Friday, November 13, 2015

The Hour of Code is Coming December 7th - 13th !!

Software is the language of the world! Coding activities are not specifically geared to creating software engineers, but to teach Computational Thinking.  Computational Thinking teaches how to tackle a large problem by breaking it down into a sequence of smaller, more manageable problems. 

There are so many opportunities for students to participate at various levels.  In this edition I will be sharing several resources.  I would encourage you to find some time to get you and your students involved in this event.

The official Hour of Code website gives you an opportunity to register your event and receive free posters for your school site.  Every teacher who organizes an event receives $10 to Amazon, Itunes, or Windows store as a thank you.  

One public school in every state will also win $10,000 worth of technology!  To register, click here.  


Beginning Level Activities:

The Official Code.org website has several beginning tutorials including their latest Star Wars Themed tutorial which looks super cool.  There is also an Anna and Elsa tutorial along with several others

Khan Academy also does a great Hour of Code for ages 8+ and SQL Databases for 12+



Intermediate / Advanced Level Activities:

Google offers some great programs for students of ALL levels. 
Check out their Computer Science Learning site.  Start at the beginning level of Blocky all the way to CS for High School courses and activities.  CS for High School also offers grant and scholarship opportunities.


Are you involved in C-STEM projects?

Christina Morace recommends  http://roboblockly.ucdavis.edu/ It has a lot of block based coding activities for students 4th grade an up. It also allows teachers who are involved in the C-STEM project to be able to change the block based code into actual Ch code and use it to run real life robots in their classrooms, moving from the virtual to the actual without writing any code from scratch. 


Competitions:

Google Code in is a competition for ages 13-17 and introduces students to the world of open source.  Participants range from no experience to the advanced level.  Mentor organizations sponsor and provide feedback with real projects.  The competition runs from December 7th - January 25th.




Teacher Courses:

Would you like to learn how to incorporate Computational Thinking into your students' curriculum?  Google also offers a free online course geared toward educators.   Discover how Computational Thinking is different from Computer Science and how it can be incorporated into your lessons in various subjects.
















Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Welcome Back!

Hopefully you have had time to adjust to your new schedules and now have a moment to breathe.



Last year my guest blogger, Monica Buescher, from Buckingham told you about a quick quiz program called Kahoot.  It has become very popular with many teachers in our district.  The feedback has been very positive from both teachers and students.

While Kahoot is a great program, it does have some limitations.  This month I'd like to tell you about another digital quizzing program called Socrative.  Socrative is a bit more comprehensive and allows for more variety in question types including open-ended questions.

Socrative is a free browser-based system that lets teachers set up quizzes and polls which can then be accessed by student on any device.  It supports iPads, smartphones, laptops, etc.

Teachers can set whether the quiz runs at the student pace or the teacher's pace.  Students' results are visible on the Teacher's screen or sent in an email.  They can also be downloaded as an excel file which shows the students answers and overall score.

Setting up a group is very fast.  With a pre-written quiz it's possible to get a new group signed in and answer questions within a few minutes, and even faster once the class knows the URL and room number.

As well as quizzes, Socrative can be used for quick polls - throw out a question and ask for yes/no or true/false responses.  It can also allow words and phrases to be submitted as part of a brainstorm. Submitted answers can then form part of a poll to vote for the best answer etc.


Give it a try and let me know if you have any questions.





Wednesday, June 3, 2015

The End is Near!

I hope you all have plans for some amazing sleep, rest and relaxation in the coming weeks!  You have certainly earned it!  


No one quite understands the toll that this time of year takes on a teacher better than other teachers.  

Once you have completed a little recovery therapy and you find yourself thinking about the coming year again, may I make a suggestion to get your year off to a great start?

Do you collect student information at the beginning of the year? Do you have sign-ups for class parties or supplies? Would you like to have an online method to have parents sign up for conferences? Would you like to have Reading Logs submitted online? How about a method to quickly administer a formative assessment or exit ticket? Want to survey your students on various topics? Would you like a quick and efficient way to crowdsource information to use in your lessons?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, Google Forms just might be your dream come true! Here is a great collection of other possible uses of Google Forms in the classroom.  

So I'm sure you are thinking to yourself right now "Dawn, this sound great!  How do I get started with this?"

Well it all begins with learning more about Google Drive.  Keep an eye out for a couple of summer training dates through Eventbrite.  

If you are already familiar with Google Drive and you find yourself unable to attend the summer trainings because you are stuck in Fiji with nothing to do or bored in Barcelona,  you can access training online at the following site:  Google Forms Training

More trainings will also be offered throughout the next school year as well.

Enjoy your summer!!

Monday, May 4, 2015

Guest Blogger Issue - CUE Conference



CUE (Computer Using Educators) recently held their annual conference.  Several VUSD teachers attended the event.  Monica Buescher, from Buckingham High School, attended and was inspired, motivated and excited to incorporate what she learned into her classroom. In this issue of the Digital Cafe, Monica is sharing what she learned in one of her sessions.  





Kahoot is a highly-customizable website where you can make quizzes to review any topic with your class. It requires a smartphone, tablet, or computer with an internet connection for each student. Students don’t need accounts -- they just log into the website, put the game code and their name in, and are ready to go! Their devices work as personal “clickers” to answer multiple-choice questions posted on the screen. There’s a time limit for each question, and students receive points for answering quickly and accurately. Overall, it’s a fast-paced, engaging, colorful, and musical way to make the learning fun.


Kahoot is a wonderfully versatile tool for students of all ages and grades. At first glance, it seems to target elementary school students, yet high schoolers find it just as exciting and engaging. It’s great for formative assessments in the shapes of quick, fun reviews. Not only that, but it adds an edge of competition by ranking students by how quickly they answer correctly, which makes it more of a game than a tedious review session.


Teachers can create their own quizzes for highly specific and customized content, or they can search through the thousands of public Kahoots to find one to suit their needs. They can include pictures or videos specific to each question, can have multiple correct answers, and provide constant feedback on every single question. Teachers and students instantly see the correct answer as well as how many people chose each answer choice, which can allow for immediate re-teaching if needed. For the data nerds out there, at the end of each session, a spreadsheet of results is available to download; it contains a list of each student participant, his or her answers to each question, and color-coded questions and answers to easily identify struggling students or particularly challenging questions.

Kahoots can also be used as “brain breaks” -- there are some “Most Played” public quizzes that are full of fun trivia, including pop culture knowledge, Disney character identification, logo identification, and other random topics. So, whether used for learning or laughter, Kahoot is a versatile, engaging tool worth adding to any teacher’s arsenal.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Digital Learning Day and Pi Day in the Same Week!

This Friday the 13th is Digital Learning Day!

What happens on Digital Learning Day?  Hopefully a whole lot of Digital Learning!  Check out this Great Website that is tracking and listing different Digital activities being taught across the world.  You can browse other teachers' activities to get some ideas for your class, or add your own awesome activity for others to browse.  The goal is to get teachers and students online and learning!

I have my own personal favorite online sources of course.

Open Ed has always been a favorite source of mine.  They have the world's largest collection of videos aligned to the Common Core and other standards.  Many of these videos are also matched with assessments to measure student mastery.  Check it out and perhaps set something up for this Friday.

PBS Learning Media is another incredible source of lessons, activities, interactives, and videos.  Think your Kindergarteners are too young for Digital Learning?  Check out the site link for a direct link to a Kindergartener Digital Lesson Model.  Click the "Browse by Option" button to find lessons and resources directly related to your grade or subject area.


Saturday the 14th is Pi Day!

Pi Day is not just a celebration of that never ending set of digits, but a celebration of Math in general.  This year's Pi Day is especially epic in that the date, 3/14/15, represents the exact first 5 digits of Pi!  Oh my!

The NEA has put together some activities for teachers who would like to build some excitement and interest in this Mathematical Phenomena.  Check it out here.

National Pi Day.org also has some great resources, videos and activities related to Pi.



Tuesday, January 13, 2015

My Top Ten Edtech Sites for 2014

2014 was a great year for educational technology.  There was something for everyone!  In this episode, I'm going to highlight ten of the Top EdTech sites for 2014.  Perhaps you can give one or two a try in 2015.



10.  SciShow & Veritasium YouTube Channels
  • These YouTube channels offer short, and engaging science videos on various topics.  My students LOVED these videos.  Full of information and presented in an entertaining format.  Just a note however, you MUST view the videos first as some content is not appropriate for schools.

9.  KidBlog
  • This is a great place for students to write their thoughts, book reports, etc and share their work with their classmates as well as their teacher. No email address is required.  Geared more toward the elementary and middle school student.

8. Smithsonian Education

  • Education resources and information, lesson plans, field trips, and interactive activities based on Smithsonian museum collections and research.

7. Storybird
  • Storybird lets anyone make visual stories in seconds.  They curate artwork from illustrators and animators from around the world.  Aspiring writers of any age turn those images into fresh stories.

6. Hstry
  • Create interactive timelines that include images, videos, text, audio and quizzes.  Create your own timelines or choose from the library of timelines available.

5. OpenEd
  • OpenEd is the largest K-12 education resource library, offering over one million free assessment, homework assignment, videos, games and lesson plans for every Common Core Math, Language Arts, Literacy and Next Generation Science standard.

4. Educanon

  • EduCanon is an online learning environment to build and share interactive video lessons.  Teachers begin with any YouTube, Vimeo, or TeacherTube video content (screencast, Khan Academy, Minute Physics, TED, NOVA, etc.) and transform what is traditionally passive content into an active experience for students.  By time-linking activities that students engage with as the video progresses the content is segmented into digestible components.
3. Learn Zillion
  • Learn Zillion offers a free and growing set of Math and ELA resources and presentations for grades 2 -12 that have been developed by expert teaches directly from the CCSS.  More than 1,300 teachers and administrators submitted nomination and LearnZillion made the short list of products and services that have proven to be effective in the classroom.

2. Khan Academy
  • What doesn't Khan Academy do?  They offer practice exercises, videos, and a personalized dashboard for students to learn at their own pace.  Subjects include math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, physics and more.  They have also partnered with NASA, The Museum of Modern Art, The California Academy of Sciences, and MIT to offer specialized content.

1. PBS Learning Media

  • This is my new favorite site!  PBS LearningMedia is your destination for direct access to thousand of classroom-ready, curriculum-targeted digital resources.  PBS LearningMedia builds on the strength of public media and is designed to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement.  Resources are aligned to CCSS and include videos and interactives, audio, documents, and in-depth lesson plans.  You can also "favorite" and "share" resources with your class and colleagues.  The Basic service is free for PreK-12 educators.


Do you have your own favorite Edtech sites?  Feel free to share in the comments below.


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