self-generated, or a list of topics, questions, and prompts provided). Silent writing is a wonderful, focused activity for the brainstorming and drafting stage of the writing process. I also think it's important that the teacher write during this time, as well (model, model, model). However, when it comes to revising, and later, editing, I think peer interaction is necessary. Students need to, for example, "rehearse" words, phrases, introductions, and thesis statements with each other during the revision stage."

"In the last three posts I have been providing  ideas and reflection regarding the use of the internet in the classroom. You can explore these posts in the links that follow this paragraph. As promised I have ten more digital citizenship resources to add to the ten that were included in the last post. I do hope you find these links beneficial for student of all ages. If the facilitation of digital citizenship is not part of your district or schools curriculum… now is the time to include it. It really is a great way to assist students as they discover the wealth of learning experiences available on the worldwide web.   Enjoy exploring and sharing all of the resources, and come back for the next post providing even more! Also, feel free to explore the past three posts of this series in the immediate links below. "