High Expectations

Having high expectations is crucial in educational technology.  Expect capitals, periods and proper justification. When you teach them that this is the WAY to do it, you leave no room to fall into bad habits.  This is first grade assignment with split screen and research also. 

Alpha Quick and Google Sheets -2nd Grade

I love today's lesson.  My 2nd graders are practicing keyboarding skills on #AlphaQuick.    Next they are to record their names and progress in #googlesheets.

Why do I love this? I'm hearing conversations about two tabs, getting back to mrsssanders.com (our web).  I'm hearing excitement about #google saving automatically if they accidentally navigate away from the site they intended.  They are learning how to track progress in a sheet.  Also, seeing intrinsic motivation of seeing their own scores improving!

Kinders

Here I am collaborating with our Kindergarten teacher Mrs. VanPolen as her students created a timeline with photos in class. A common core objective is learning about the past, present, and future.  Here the kids are labeling their photos!

Kahoot!

These kids are loving practicing fractions with Kahoot! I've never seen them this engaged with math!

Have you ever used Kahoot?  As a teacher you go to getkahoot.com and either search for an already made quiz or start your own.  The most important thing I've learned about using a premade quiz is to made a copy and EDIT!  I realized that I am super picky about the usage of proper punctuation and capitalization in a teacher modeled event.  If I'm administering this quiz, I'd like it to be properly done.  The solution is to make a copy and tailor it to yourself.





- Stacy

GeoguessR Fun

The students today are using a site made by Google using Google Maps called Geoguessr.

There are different maps the students can choose from including famous places.  We had a fun and educational time making educated guesses based on what we've learned from our Social Studies unit.

https://geoguessr.com/#more-maps

Advanced iPads

At our latest school professional development day I gave a presentation on Advanced iPads.  I had a fun time putting it together and I have to admit, even as an avid iPad user I learned some things.  During the class I was surprised at how many staff wasn't using AirDrop or AirServer.  Take a look at the slideshow below and you might learn something too.

Slideshow to iPad 201

Screenshots taken from the best blogs such as Google, Apple, Kathy Schrock.

Breakout Edu

What do you get when you mix technology, critical thinking and gamification? #breakoutedu!!  Breakout is a critical thinking game that locks (mentally) students into a room, where they have to work together and solve puzzles to breakout.  The topics are many.  Being a technology teacher myself this type of learning fits perfectly in my lab.  An online Facebook community of super creative teachers have been publishing these breakout games in drones! I started by using one created by Patti Harju and it was just for fun for our Halloween celebration.  The students were using technology, think QR codes, online puzzles, Webquests and Magic Forms.   You set out the clues, you give your safety guidelines (make sure to include no prying open the box), you set the timer, and you watch collaborative critical thinking insue! I'm hooked!