In the 12th mini-episode, I talk to technology integration specialist and middle school teacher Mike Feldman about strategies–including gamification–that he used as a tech coach to motivate teachers to try new technologies in the classroom. Mike also talks about his passion for using a wood lathe to craft pens and how it benefits students when they see their teachers as makers.
In the 20th regular episode of Season 2, I am joined by Dr. Sarah Thomas, ISTE co-author and founder of EduMatch, to talk about growing your professional learning network (PLN), crowd-sourcing solutions to problems, and using tools like Voxer, Periscope, Twitter, Skype, and Flipgrid.
In the 11th mini-episode, I’m sharing a discussion that I had with Special Education Consultant David Allan at the KySTE Conference in March. David shares some of the accessibility features available on Chromebooks. Also, I share a special announcement before the interview.
In the 19th regular episode of Season 2, I am sharing an episode with Catlin Tucker, author of Balance With Blended Learning, where we talk about how teachers can streamline feedback during class time so that they have less to do outside of class time. Catlin shares strategies from John Hattie and Mark Barnes as well as a handful of great tech tips to make feedback more efficient!
Today’s mini-episode was actually recorded back in early January before most people were aware of the coronavirus and well before the possibility of extended school closures came to those of us in the states. Ironically, I think that the strategies that Dan shared back in January could be incredibly useful in #RemoteLearning. If you are giving any feedback to students during remote learning, especially if it pertains to writing, please listen to this one!
In the 10th mini-episode, I’m sharing a conversation with Technology Integration Coach Dan Stitzel about the success that he had as a middle school language arts teacher with using Screencastify to give students feedback during the writing process.
As a father, I know how losing that face-to-face connection with teachers and classmates is effecting kiddos. I also know how much my own children have enjoyed Google Meets, Zooms, Facebook Lives, and Flipgrids with their teachers and classmates. So, when I heard about some of the fun things that Laura Lavery has been doing for her students, I knew that I wanted to share them! Here’s a guest post from Laura . . .
Laura is a Middle School Teacher in Tennessee who enjoys creating a classroom environment for her students that produces a high-level of student engagement through the implementation of technology.
1. Creating a special theme for Zoom sessions
This is a way to spark student interest and make remote learning fun for all. For example, I hosted a virtual vocabulary egg hunt on Zoom. I created a Google Drawing and imported eggs with Spanish vocabulary on them. While we were on Zoom, I projected the Google Drawing and students had to translate the eggs.
Another successful Zoom session was our “Paw Party.” Students were encouraged to bring their furry friend and/or stuffed animal to Zoom. Everyone had a great time as it continued to build our online classroom community and have fun. The dogs and cats were literally all over the screens. I noticed a lot of smiles during this session in particular.
In the 18th full episode of Season 2, I share tips, ideas, and recommendations from multiple educators about supporting students with special needs during remote learning. We discuss different accessibility features and assistive technologies within Chromebooks, iPads, Google Chrome, Microsoft and more, as well as some best practices, accommodations, and modifications.
Thanks to my friends who shared: David Allan, Catherine Day, Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles, Angela Greene, Lauren Hawkins, Pam Hubler, Matt Meyer, Jennifer Pearson
Wow. March 2020 has been quite a month. And buckle up, folks, because it looks like April is going to be more of the same.
For many educators, that means screencasts of lessons, assignments in learning management systems, and lots of time on Zoom or Google Meet.
But what about Formative Assessment? If we’re going to teach new content during these extended school closures caused by the coronavirus and COVID-19 (I’m not sure if we should, but that’s another post) then we need to know if students are comprehending that new content!
If awesome features of Quizizz was a topic on Family Feud, I’m pretty confident that the memes would make it up onto the board.
But I’m definitely confident that your students would love it if they were working on a Quizizz set as part of their #RemoteLearning (or whatever you prefer to call it) and were surprised with the sight of their teacher in the memes. Their teacher! The same teacher that they’ve been missing for the last few weeks since they were last at school. The very same teacher that they’re bummed to not get to see any time in April (and possibly longer). Whether they admit it or not, it’s a little extra touch that your students would really get a kick out of.
So, when Allison Curry suggested it in Episode 39B of the Educational Duct Tape Podcast, I fell in love with the idea. But the best part of this idea is how easy it is to pull this off! Check it out in the #EduGIF below (and the step-by-step instructions under the GIF).
In the 3rd and final part of Episode 17 of Season 2, Jake continues his coverage of edtech ideas and suggestions for Remote or Home Learning during the covid-19 pandemic closures. In this episode, Jake shares the perspectives of 3 educators (plus his own) for tracking students’ progress during remote learning.