Group items tagged

"Users of the popular social media app TikTok have been using the hashtag #BookTok to share their book recommendations, especially in young adult literature. The videos are short clips and often use comparisons, genres, or feelings to appeal to users. Publishers began to notice that TikTok was actually driving sales and decided to jump on the bandwagon, as well. So how can BookToks help you? This post has three ways you can use them with students:"

"What is a MakerSpace?  Makers build, fix, and create.  They are students, teachers, tinkerers, cooks, technology buffs, architects, crafters, performers, hobbyists, builders, artists, engineers, scientists, and writers.  They use the MakerSpace to solve real life problems with access to tools and materials.  A MakerSpace is not confined to a school setting but can also be a community space like a public library where community members of all ages, means, and abilities can design, prototype, and create original works."

"Where should you start to build a makerspace? Here at EdSurge, we've rolled up our sleeves, put on our protective goggles, and built a Maker Guide from scratch, just for you.  There are ideas here from the educators and entrepreneurs who think making 24/7, including what is involved with project-based learning and making in the classroom and tried-and-true lessons from the field on starting your makerspace. If you are making on a budget, there ideas for stocking your space with resources from your arts and crafts closet, plus inspiration from educators working to bring makerspaces to low-income and all-girls classrooms."

A how-to about creating digital blackout poems. "These can help struggling readers focus on the MOST important words in the poem to find the main idea/theme of the poem in a fun and artful way:" There is an example of how to use You Doodle as well as a non-technology option.

An interesting infographc explaining how the search engine Google pulls information from the web. It is reasonable simple and would be a useful resource to use when trying to explain the process to students.

"This is an editing and grammar checking tool. It checks dozens of areas including:Passive verbs; Overused phrases; Vague phrasing; Cliches; Punctuation; Hyphens. It also checks for plagiarism and is great for teaching students about plagiarism, how to avoid it and how easily it's detected nowadays. In addition to correcting grammatical errors, it also provides tips and explanations for students to improve their writing."

"We all know we need to teach students how to behave appropriately on the internet, avoid scams, be safe and how to be digitally literate. Digital citizenship should be part of every classrooms curriculum, not just the responsibility of a tech class. Common Sense Media has a wealth of resources and lesson plans for teachers on digital citizenship. The presentation in this post is a crowd sourced document of one liners of digital citizenship that can be used in faculty meetings, with students or professional development workshops. You canAdd your own digital citizenship one liners @ http://goo.gl/7mSvhK"

A good post for anyone wanting to start a YA book club in their school. There are lots of ideas and links to other great sites that offer tips and strategies, starting from the very basic: how you might recruit members, how to structure a meeting, choosing books, and holding discussions.

"Managing your digital identity is a skill that everyone needs to learn and educators should be teaching their students about. In a digitally focused world students may not understand the implications of what is shared via social media. Teachers need to be fully aware and proactive and start teaching students about the effects of their on-line activity and how to manage their own digital footprints."

The SAMR model was developed by as a framework to integrate technology into the curriculum. I believe it can also serve as a model to establish and assess if and how technology is being used to reinforce an old, often archaic Education 1.0 or being used to promote and facilitate what many are calling 21st century skills, i.e., creativity, innovation, problem-solving, critical thinking; those skills characteristic of Education 3.0. Many look at SAMR as the stages of technology integration. I propose that it should be a model for educators to focus on Modification and Redefinition areas of technology integration.

Google Slides have made the process of creating an eBook so much easier than doing it using Google Docs. Google Slides allows you to manipulate and edit images in ways that you cannot in Google Docs. With Slides, you can add backgrounds, borders, and layer text boxes, graphics, and shapes. If you have ever been frustrated with trying to get an image in the exact spot you want in Google Docs, you may want to try it in Google Slides. Since you can easily convert your slides to PDF, the most universally accepted file format, your eBook can be read on practically any device.

Reading Australia has been developed by the Copyright Agency and aims to make significant Australian literary works more readily available for teaching in schools and universities. These works are supplemented with online teacher resources and essays by popular authors about the enduring relevance of the works. There is a list of titles (download as a PDF). These titles have been selected by the Australian Society of Authors' (ASA) Council. They were asked to select works they thought students and others should encounter, to give a view of Australia's rich cultural identity: works that would tell Australia's history and also how we are currently developing as a nation. The ASA Council are adamant that this list should be merely the beginning, and it should be built upon with other works that have already been published, as well as the great new works that continue to be published in Australia. There is a wide range of teacher resources available (PDF) for Primary and Secondary school teachers and all of these teacher resources include classroom activities, assessments and links to the Australian Curriculum. In addition, many of the Secondary resources include an introductory essay on the text written by high profile writers. The Primary level resources have been commissioned by the Primary English Teaching Association of Australia and the Australian Literacy Educators' Association, and the resources for Secondary level have been jointly commissioned by the Australian Association for the Teaching of English and the English Teachers Association NSW."

"At Elizabeth Forward High School, the 2015 Pittsburgh FAB Institute was held June 15 - 18, 2015. Sponsored by the Grable Foundation, the 2015 Pittsburgh FAB Institute provided a rich professional development to 75 teachers across the country focusing on digital fabrication. These educators ranged from beginners to experts, elementary, middle and high school teachers, educators from museums, college professors and school administrators and these educators were interested in what aFABLab looks like in schools."

"Teacher-librarians employ their unique expertise as they walk students through the learning library and demonstrate how to navigate databases and locate resources. They also sharpen research skills by helping students understand the validity of information and evaluate it by recognizing bias and persuasion in various sources. If teachers are open to it, the teacher-librarian can become a valuable support for teacher practice and student academic growth."

"How can we, as parents, educators and leaders, prepare our children for the digital age? Without a doubt, it is critical for us to equip them with digital intelligence. The digital world is a vast expanse of learning and entertainment. But it is in this digital world that kids are also exposed to many risks, such as cyberbullying, technology addiction, obscene and violent content, radicalization, scams and data theft. The problem lies in the fast and ever evolving nature of the digital world, where proper internet governance and policies for child protection are slow to catch up, rendering them ineffective. 8 skills suggestions and a great infographic to visually set out different area."

Article about how to get information about your book/s out to the most people. The new ways - use digital services. Useful for us to get students to review books - make it for a wider audience than just their teacher.

I liked this for the Lego Creation Stationhowever there are more ideas here. "At this station, I have pre packaged 4 different ziplock bags of 100 legos each.  Students will choose the lego bag, and take a planning sheet.  Students are asked to draw and write about what they are planning to create.  (The boys in my class are crazy about lego so I thought this would be a great motivator for them.)  Students then will build their creation using their blueprint.  When they are finished, they will take a picture of their creation, add it to the class book that I have created on the Book Creator App and write a summary of their creation and how it compared to what they had originally planned."

This article offers advice to anyone working with young people children (Tween) who are interested in books, or if you want to help them discover the world of literature. "A children's book club is a great way for your child to make friends and socialize outside of school." These tips here can help you get started and although directed at the younger end of the spectrum (primary) school, many can be adapted for use with secondary school students.

Online-Research-Methods. Infographic. It offers a range of research platforms to use with students. Instead of just using Google and Wikipedia, students can try out some other specific search engines to look for specific information. The infographic could also be used to assist in teaching students about how to evaluate websites and assess the credibility of web content.

Some interesting ideas and the questions in the last part of the blog got me thinking. "How do you include student voice in your library program? Does your library space reflect student voice? Are your lessons designed to celebrate student voice? We need to relax our adult expectations and be flexible enough to allow our students to shine"