FPS Integrating Technology into Your Classroom

"Cross-curricular and critical thinking are rather different educational concepts. But when they work together, they can truly help reshape teaching practice."

Formative assessment is an essential part of teaching because it helps guide instruction. Checking for understanding of important concepts helps the teacher decide to move on or to continue instruction to ensure that crucial information is not lacking. Because it does inform instruction, formative assessment should be incorporated on a regular, if not daily, basis.

"Each question in an OpenEd assessment has an instructional resource attached to it that is hand-picked to target that exact learning objective. Students take quizzes, then play videos/games to address knowledge gaps whenever they miss a question!" Here is a quick video on how to tie your Google Classroom to an OpenEd assessment: https://youtu.be/3BCUTuHDKzo

Classkick is a free app that students work on and get help instantly from their teacher and peers. Students work on assignments with their Chromebooks, laptops, or iPads, while getting help from teachers and peers instantly. ... Best of all, students can help each other anonymously.

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.

"Recap provides teachers with new, creative ways to gather evidence of student thinking using video. It helps create new learning connections between students, parents and teachers, and foster more transformative dialogue by everyone."

"The New Google Sites now delivers the simplest way to show Google Drive files in context on the web. Every page is now an easy-to-read single column of content. Every page works well on a desktop, tablet, or phone. And the elements of every site work together, thanks to themes, fonts, and color choices that help you create a coherent design."

Pixiclip is an online canvas that lets you communicate using a webcam or a mic. Just click record and you're ready to go. Pixiclip is your message in motion!

I have found that many traditional methods of classroom management readily translate to a technologically rich curriculum - with some modification. Great article on making the most of your classroom layout with student devices.

FactCheck.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.

FlackCheck.org is the political literacy companion site to the award-winning FactCheck.org. The site provides resources designed to help viewers recognize flaws in arguments in general and political ads in particular. Video resources point out deception and incivility in political rhetoric.

"What any web-enabled device allows us to do in the classroom is build upon the convergence of powerful hardware and dynamic teaching. Teachers need to begin seeing the new tools as supplements to what they're already doing really well."

"By leveraging the instructional potential of web-based resources, you can increase student engagement, expose them to authentic content, and engage them in collaborative activities that trigger critical thinking and creativity."

"Good teaching is the result of the conscious engagement between the teacher and the students, in an environment fostering inquiry, discovery, and creation. Good teaching is what makes digital age environments meaningful to students. Good pedagogy is the key to learning, regardless of the tool."

"The opening minutes are also the time when students' brains are their freshest and they tend to remember more of what's been taught during this period than any other time of the learning episode. In addition, student motivation can increase if they realize that the concept being taught today connects to their lives and has value."

"Since we were already on Google Classroom, I suggested that we try the new question tool. Here are some of the types of discussions that my students and I will have this year. "

"As video becomes a growing part of our everyday lives, it's natural to see it being used in the classroom now more than ever."

"We want to prepare our students to lead productive and successful lives once they leave us and enter into the realm of adulthood. But what lies ahead for our students in the future? Did educators of twenty years ago know that so much of our world would be based on computers and technology now? Could they have known what skills would be needed in the job market today? Unlikely, but yet they had to do their best to prepare their students for this world anyhow."

"Note-taking and summarizing are important learning activities that everyone needs to master. But your students don't need to do it individually to maximize learning. Our brains don't actually work that way. You might be surprised at the assessment results when students collaborate and share the note-taking tasks. "

"The beauty of Drop It To Me is that you can easily receive files from students, colleagues, parents, or the public. The sender does not need an account, email address, or app. You give them the link to your Drop It To Me web page. After inputting the page's password, they are provided with an upload button. Any file type can be submitted, and that file is sent right into a dropititme folder in your Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive. "