CALL_IS_VSL

"An Online Drawing Tool That Makes Everyone an Artist AutoDraw.com" t/h to Nick LaFave. AutoDraw turns sketches into more professional looking cartoons. By Google Creativity. Use to illustrate ideas about readings, or one's own storyline.

"Interest in feedback has spread widely since the publication of Hattie and Timperley's influential 'The Power of Feedback', which argued that 'feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement' (Hattie & Timperley, 2007: 81). Peer feedback, in particular, has generated much optimism in the general educational literature as a formative practice (Double et al., 2019)...." Excellent article on online peer feedback.

Nice video explaining how you can collaborate online with a large number of people or a team. 3 free whiteboards with free subscription.

"Google Docs Templates Sharing templates through Google Drive is a great time saver for teachers. You could share a "view only" version of your file and require students to go to File>Make a Copy. Unfortunately, this often results in your inbox overflowing with requests for edit access. A Better Solution Use this simple trick to share Google Docs Templates. It works for essentially any G Suite file (Docs, Drawings, Sheets, Slides)."

"Thinglink's interactive image generator is perfect for enhancing illustrations and diagrams, making interactive infographics and posters, and creating scenes for digital breakout activities. Creating interactive images has never been easier. Just upload an image, and with a few clicks, you can add text, image overlays, video, links, or even vocal narration. Even sharing these interactive images is a snap: just copy and paste a link, or embed your interactive image practically anywhere." You never learn anything. etter than when teaching it to others. Interactive images is a great way to develop vocabulary and content mastery.

"Bitmoji Classrooms are really catching on as teachers try to have fun and increase engagement by designing their virtual environments. In the simplest form, a Bitmoji classroom is just a Google Slide with hyperlinked images and objects that link out to class information and resources. Check out the Pinterest collection at the bottom of this page to see some of the creative ways teachers are using their Bitmoji Classrooms." Based on Google Slides. This site has a link to slide you can start using immediately. T/h N. LaFave.

Activities to develop a story.

"Many students (and teachers) will begin the calendar year with a goal-setting activity. They will take time to reflect in class on what they hope to achieve in the twelve months that follow. They will, for the most part, set achievement goals linked to their academic life, the sort of goals that are achieved through diligent application to classroom learning. They will decide that the way to accomplish these goals is through a commitment to hard work, maintaining focus on the task of learning and effectively managing their time. They will evaluate their success through increases in their assessment results and the hopefully positive feedback that they receive from their teachers. "In but a few weeks, if not days, these goals will have been forgotten. It is not that the students have lost motivation or have abandoned their hopes for a successful year. It is that the goals set in this way, this structured and forced manner, do not connect with what truly matters to the individuals who set them. "

"Reading Should Be Enjoyable, Not a Chore "Ask nearly any parent or student what they think of reading logs, and I'm certain you won't hear words like "inspiring, motivating." The Atlantic did a great job addressing this outdated and ineffective approach to building lifelong learners in "Can Reading Logs Ruin Reading for Kids?". " T/h N.LaFave

"Rich classroom experiences in complex questions, problems, or challenges that promote deep learning." Makerspaces -- ideas for projects and creations by actual students and classes.

"Google Slides is too powerful to limit its use to boring presentations. Create engaging learning experiences while promoting critical thinking and creativity with these seven Google Slides templates you can use in virtually any classroom. The sharing settings for all of these templates are set up so that users can create an editable copy by clicking "Make a Copy," or "Use Template."" T/h N.LaFavre Google Slides Templates include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, et al. Students can use a variety of approaches from their favorite media, as suggested in Nick's article.

"From scavenger hunts, to a QR Code Jenga set, teachers have countless options for using QR codes in the classroom. But creating multiple QR codes at one time can be a time-consuming hassle. The next time you need to create multiple QR codes, check out QRExplore.com's Bulk QR Code Generator. "Just enter (or copy and paste) text or URLs, then generate multiple QR codes with one click. It's really that simple. You are then given the option of right clicking on a QR code to download it, or you can download all of your QR codes in one .zip file. The .zip file contains each QR code image as a separate file. It also contains a .csv file that lists the File Name and Data (url or text) that the QR code represents." T/h Nick LaVave Also shows how to customize the names of your QR link.

"Series Content Conversations: Strategies for ELLs: Using Technology to Boost Confidence" - Video page includes questions for discussion and teacher conversations on the topic.

"Google Docs in the Classroom" Lesson objective is to write collaboratively using Google Docs. Video page includes discussion questions and teacher comments.

"Series Five Essential Practices for the Teaching of ELLs - Elementary : Using Technology to Collect Classroom Data" - Video page includes discussion questions and teacher comments. Lesson objective is to collect and analyze formative assessment data.

"A week or so ago, someone in the Macmillan marketing department took it upon themselves to send out this tweet. What grabbed my attention was the claim that it is 'a well-known fact' that teaching students a growth mindset makes them perform better academically over time. The easily demonstrable reality (which I'll come on to) is that this is not a fact. It's fake news, being used for marketing purposes. " The article looks at several research projects -- pro and con -- to come to this conclusion. A good read for those sceptical of simplistic, but vague, solutions to the broad, complex problem of school success.

"Save content from everywhere. "Save articles, videos and stories from any publication, page or app. Curate your own space filled with everything you can't wait to learn." An online file cabinet, but doesn't seem to have a file organization system. Potentially a good tool for cloud bookmarking.

Wallpapers and Screen Savers with 50+ free photos to start. Photos are very high quality. Browse the collection and hit a button to send to personalize your computer.

Images to use when illustrating books, magazines, poetry, etc. Inspire!

Explains how innocuous-looking agreements to accept cookies lead to the revelatiion and storing of personal data. We are asking our students to use platforms that build a profile and ad-track them -- without their really being aware or giving informed consent. What is the solution?