|
Well, this year has certainly not gone as expected. Unless something drastic happens, this is the last TechTuesday for the year. Things will continue to change at a dizzying rate, our new normal will somehow emerge, but...we can all catch up on that after a pause to catch our breaths. I usually have a long list of PD things that I will be attending this summer. I may or may not do a few virtually, but face to face, hands-on PD is what I actually find most useful, so my gardens will get more attention. Ideas to ShareInteractive Google SlidesThere has been so many posts, tweets, etc on using bitmojis, etc that it seems that everyone must have way more time to play around with slides, etc. than I have. I saw this video the other day and it looks interesting, but, honestly, I have not tried it. Maybe this summer. The one way I have tried to make slides interactive is using Pear Deck, which I can recommend. This video has lots of other ideas to try. One thing to keep in mind, however, is EF. If your students struggle with executive function, how many steps are involved in the actions on the slides? Is this helping or discouraging those kids? I was talking with a friend who teaches special ed classes and wondering how we could streamline what we do even more and she brought this to my attention. As we try to consolidate info, we need to be sure that it is accessible by all. GC CleanUp
Google TakeOut
Chromebook Videos
NetsBlox NetsBlox was shared in one of the online groups I follow as a way for kids to collaborate online to code games. It looks like a pretty well developed program, based on SNAP, with lots of options and levels. My real caveat is the same as any online collaborative site- who are the kids talking with and how is it monitored? I know the folks at Scratch and have faith that there are real people monitoring the site. Other sites- teach your kids, your students to be wary. Here's the NetsBlox info: "NetsBlox is a visual programming language and cloud-based environment that enables novice programmers to create networked programs such as multi-player games. Its visual notation is based on Scratch and it uses the open source JavaScript code base of Snap! NetsBlox opens up the internet with its vast array of public domain scientific and other data sources making it possible to create STEM projects, such as displaying seismic activity anywhere on Earth using an interactive Google Maps background. Similarly, weather, air pollution, and many other data sources such as the Open Movie Database and the Sloan Digital Sky Server are available. NetsBlox also supports collaborative editing similar to Google Docs" Virtual PD
 Steve Hargadon has pulled together a daily edu conference- for the next couple of months! This is an historic and unique event. Sessions are being held daily over the course of two months, all free to attend live. You simply sign up to access the schedule. All sessions are recorded. https://learningrevolution.com/ This morning I saw the email come through about the national parks session... which I cannot attend, but have added to my watch later list. Check out some of the other things for the week, and sign up to get access- every day for a couple months- and they are recorded.  
0 Comments
New Podcast for the New Normal
Tom Daccord, founder of EdTechTeacher, has a new podcast series which you may find useful as we move forward into unknown educational territory, "Schooling, Accelerations & Innovation". He speaks to the challenges of the new normal. I liked his first foray and look forward to more.
In episode one, Tom tackles both the challenges and opportunity presented by our new learning environment: "While the threat of coronavirus looms, students are stuck at home and educators are left rethinking the role of technology in teaching and learning. A silver lining of this global pandemic is the huge opportunity it provides to rethink the student learning process. Yet, teachers can’t be expected to change without a galvanizing vision of what beneficial change actually looks like. Right now, we need leadership in formulating tech-infused and student-centric learning environments." Listen on Anchor, Spotify and all major podcasting outlets. Books for STEAM/STEM
I've mentioned this site before- Heyworth Elementary Leap Labs Books and Mentor Texts. They have an excellent collection for reading to kids, or as jumping off points for STEM projects and more.
I wanted to add a couple of other sites to also check-STEM Read and STEM Storytime FlipGrid STEM Read is offering read alouds with some lesson plan ideas. "During social distancing and school closures, STEM Read is releasing Canned Goods: non-perishable e-learning activities teachers can drop into lessons and parents can use to keep kids engaged. Look for the Canned Goods posts to find quick, fun, stemtastic activities that adhere to state standards. As always, you can find more ideas in our other posts and full lesson plans and videos on our Book and Educator pages. " 
STEM STORYTIME FLIPGRID This is a great idea. So far there are 41 topics. Some have a ton of student videos, others only a few. You can steal these ideas and make up your own Stem Storytime or if you're comfortable with your students adding to these, go for it. You could even combine some of the ideas from LEAP lab, and STEM Read to make up your own STEM Storytime FlipGrid.
New from Prezi
This is from a recent email from Prezi CEO, Péter Árvai
Prezi Video - Unlike screen-sharing apps that toggle between you and your content, this video maker shows you alongside your graphics in real time (like a TV newscaster), so you don’t lose your face-to-face connection. Use it live with your video conference app of choice or record to share later with a simple link. Prezi Design - Our new design tool helps you create interactive infographics, social media posts, charts, maps, and reports that add meaning to your message when you can’t be there to explain it in person. Realizing it would be useful to you now, we’ve released it ahead of its scheduled launch date.
Greg Kulowiec shares a short video to point out some of the new features of Google Earth. "Google Earth allows educators and students to create projects that can be shared with anyone on the web. Educators can use this tool to create custom global tours in Google Earth that point students to specific locations around the world." Upcoming PDPECS AT Conference
This virtual conference is happening tomorrow!- May 20th.
PECS-AT Conference 2020 Join us May 20, 2020 for our Virtual Event! With funding support provided by the New Hampshire Department of Education, Inclusive Technology Solutions is proud to announce this exciting day long virtual event. The event runs from 10:00am – 3:00pm eastern. This event brings together New Hampshire based practitioners and organizations; national AT presenters and vendors. The day is comprised of 25 minute Assistive Technology presentations; 25 minute Edcamp-style conversations; and, 25 minute vendor presentations. Over 40 sessions will be available throughout the day and the best part of all – the event is FREE! To register for the event and explore the on-line schedule, visit bit.ly/atexpo520
Fun PD from Lesson Pix
Coming up Wednesday and Thursday. Learn to leverage Lesson Pix for all your students. Streaming on YouTube and FB. Check it out.
New England ISTE is offering a free webinar this Thursday to learn how to use Equatio- for digital math. Register here.
Science is Cool- Virtual Unconference
This unconference is happening this Friday- May 22, from 12-8pm. It is kind of vendor driven, but interesting nonetheless. http://www.scic-conference.com/
KEYNOTE EVENT NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON HOSTS A LIVE STARTALK: COSMIC QUERIES PODCAST
Edgenuity via NYSCATE (free to join) is offering a free SEL workshop on June 17th. Learning how to support students, staff, and families through social-emotional learning (SEL). Take a deeper look at the impact on mental health, learning and teaching, and how SEL frameworks can support and engage all stakeholders back to a healthy learning environment."Click here for more info.
Recorded webinars for STEM
Eduporium recently sent out an email with lists of STEM webinars to check out. I have checked out the Hummingbird ones, as well as some of the MakeyMakey webinars. Worth the time. 
Learning from Home- Book Creator Webinars
This is an excellent series of webinars from Dr. Monica Burns to get you up and going with Book Creator. This is a diverse tool with a robust set of accessible features. Highly recommended!
I have included a Wakelet, after the "Just for Fun" section, with articles and sites focused on Social Emotional Learning. Currently there are about 30 articles/links; just click load more to see all articles. Some are informational, while others have activities to try with students. If you have links which you would like included, just let me know. If you would like to be a collaborator on the Wakelet, contact me.
To Share
Just for Fun- More Bitmoji Ideas
SELThank yous from Google
New Or Interesting from Google The much anticipated Present in Chrome tab has finally appeared in Google Meet in our district. You can read more about it here. "What’s changing: You can now share higher-quality video with audio content in a Meet video call. You can do this through a new present a Chrome tab feature. Now, when you use this feature with video content playing, everyone in the meeting will see and hear the video and audio being shared. This means you can confidently use videos, gifs, animations, and other media in your meetings." Another Google update is the addition of an announcement banner for Google sites. Although the example they gave, of using it for assignments doesn't make sense to me, I thought maybe the folks at HA could use it to showcase the new counseling site that Lauren put up. "It provides clinical resources and activities/ideas/videos regarding: Covid-19, Mindfulness, Self-Care, and Emotion Regulation... So, if you want to include it on your google classroom page as a resource link, go for it! " The link is in your HA email.  Transcripts of Google Meets I had never heard of Tactiq before last week. It is a super simple chrome extension for Google Meet that gives you a transcript of your meeting- in minutes! After you install the extension, open a meeting and turn on captions. When you are done, click the button and literally in minutes you have a transcript. Is it perfect? No. It is actually kind of funny to see what the captioning software thinks you said, but it is usually close and can provide a much needed note-taking service- for free. Check it out here. Slidesmania If you haven't checked out Slidesmania for great Google Slides or PowerPoint templates, you're missing out. I love Slides Carnival and Slidesgo, but hadn't checked out Slidesmania. I saw a post about using Google colors for a template, but then started clicking around. Check out the nice designs for Remote Learning Templates. I think some of these may be really useful going forward. I liked the organization of this one, but I liked the color scheme of this one.  Holly Clark teamed up with Matt Miller to produce a great blog post with some fun activities to try at your next class meeting. Check it out here .  Just for FunA virtual gallery for student work or change up your Google Classroom banner. Actually I can picture a 6th grade classroom with a banner with bitmojis. You can even try it with Google Drawings or make an animated bitmoji banner.
Want more new ideas to check out?Upcoming PD Opportunities
As I was looking through my Wakelet of links I had saved over the last week and most seemed to be focused on STEM. So, after an initial list of upcoming PD, most of what I am sharing this week are STEM resources. Friends who teach bio are looking for ways to do the labs remotely, although the physics teachers at least have some online simulations to use. Hardest to find are activities for elementary science that do not presume that students have access to a bunch of different materials that they may well not have at home or any way to procure. Hopefully some of the various resources can help.
Upcoming PD
My inbox overflows with all sorts of professional development offerings. One that caught my eye is the interview with Ken Burns- happening on Wednesday- tomorrow 4/29. I can't go as I have prior commitments, but maybe you can.
As we look to the future, anarticle on Edsurge seemed to offer a way to start examining how we can remotely do PD for teachers who are now teaching remotely. Their solution seemed to be to use centralized repositories of information. "Instead of talking shop and sharing tips in person, Butts says he and his colleagues have organized and shared links to resources in Google Drive folders that they can all access." This is more or less what we are doing in our district. It's a process.
These are ongoing opportunities that you may want to check out.
EdTechTeacher has been offering a great variety of one hour webinars. I attended one this week on using AR in remote learning. They are offering a couple on using Google Applied Digtial Skills this week.
Mystery Doug & Mystery Science...
|
|
WWF brings Wild Classroom to classroom or to students home
"Connecting educators and parents with the tools and resources they need to help kids explore and understand the world around them. Together we can inspire the next generation to build a future where people and nature thrive!" |
|
|
Seeds of STEM offers great ideas for the younger students. Aimed at early childhood, Seeds of STEM is a year-long problem-based STEM curriculum, developed in alignment with four sets of standards. They have some great weekly curriculum ideas to share as pdfs with your families.
|
|
This is an example from one of the Daily Do lessons called Why are Flowers do Different? You can see the whole lesson here.
|
The NSTA Daily Do
"are sensemaking tasks teachers and parents can use to engage their students in authentic, relevant science learning. Students actively try to figure out how the world works (science) or how to design solutions to problems (engineering) using the science and engineering practices. |
MA DESE has a spreadsheet full of links to explore on the STEM COVID-19 Information and Resources page
Britannica has teamed up with Pear Deck to offer both Science and Social Studies Launch Packs. This is a resource that we will have available at both schools in HPS through the covid-19 closure. After attending one of their webinars, I applied for the district. Log in info will be emailed. They have a variety of topics that fit nicely in both our social studies curriculum topics as well as having NGSS aligned science. Thislink will bring you to the form to ask for covid 19 support for your own school or district.
|
|
One of my favorites, which I wrote a bit about this a few years ago, is the OK GO Sandbox. The video to the left is from the UPSIDE DOWN & INSIDE OUT lesson. "OK Go Sandbox is an online resource for educators that uses OK Go’s music videos as starting points for integrated guided inquiry challenges allowing students to explore various STEAM concepts."
|
The image below is just a screenshot of the lesson page- crosses grade levels, disciplines, etc. Great resource!
|
The Christa McAuliffe center at Framingham State has an excellent page of curated resources for STEM at home. You can check them out here and look through thespreadsheet ( this document changes daily)
|
|
|
Create & Learn offers some really interesting courses for kids to learn from some of the best schools in the world. Just pick the course, check the schedule and sign up for free. Created by Stanford, Harvard graduates, and former Tech Leaders at Google & Apple https://www.create-learn.us/ |
|
STEM Learning Ecosystems has put together an excellent resource list as a spreadsheet and has also reached out to the various ecosystems for even more ideas.
"The STEM Ecosystems Initiative is built on over a decade of research into successful STEM collaborations, and seeks to nurture and scale effective science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning opportunities for all young people." |
This week I will simply share a few of the resources that have come across my email, twitter, and various pln groups. A couple tools that stood out this week, Pear Deck and using Google Slides to create various games for students. I've also been seeing lots of choice boards, and have included some for math. The lists of "stuff" are, as always, overwhelming.
Don't miss out on Netflix documentaries- now available in "your classroom"!
Here's the info:
"For many years, Netflix has allowed teachers to screen documentaries in their classrooms... However, this isn’t possible with schools closed. So at their request, we have made a selection of our documentary features and series available on ourYouTube channel. If you are a parent or teacher, please check the ratings so that you can make informed choices for your students and children. For more information and to download accompanying educational resources please visit the Netflix Company Blog."
Here's the info:
"For many years, Netflix has allowed teachers to screen documentaries in their classrooms... However, this isn’t possible with schools closed. So at their request, we have made a selection of our documentary features and series available on ourYouTube channel. If you are a parent or teacher, please check the ratings so that you can make informed choices for your students and children. For more information and to download accompanying educational resources please visit the Netflix Company Blog."
One email that did attract my notice was from the UK, a weekly update on keeping kids safe online. I guess this should have been on my radar as we are asking kids to spend more time on screens, but there is a definite uptick in accounts of predators on the various sites that kids have been using more now for socializing. We are often asking kids to post video responses, but many kids, at least in the surveys I saw, are not supervised and are sharing personal videos online, talking with strangers, etc. The esafety advisor also shared links to ThinkUKnow activities for students. These are UK based, but applicable here as well.
|
K-12 Learning Blueprint is a well organized, not overwhelming list of resources for educators. Check it out here.
|
|
OWLS is a site that is curating resources for students, educators and parents. They have pulled together some padlets with information for all subject areas. Easy to use.
|
Creating your own games? There are lots of ways to do this. Richard Byrne offers 3 ways, in addition to MIT App Inventor to create sorting and matching games in his recent blog post. I think my favorite is Educandy which has recently added a memory game template that you can use by providing a list of words or terms. Check out some of the other options he mentions in his blog as well.
Kasey Bell from Shake Up Learning demonstrated some great ideas for creating Drag and Drop Games in Google Slides. You can listen to thepodcast here, or watch the video below to learn how. The steps are also written out on her podcast/blog page.
New to Google Classroom?
The To-Do List
I wasn't going to include this one, but then realized that with everything else that you have going on , you may not know that it is there. Check out theshort blog post and share with your students if you are just starting out in Google Classroom.
The To-Do List
I wasn't going to include this one, but then realized that with everything else that you have going on , you may not know that it is there. Check out theshort blog post and share with your students if you are just starting out in Google Classroom.
|
|
New to Templates in GSuite?
Check out the Google Teacher Tribe podcast. Then learn more from Kasey in the video below on on her blog. |
Math Choice Boards
Living Maths has posted 2 versions of each grade band. Make sure you go to File>Make a Copy and DO NOT request access.
https://bit.ly/MathChoiceBoardsK-2
https://bit.ly/ChoiceBoards3-5
https://bit.ly/MathChoiceBoards6-8
https://bit.ly/MathChoiceBoardsK-2
https://bit.ly/ChoiceBoards3-5
https://bit.ly/MathChoiceBoards6-8
|
The RIO school district over in Oxnard, CA has put out some excellent resources, including a list of printable packets and thisexcellent resource for Math Choice Boards. Again, remember to make your copy of these documents and to credit the authors.
|
More K-5 Math Choice Boards
Laura Rogers K-5 Click here
Rob Baier from Pennsylvania made:Math Choice Boards K-8!
Here is the Crosswalk Document so you can see which CCSS standards these match up with: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WMVie3DAhf71Wq5Km-HWKUeD9OMI7-qb/view
Laura Rogers K-5 Click here
Rob Baier from Pennsylvania made:Math Choice Boards K-8!
Here is the Crosswalk Document so you can see which CCSS standards these match up with: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WMVie3DAhf71Wq5Km-HWKUeD9OMI7-qb/view
Problem of the Day
Illustrative Math https://tasks.illustrativemathematics.org/content-standards
YouCubed https://www.youcubed.org/tasks/
NRich https://nrich.maths.org/11993
Dr Paul Swan https://drpaulswan.com.au/teaching-at-home/
Illustrative Math https://tasks.illustrativemathematics.org/content-standards
YouCubed https://www.youcubed.org/tasks/
NRich https://nrich.maths.org/11993
Dr Paul Swan https://drpaulswan.com.au/teaching-at-home/
Manipulatives and More
I was used to using VM for virtual manipulatives, but have seen a lot of posts lately that mentioned Toy Theater. This is a treasure trove of manipulatives, games and so much more. Check it out.
If you need printables visit https://classplayground.com/category/math/
This is just a screenshot of some, not all, of the vitural manipulative available.
I was used to using VM for virtual manipulatives, but have seen a lot of posts lately that mentioned Toy Theater. This is a treasure trove of manipulatives, games and so much more. Check it out.
If you need printables visit https://classplayground.com/category/math/
This is just a screenshot of some, not all, of the vitural manipulative available.
Who knew how much work it would be to transform what you do every day as an educator in a K-12 school and magically try to make it all work remotely? Well, we're all finding out. I continue to see colleagues in my district and around the world struggle, work harder, reach out and begin to come together, with, if not the same lessons done remotely, lessons that work. Even with my job in tech integration, doing it remotely is simply not the same- at all. Hilltown internet with speeds slower than dial-up (which, at least didn't drop continually), make it pretty challenging.
I'm sure that you all have been overwhelmed with offers from literally hundreds of edtech companies, as have I. A couple that we will be offering district wide include Loom pro, WeVideo pro and access to all Texthelp edtech applications, including Equatio. Look for more information coming via email. We have also rolled out a new EdTech Tools site, with a curated list of tools to help you teach remotely, as well as some of the basic tutorials. The link was sent out yesterday and also lives in the shared drive in the ICP folder.
Upcoming Webinar
It feels like I am attending anywhere from 1 to 3, 4, or more webinars a day lately. One presenter, aside from Greg and Avra at EdTechTeachers stands out this week, Leslie Fisher. I attended one of her webinars on using Merge Cubes last week, enjoyed that one, so I signed up for one of her book creator webinars this week. Now, I have used Book Creator with kids, and honestly, didn't think I would learn a whole lot. I was wrong. Not only have they added over 200 accessibility features to Book Creator, but Leslie came up with very cool ways to use it- for all ages, not just elementary. I plan on attending another one this coming Friday- Book Creator and Accessibility. You can register for it here. The one I liked the other day is still open "on demand" til Monday 4/20.
It feels like I am attending anywhere from 1 to 3, 4, or more webinars a day lately. One presenter, aside from Greg and Avra at EdTechTeachers stands out this week, Leslie Fisher. I attended one of her webinars on using Merge Cubes last week, enjoyed that one, so I signed up for one of her book creator webinars this week. Now, I have used Book Creator with kids, and honestly, didn't think I would learn a whole lot. I was wrong. Not only have they added over 200 accessibility features to Book Creator, but Leslie came up with very cool ways to use it- for all ages, not just elementary. I plan on attending another one this coming Friday- Book Creator and Accessibility. You can register for it here. The one I liked the other day is still open "on demand" til Monday 4/20.
Resources to Share
Here are a few resources that you may find useful, either in your teaching or to share with parents who are looking for alternative activities.
 | Commonsense Media has created an excellent resource for teachers, families, students. " Wide Open School is a free collection of the best online learning experiences for kids curated by the editors at Common Sense. There is so much good happening, and we are here to gather great stuff and organize it so teachers and families can easily find it and plan each day. " It is divided up by educator or a family and then by age range and then by topic. Worth exploring by both teachers and families. |
 | "MIT FULL STEAM Ahead is a collection of resources that MIT is putting together for teaching and learning online. These are meant as a rapid response to the need for online resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will curate existing resources for K-12, higher education, and workforce learners, as well as provide a weekly package of relevant materials for K-12 students and teachers." Check out these great resources here. Don't forget about the Edgerton Center while you're in the neighborhood. They have great instructables here. |
| |  Helperbird is a browser extension that gives you the features to make the web more accessible and make you more productive. By providing you with features such as dyslexia fonts, change the font & background color, text to speech, overlays, dyslexia ruler, immersive reader, reader mode and much more. Download the extension for chrome here. It is also available for Edge and Firefox. |
| | Choice Boards for all disciplines, for all ages seem to be making a comeback as we search for ways to make home learning work for all. Miguel Ghulin down in Texas does a nice job of going through some of the many possilbiities when using Google Slides as wlll as a basic how to. If you would rather read it than view it- click here |
 | CoBUILD19 is the Facebook group associated with the folks at Infosys, but actually started by Adam Maltese. Here's part of the blurb for this one, "CoBuild19 - Sharing Activities for Kids and Families at Home was created by educators and researchers to help youth and their caregivers to spend quality time together building and creating'...'The activities are designed to be completed with free or low-cost materials, supplies, and tools found commonly in homes, around communities/neighborhoods, or readily accessible at local stores or ordered online." |
 | Infosys has opened up their Pathfinders Institute to all. I took the MakerEd courses for a week the last 2 summers out in Indiana and it was worth the time. Looking forward to exploring what they have on offer for all. Just an FYI- it is not all tech, not all CS, not all art, but a great combination of all of these with low-tech, no-tech projects as well. Here's the official blurb: "This virtual classroom allows students, teachers and families to access computer science and maker education content from home in an interactive and engaging online environment. Below are video lessons, links to resources and activities, and opportunities to join live training sessions led by educators and professional development providers. Explore the content and get started today!" |
| | National Geographic Explorers offers a live Daily show every day at 2 pm EDT. These are really cool ways to explore from climate change to frogs to following the pathways of the first humans who migrated out of Africa in the Stone Age. Check out the upcoming discoveries just waiting for you here. |
What do you need? |  |
Changing times, everyone is stressed and scrambling; each trying to do their best and to meet the needs of our community while using new tools and doing it all remotely.
We can do this.
Is it going to be the same? No. Is the same, only at a distance, what our community needs? No. The kids, the parents, all the teachers and admin need to maintain our community- not just the academic learning, but the important parts of the community of people caring and being cared for.
We can do this.
Is it going to be the same? No. Is the same, only at a distance, what our community needs? No. The kids, the parents, all the teachers and admin need to maintain our community- not just the academic learning, but the important parts of the community of people caring and being cared for.
One piece of my job is to try to put all the pieces together, to meet folks where they are as far as their comfort level with tech tools. My goal is to make it easier for the teachers, and to make it work for the students and parents. Aside from setting up a whole slew of accounts and a portal for HES parents to access, I have also been attending as many of the PD opportunities that I can manage and finding out how others are working through these issues at their schools. If you need to gain more skills, whether it is in delivery of content or how to use a specific tool that your department or school has decided to use, there are resources out there.
I will be compiling all the PD resources, not the ephemeral ones, but the lists, slide decks, etc that you can pull out and reference on a shared drive for HPS, but in the meantime, here's some PD that may be helpful right now
MassCUE -virtual
3/31 - Tuesday @ 8:00 p.m.: Grades 6-12+ Educators - Hosted by John O’Neill and Erin Fisher
4/2 - Thursday @ 8:00 p.m.: Grades PreK-5 Educators - Hosted by Chris Gosselin and Rayna Freedman
The link to join is http://meet.google.com/xjk-cing-ftd
MassCUE -virtual
3/31 - Tuesday @ 8:00 p.m.: Grades 6-12+ Educators - Hosted by John O’Neill and Erin Fisher
4/2 - Thursday @ 8:00 p.m.: Grades PreK-5 Educators - Hosted by Chris Gosselin and Rayna Freedman
The link to join is http://meet.google.com/xjk-cing-ftd
| Microsoft teamed up with Matt Miller (Ditch that Textbook) and Holly Clark (The Infused Classroom) to create a site with lots of ideas, and help for teachers. Some of it is crowdsourced, some from Matt and Holly. This is a work in progress and is worth going back to. http://onlinelearningideas.com/ |  |
| Edtechteacher had a series of great webinars last week and they are continuing this week. They are also offering some excellent short courses. CAST is offering a webinar a week, plus a couple of "office hours" zoom meetings you can attend to get more info, ask questions. This week the focus was on reading tools, next week on video and the 4Cs. Check out the schedule and sign up here. Google Hub https://teachfromhome.google/intl/en/ MassCue is offering free subscriptions to Hoonuit- https://www.masscue.org/hoonuitopen/ as well as virtual hangouts Edweb.net- https://home.edweb.net/webinars/ Always one of my first choices for PD. Excellent speakers- always current topics. Amazing collection of archived webinars  |  
   |
Sorry I seem to have misplaced a week or two as we all scramble to get up to speed and to help one another figure out what we are actually doing and how we can do it. Now that I think we have some of the basics down, or at least have figured out some of the parameters, what's next? Hoping to get some guidance from the state level as to what we, here in Massachusetts, are doing- enrichment?- distance learning?-dealing with equity issues? Lots and lots of questions. My biggest concern at the moment is how to provide continuity- both academically and to maintain the fabric of community- while we deal with the many aspects of accessibility.
So many of the edtech companies have come forward to offer their products for free as we try to reach out to all of our students and families. Although this is cool, a word of caution, don't introduce brand new tools if you can help it. Enrichment only, not for assignments if there is a learning curve. If your students have been using digital tools in class, try to stick to the known, as the whole method of lesson delivery is totally new to most of us. It overloads the teachers, the students and all of the families as we struggle to find the time, the tools and the means to distribute lessons or enrichment or just to reach out to build and sustain community.
One of the many webinars I have attended over the last 2 weeks was the SEDTA webinar last night, Supporting Students with IEPs During eLearning Days. After registering, I , along with 8000 others tried to get onto the edweb system. Needless to say, it didn't work. Luckily there is a recording, which you can access at edweb. AEM is offering a series of webinars coming up to help teachers use UDL in their lessons to reach all of the learners.
Here is more info from their page:
The AEM Center is hosting a series of webinars, each providing a deeper dive into a specific topic related to accessibility. Visit our AEM Events page for full details about each webinar.
- Personalizing the Reading Experience: Week of 3/30
- Creating High-Quality and Accessible Video: Week of 4/6
- Creating Accessible Documents and Slide Decks: Week of 4/13
- Making Math Notation Accessible: Week of 4/20
- Tuesdays, 10 – 11:30 AM ET
- Thursdays, 4 – 5:30 PM ET
So where do you sign up for any of these? Right here. A word of warning- hop onto the webinars on the early side if you can- they fill up fast. They are recorded if these dates/times don't work for you.
So what's next?
Our district is working hard to take the continuity plan and pull the teacher resources into our shared drive and to look carefully at the resources we are presenting to parents. Right now it is pretty overwhelming. Hopefully by the end of the week, we can begin to have it a bit more organized and have all of the HPS teacher resources in one place instead of filling your inboxes.
Ideas to Share
I could fill a book right now with all of the links I have collected, friends have shared, etc... It is a bit too much. If you like overwhelming - check out my Wakelets or this one. Here's a spreadsheet for all the spreadsheet lovers out there... and this is only the tip of the iceberg.
 | Edtechteacher has put together not only a series of quick webinars for this week, but also has an easy to read page for remote learning. Some of the webinars are happening tomorrow, so sign up quickly if you're interested. |
 | This is temporary hub of Google information and tools to help teachers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. It is well organized, not overwhelming. Check it out.  If you want/need more- here's Steve Wick's collection... |
 This is the original hyperdocs site. Check out Teachers Give Teachers for a searchable database of hyperdocs. Heather Marshall has a great padlet of hyperdocs for novels. There are math hyperdocs, livebinders of hyperdocs and so much more. You don't have to recreate the wheel. | Peterson's Web Page Hyperdocs This site has more hyperdocs than you can shake a stick at. Looking for a quick way to get students started on a topic? These can all be self-paced ways to explore topics. This page has them listed, but then sorted out by topic in the top navigation. Remember if you use a hyperdoc- first- File>make a copy, then go thru and make sure that all the links work- some may not be available to your students and you may have to make changes. Think about distribution- one view only, one for each student...etc. |
One of the things I have been hearing over and over again as we all prepare for any potential school closures is to essentially KISS- Keep It Simple... I tend to collate giant lists of potential tools, thinking that it's helpful to have lots of choices to match teacher/student needs and styles. Although I still believe in choices, right now, the tools that we need to focus on are the ones that we know as teachers, and the ones that the kids know how to use. That said- what if you haven't been using many digital tools at all? Well, the tools we need to look at do not need to all be digital- good ole paper and pencil work for most things and we don't have the equity issues.
If your school is trying to narrow the range of digital tools down to lighten the load, what are a couple of tools that you can learn and teach your students, given a week or two? What do you need? A way to communicate, a way to share lessons and stay connected. Here's a few tools to look at that may be helpful.
But, remember, if we actually have to close school, you can't be messing about learning new tools. Use the tools you and your students know, and lessen the cognitive load, as the whole thing will be stressful enough.
Screen Recording
Screencastify or Nimbus look to be good choices. I haven't used Screencastify in a while, but according to Richard Byrne their latest update was a good one. Check out his post here.help.screencastify.com/ Screencastify is a chrome extension. Get it here.
If your school is trying to narrow the range of digital tools down to lighten the load, what are a couple of tools that you can learn and teach your students, given a week or two? What do you need? A way to communicate, a way to share lessons and stay connected. Here's a few tools to look at that may be helpful.
But, remember, if we actually have to close school, you can't be messing about learning new tools. Use the tools you and your students know, and lessen the cognitive load, as the whole thing will be stressful enough.
Screen Recording
Screencastify or Nimbus look to be good choices. I haven't used Screencastify in a while, but according to Richard Byrne their latest update was a good one. Check out his post here.help.screencastify.com/ Screencastify is a chrome extension. Get it here.
| | |
Nimbus is another good choice, also a Google Chrome extension. Get it here.
Video Conferencing
We've been talking about using either Zoom or Google Hangouts/Meet. There are pros and cons of each, but I kind of favor Zoom, thinking I have more control. Check them out yourself.
| | |
Communication
We all know communication is key, especially if we are not able to actually meet in the classroom. How will your students get their lessons? How to keep parents in the loop? We are fortunate to have Google Classroom for grades 3-12 in our district. Kindergarten would like to use a blog, second grade already uses SeeSaw, preK wants to use physical packets with newsletters and materials. All of these can work. If you haven't used Google Classroom, it's pretty easy to set up and put your assignments in. SeeSaw is an easy to use platform as well. A class website, using Google Sites, or Weebly or Wix can do the job. Choose a tool that you already use or ask for help to learn the basics of a new one. Your LMS may have built in communication tools.
Ideas to Share
| | This tool came out recently, or I saw it recently... It is a way to remove the background of any video. Think greenscreen without the greenscreen. Check it out here. Or check out Richard Byrne's post about it here. |
| | Pear Deck has created some excellent tutorials to show you how to stay connected with their tools. You can create student paced lessons and keep all of your students engaged. Check out more here. |
| | Need worksheets? Check out Wizer. "Amaze Your Students With Smarter Worksheets Create and share free interactive worksheets with your students online. Join the Wizer community, share your work and explore content made by fellow teachers." |
Author
Maureen Tumenas
Archives
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
RSS Feed