Group items tagged

"How many times have you wondered about a better way to teach the same lesson you have delivered to an eariler class? How often have you used technology to engage your students and improve their learning ? These are some recurring questions we keep regurgitating each time our teaching skills are put to the test."

10 technology/technical skills all students should have before graduating.

"Visible Thinking is a flexible and systematic research-based approach to integrating the development of students' thinking with content learning across subject matters. An extensive and adaptable collection of practices, Visible Thinking has a double goal: on the one hand, to cultivate students' thinking skills and dispositions, and, on the other, to deepen content learning. By thinking dispositions, we mean curiosity, concern for truth and understanding, a creative mindset, not just being skilled but also alert to thinking and learning opportunities and eager to take them"

"When using Bloom's Digital Taxonomy (a revised take on Bloom's devised by educator Andrew Churches), it helps to have a list of verbs to know what actions define each stage of the taxonomy. This is useful for lesson planning, rubric making, and any other teacher-oriented task requiring planning and assessment strategies. The Bloom's Digital Taxonomy verbs in this handy infographic apply specifically to each stage of the taxonomy. They progress from LOTS (lower-order thinking skills) to the HOTS (higher-order thinking skills)."

Technology skills that all educators should have...

These are computational skills all of our students should have before they graduate.

The Buck Institute is a national leader in Project-Based Learning. There are a number of great rubrics on the website that assess 21st Century Skills (collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving, and citizenship). As we look for projects to assess students' 21st Century Skills, this resource is a one-stop-shop for those rubrics.

21Things4Teachers helps educators make connections between technology tools and best practice instructional strategies. It provides a chance for you to collaborate with fellow teachers in a cohort or as an individual to learn more about 21st century technology skills in a non-threatening environment with a highly skilled instructor.

"Braingenie builds deep mastery and sharpens problem-solving skills. Learn, practice, and quiz yourself on 5,000+ skills. Compete in real-time multiplayer matches. Win badges and go for a top spot on the leaderboard."

It is amazing how technology has changed the whole world giving rise to new forms of education we never thought of. Our students are more digitally focused than any time before. They spend more time interacting with their mobile devices than they do with their parents or close relatives.

"21st century skills are an important consideration for every educator as we are striving to prepare today's students to become prepared for the competitive global market of tomorrow. This website seeks to provide a resource that allows educators an opportunity to easily navigate educationally relevant Web 2.0 tools, resources, and examples of standards alignment."

"The Trading Card tool gives students an alternative way to demonstrate their literacy knowledge and skill when writing about popular culture texts or real world examples. This interactive allows students to create their own trading card about a real or fictional person, place, object, event, or abstract concept."

Whether for business, education or individual use, Knovio adds your personality and improves the effectiveness of any presentation. Create: bring "flat" PowerPoint® slides to life with your webcam, microphone Edit: make changes, without the need for video editing software or skills Share: publish instantly to private spaces or your social networks"

"Students created a professional development resource relating to a technology tool of their choosing. Alternatively, students could also create a professional development resource that uses multiple tools to address a specific skill covered in the course. The product was organized so the various tools worked together toward a common goal rather than be just a collection of tools."

Browse our free collection of news articles, poems, short stories, and historical documents for grades 5-12. Assign text-dependent questions to hold students accountable for high-level reading and writing. Analyze student performance and compare class reports on key reading and writing skills."

Toontastic 3D is a playful storytelling app that scaffolds the creative writing process and empowers kids to create their own animated cartoons. While Toontastic was not specifically designed for schools, we have heard from a lot of educators over the years that they love how the app sparks their students' imaginations and uses the Story Arc to help frame their writing. Their students use the app for creating everything from book reports to news broadcasts and foreign language skills.

"If solving story problems brings back grade school anxiety, you are certainly not alone. Many students struggle with word problems. Such problems are more challenging because they require skills higher on Bloom's Taxonomy, including evaluating, analyzing, and creating. We may feel comfortable (relatively speaking) with math when simply given an expression to evaluate, but it can be quite a bit more difficult to decide what is important, determine relationships, see what is missing, and construct a plan to solve a problem. A while back I did a blog post on "Highlight Tool", an add-on for Google Docs that allows you to assign meaning to colors with which you can highlight text in your document. In that example I primarily applied the tool to language arts situations." This is not just limited to mathematics. Have students use the Highlighter during active reading time in all courses.

An alternative to PowerPoint with one-of-a-kind animation effects. PowToon will create the world's most minimalist, user friendly and intuitive presentation software that allows someone with no technical or design skills to create engaging professional "look and feel" animated presentations.

"Last year my students designed infographics for the first time. I enjoyed the process and the products. It was a fun strategy to teach my students crucial research skills while encouraging them to think creatively about how to visually communicate information. This year I was literally blown away by the work my students did on their infographics. I wanted to share my process and examples of student work to help support other teachers."