iTunes Resources

I just tweeted some great resources from iTunes that could be beneficial when trying to implement some mobile device apps in your classroom - i.e. Explain Everything, Skitch, SketchBook, etc.

Stop Motion Studio Lesson Ideas by Apple Education on iBooks https://t.co/TobFYqsIse

— Benjamin Nason (@Ratkacher) November 19, 2015

iBooks Author Starter Kit by Apple Education on iBooks https://t.co/qlMArxJtwS

— Benjamin Nason (@Ratkacher) November 19, 2015

Excellect collection of lesson ideas: Apple Education on iBooks https://t.co/INQYl7sBXj #edtech #ipaded

— Benjamin Nason (@Ratkacher) November 19, 2015

Understanding the SAMR Model for Tech Integration

This tweet is an excellent example of how the SAMR model works

In edu tech course, we connect #SAMR model to the transition from Vaudeville stage to early tv to multi-camera effects to augmented reality

— Michelle Simms (@hannahsong87) November 19, 2015

My 2015-16 Building Schedule

We are off to a great start to the school year.  SAD1 is now 1to1 from grades 6 to 12.  This is very exciting!  There will be lots of opportunity to enhance learning and improve accessibility.

Now that all devices have been deployed to the students, my time is more free to help you practically implement technology into your classroom and into your curriculum plans.  Please feel free to invite me into your planning and I would love to see what we can do to continue with your curriculum plans and leverage some strengths with the use of some technology tools.

My building schedule for the year 2015-16 is as follows:

Middle School:  Tuesday, Thursday
High School:  Monday, Wednesday, Friday

This Week

This Friday will be my last day for the school year.  Because we collect the student iPads at the Middle School, I will be assisting Troy with the collection this week, so I will not be at the High School Tuesday or Thursday.

Feel free to email me with any questions throughout the Summer.  I still stay in touch with email and I would be happy to answer any questions; especially for those at the High School who are planning for 1to1.

Do You Have DCD?

I took some time today to clean up my Evernote account with unwanted notes and bookmarks and soon came to the realization that most of my saved digital content had become irrelevant to me now.  There are various reason for this.  The main reason is because when it comes to digital information, digital content, and technology...

...it's constantly changing.

What was cool and new last month, is now old hat.

The same can be said for a lot of digital consumption of information.  Eventually we become digital hoarders - collect, and collect, and collect; just in case we may need it in the future.  And, really, do you have the time available to go back and review those articles you want to read sometime?  For some of them, I'm sure that is the case.

I am discovering more and more there is a better solution for this Digital Consumption "Disorder" (DCD) (yeah, I made it up).

It is the power of search.

I am whole-heartedly convinced that the skill of search far outweighs the skill of collecting and organizing.  Services like Google have already done this work of indexing and organizing the web.  Most of the time, if I really value something I found online (and providing it is still there - some things do discontinue), I can find exactly what I need by learning a few skills and techniques on effective search.  And that's not just Google.  Most applications and services provide a search option.

I know what you are thinking!

"What if I can't find it?"

 There are some finds that are worth keeping or archiving for reference or for a later use.  And there are some great products out there that help users organized stuff like this - Evernote, Pinterest, Google Drive, etc.

Why carry the unnecessary weight of stuff that "might be useful some day"?  Chances are, if it really is valuable and effective, others have felt the same way and you'll be able to search for it again with a few key terms.  Take a look at that long list of web bookmarks  in your web browser that you have to take time to organize into folders, and be honest with yourself, would you be able to Google search for most of that content again with just a few key terms?

You can search for tons of help and tutorials on search tips and techniques.  Here's something from Lifehack to help you get started on learning the power of search.

By all means, let me know what you're thoughts are on this topic, and what have you found to be the most effective tool or skill with your digital consumption.

Meet eBackpack

Here's a great, little overview of eBackpack and what it can do.

eBackpack Teacher Guide

Be sure to check out the Quick Start Guide below in the previous post.

eBackpack Quick Start iPad Guide

Here we go!  I was surprised (and really why should I be) how much help is available on eBackpack's site.  Check out their video tutorial page.

Here is a PDF of some general info about using eBackpack.  You can download this for yourself if you like.



This PDF above is being hosted from my Google Drive.  You, also, can store documents like this in your Drive and embed them in your website, Moodle course, or classroom blog for a nice display.

PIHS Faculty Meeting Presentation on 1to1

Empower: Navigating Through

Save this PDF to your Google Drive for future reference.

Infographic: MLA Format

Empower: Target Browser

Here's a PDF illustrating the Target Browser from our Empower PBE online software.  The Target Browser is the one section of Empower, I believe, that you will be using more than any other piece on Empower in our (SAD1) first year of practicing it.  This is where you can find your curriculum - all of the standards and learning targets associated with your content area.  This tutorial should be very helpful when trying to familiarize yourself with it.

BTW, this document you see above is from my Google Drive.  You can, also, embed your Google Drive documents on to your Moodle course, Google Site, or blog easily like you see above.  Ask me, I'll show you.

SAMR Model

Ok, here we go.

Here are a couple of vids (and some from Ruben himself, the creator of the SAMR model) regarding the SAMR model.

Did he say "Maine"!

Element 13: Helping Students Reflect on Their Learning

Element 12: Helping Students Record and Represent Knowledge

Element 12 from Marzano's Teaching Framework talks about the use of digital academic notebooks.  There are many products out there that work well in developing a digital academic notebook for taking notes, outlines and reflections.  One product I want to feature is Evernote.  I am an avid Evernote user and have used Evernote since Feb of 2012.

At its simplest form, Evernote is a digital notebook allowing you to collect multiple forms of digital content, from text to photos, to web links, to document files, to audio recordings, and more.  It is a powerful indexer of information.

With the ability to categorize your content into separate notebooks and label each note with linkable tags, you can thoroughly organize your digital stuff.

This is a great tool for students to use when creating their own digital academic notebooks.  Evernote also is integrated in the iPad operating system.  Users can save content from their Safari web browser straight to their desired Evernote notebook.

Because Evernote is a cloud-based product, users will be able to access their content from almost any device or computer.  Evernote is very multi-platform.  As a result of this feature, users (students) will have to create their own account using an email account as verification, so make sure you check with your Administrators first before allowing students in your class to start creating accounts.

To learn more of the potential and the power of Evernote, YouTube is literally LOADED full of thousands of very helpful tutorials.  Goes to show it is favored by many, many people.

Links:
Online Evernote account
Evernote app on iTunes

Google Drive Folder Sharing

Had to feature this tweet.  Many in SAD1 will benefit from this!

New Google Drive: 4 Easy Steps for Sharing a Folder http://t.co/EfTZRzljja pic.twitter.com/B6UgEliL5F

— Alice Keeler (@alicekeeler) May 14, 2015

Misconceptions of the SAMR Model

If you recall in my previous post in March I talked about how tech should be used to assist and transform learning, and I referenced the SAMR model from Ruben Puetedura.  I'll talk more about this model in future posts.  I am realizing more now that I do not talk about this model enough.

There can be however some misconceptions of what the model is and how to actually apply it.  I found this great vid on some of these misconceptions.

Term Weighting in PowerTeacher

Attention PIMS teachers:  for this year, we should be weighting our school year by Term Weights as indicated below.

My New Favorite Chrome Extension

If you have not taken advantage of Chrome's extensions, you're missing out.  Just like Safari's extensions or add-ons in Firefox, these tools are embedded in your browser and allow you to do functions within your browser or webpage.  I found a new extension for my Chrome web browser.  It's my new favorite.  It is called OneTab.

There are many times where I will have multiple tabs open while doing research or looking up content online.  Having multiple tabs open, not only is counter-productive to staying focused, but it can also slow down your browser's performance and speed depending on what the webpage is; especially in Chrome.  OneTab will collect all of your open tabs in one fell swoop and list them on one tab.  The list is then saved and will allow you to do more with the saved list.  I can save my list as a webpage for sharing, or saving to Evernote.  I can name that particular list, so that if I open new tabs for new searches, I am able to chuck those list into particular categories.

This extension will make my work a heck of a lot easier to sort and manage.

Be sure to check out Chrome's App Store and find a couple of your future favorites.

Marzano's Element 4: Establishing and Maintaining Classroom Procedures

Having your student involved with the establishment of classroom rules and procedures not only empowers your students to make good choices, but encourages them to invest in their own behavior.  One great way to maximize classroom involvement with all your students when creating rules and procedures with them is the use of online collaborative services.

Padlet is a FREE product that has been out for a rather long time (in the digital world even 5 years is a very long time).  It is still a very effective tool for classroom collaboration and involvement.   Padlet allows you to create an online classroom discussion on one closed discussion platform.  Visually Padlet is similar to a bulletin board where users can post their content and ideas for all of those involved on the board to see and comment to.  And, Padlet works on any device.

Here is a video walk-through of how to use Padlet.

Search For a Student on Empower

Let's say you just want to find a student and view their progress alone.  There are two ways to go about this.

You can search the Student Roster in the class group:

Or you can look through the Progress Reports in the Empower menu, shown below; locate Student Snapshot:

Cause and Reaction

I found this GIF animation on Google+ this morning.  This is a great idea for the Science class working with Cause and Reaction.  Your students, using their electronic devices, can easily create stop-motion videos like this below describing cause and reaction.  There are many FREE apps out there that help users achieve this.  Check out my Google Site page regarding this procedure. There are a few suggestions for FREE apps as well.

Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts

Not sure if you caught this on Google+ yesterday, but I thought I'd share this tech tip:

Looking For More or Unique Imagery For Your IWB Presentation?

Sometimes the SMART Notebook galleries do not quite have what we are looking for as far as imagery to go along with our lesson or to create some contextual connections to the content.  In Google Search find imagery that is transparent.  Transparent images have a transparent background on the image, eliminating the "square" around your image when you import it into your presentation.

Looking for more or unique pics for your IWB presentation? Find transparent images: #edtech pic.twitter.com/zq5nDCcXKa

— Benjamin Nason (@Ratkacher) April 30, 2015

Host Student Videos on Your Classroom Website

Just to piggy-back my last post regarding Google Sites, you can use your classroom website to host your student video products.  For school systems like ours, we are not allow to publish student work to YouTube.  We can, however, upload our student videos to Google Drive.

From Google Sites, we can pull from the videos we store in our Google Drive and host them on the classroom website for others to view.

Keep in mind: our school building Principals have to approve any publishing of video or digital content online to the public for student safety.  Let your Principal know about your interests.

Classroom Website

Establishing a classroom website is a great way to publish and share student work and content with other students as well as parents.  You can also empower your students by having them create their own webpage on your classroom site.  One easy way to make this happen is by using Google Sites.

We, SAD1, are a GAFE (Google Apps for Education) school.  So, we have access to many of Google's apps.  Every user has the ability to utilize Google Sites and create your own website FREE.  There are hundreds of video tutorials on YouTube that can help you learn the ropes and build a simple website to host your classroom publications and digital content.

I personally have worked with Google Sites extensively.  And have found them very easy to use and learn.  As far as web design goes, Google Sites may appear to be limited on how flashy it can look, however today's web design is all about simplicity and minimalism.  Look at Google's design practices.

According to Marzano Research, using a classroom website is a great way to celebrate success (element 3 of the Teaching Framework Learning Map)

If you have any questions or would like for me to help guide you in to creating your own classroom website, please feel free to contact me.

Celebrating Success

Want to find an opportunity to celebrate success?

Utilize your Moodle course or Google Classroom

Excerpt From: Sonny Magana & Robert J. Marzano. “Enhancing the Art & Science of Teaching With Technology.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/SuDCU.l

SMART Response "Clickers"

A great way to get formative assessment is utilizing on-the-spot quizzing or surveying software and products.  If you have iPads for the classroom services like Socrative and Kahoot work really well between teacher and students.  However, if you lack a 1to1 device like an iPad, another useful product is the SMART Response handheld devices.  Students can easily and quickly respond to formative assessment by entering their answers or text via a handheld device.  SAD1 has about 8 or 9 cases that are readily available for classroom to use.

When introducing a new learning goal, have your students paraphrase the new goal in their own words to get some feedback on your students' understanding of the goal's purpose (Marzano, pg 75).  These, also, work very well with on-the-spot questions.  The software is integrated with SMART's Notebook software, where you receive the results and are able to visually collect data with a pie chart or bar graph.  Preparing in advance, you can assign each student an ID which will allow you to track student progress.

If you are interested in using these, or just doing a trial run, let me know and I would love to stop by and help you get set up for this.

Magaña, Sonny, and Robert J. Marzano. "Communicating Learning Goals, Tracking Student Progress, and Celebrating Success." Enhancing the Art & Science of Teaching with Technology. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research Laboratory, 2014. 75. Print.

How to Search Gmail and Drive

Great tutorial!  Had to feature this!

Google Gooru

If you have not already, I highly recommend Google Gooru as a valuable resource for learning to make the most of your Google Apps - Gmail, Drive, Calendar, etc.  I subscribe to their newsletter and I am always finding useful, relevant tutorials and helps.

Here is an article they posted today that I found very useful.

4 Things You Can Do Right Now To Create A Perfectly Organized Google Drive


Check them out today.

#EdTech: Clearly Articulating Learning Goals

Utilizing your Moodle course or creating a Google Site are just two ways you can keep your students ahead with clearly articulating learning goals.

Excerpt From: Sonny Magana & Robert J. Marzano. “Enhancing the Art & Science of Teaching With Technology.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/SuDCU.l

Technology vs Technology Integration

Excerpt From: Sonny Magana & Robert J. Marzano. “Enhancing the Art & Science of Teaching With Technology.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/SuDCU.l

Created using canva.com

Dr. Marzano and his team from this book took a look at both positive, negative and neutral views of whether technology is making an impact on learning or whether it is being used at a "trojan horse" for policy reform.  I think this quote sums it all up; at least the second part of this.

This is Technology Integration.

Students Unable to Send Email?

I often have students coming to me with the problem of not being able to email out.  Have you see this?  Most of the time I soon discover that it is not the issue of being able to email out, but the students who come to me are trying to email attachments that are much greater than in size 25MB.  Most email providers, like Gmail, can not email attachments any greater than 25MB.

A huge plus to having a 1to1 program at our schools is the ability to be able to create content other than a text document.  Users can utilize their creativity and use video, photo, audio, animation and other products of content creation to demonstrate their learning.  The problem that can happen is that this gorgeous content creation can get really heavy, size-wise - especially video.  A multiple amount of photos in a document can drive the file's size well above 25MB, making it difficult to email to teachers.

What's the solution?

Every single user in our school district, grades 6-12, have a Google account, and along with that account they have unlimited storage in their Google Drive.  Each student's Google Drive should be their go-to file cabinet or digital locker with which they initially store and share all of their content.   Google Drive's sharing ability is the same as email.  Once a student exports their project and uploads it to their Google Drive on their iPad (or another computer), they can share that created content to anyone.  The recipient receives an email notifying them of the shared content awaiting their acceptance.

Teach your students to make their Google Drive their main place for storing their digital content, and their main place for sharing that digital content.

I hope that was helpful.

Turn Your Data Into a Heat Map: Google Sheets

Gmail "More" Menu

Open the "more" menu to access other labels and options:

Gmail Labels Menu

Clean up your labels menu by dragging them to the "more" menu:

Gmail Labs: Google Calendar Gadget

Add a Google Calendar gadget to your Gmail inbox in Gmail Labs

Enhancing the Art & Science of Teaching With Technology

Excerpt From: Sonny Magana & Robert J. Marzano. “Enhancing the Art & Science of Teaching With Technology.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/SuDCU.l

Enhancing the Art & Science of Teaching With Technology

Excerpt From: Sonny Magana & Robert J. Marzano. “Enhancing the Art & Science of Teaching With Technology.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/SuDCU.l

Notes and Quotes

I am reading Enhancing the Art and Science of Teaching with Technology (Marzano, Page 37).  Here is some interesting data in reference to John Hattie's (2009) meta-analyses and studies on student achievement with the use of educational technology.

Accessing Gmail Labs

Gmail offers some helpful gadgets that you can add to your email experience and provide some functionality to increase productivity.  You can access Labs from Settings.

How To Get Google Docs and Sheets Add-ons

Google App Launcher

Did you know you can go straight to your Docs/Sheets/Slides from the App launcher? Here's how: http://t.co/YqVhR5nQO8 pic.twitter.com/fd8O1FhI0a

— Google Docs (@googledocs) March 19, 2015

The Minimalistic Gmail Cheat Sheet

by AleksTsatskin.

Formative Assessment: Ditch The Worksheets

I came across this article from +Edutopia written by +Vicki Davis and had to feature it here.  She talks about her experiences with really understanding where your students are at with their learning progress and how so many times our "teacher instinct' isn't as tuned in as we would like to think.

Vicki presents some ways for collecting formative assessment of your students through the use of very simple tech tools.  According to the SAMR model, tech should be used to assist and transform learning.  When utilizing electronic formative assessments like this, not only are you just substituting a standard pop-quiz, but with the instant feedback from the programs you are adding modification to your tech use, providing the students with enriched learning and more engagement; better mastery.

Review this article (link below) and try at least one of these for a unit or a small lesson in a classroom that you would feel the most comfortable in learning a new product.

Google Calendar: How to Create and Reserve Appointment Slots

This is a great feature that I bet many do not know was there.

Using Online Quizzes and Grading

I recently re-tweeted an article by +Alice Keeler, but thought it worth highlighting here.  Alice discusses some great models she uses to eliminate the time-consuming worksheets (paper or digital) and uses online applications to administer quizzes.  The focus here is student-centered!

I have received several tweets about how cumbersome it is to have students work with PDF’s in a digital format. I am going to be blunt, uploading your worksheets to PDF’s and putting them online is not a 21st century lesson. This is substitution on the SAMR model. It is a pain to manage digital worksheets. May I take this opportunity to suggest that is because you should not be doing this.

Using technology should create a BETTER learning environment. If you are doing the same tasks with technology you should expect the same educational outcome. Rethink when using tech how you can change what you do. How the task can be more student centered. Allow for more creativity. How do digital tools allow you to differentiate and personalize the instruction? How do digital tools allow your students to become independent learners?

If The Computer Can Grade It, It Should

One of the advantages to digital work is the ability for students to receive feedback faster. Instead of uploading worksheets to your website, Google Classroom or your LMS for students to fill out consider instead recreating the worksheets in Google Forms, That Quiz, Quia, or any of the many other online tools for administering quizzes. Do a Google Search for “online quiz” and several options come up.

If the questions are DOK 1 or DOK 2 a computer can probably grade it. It is significantly more motivating to students to immediately receive feedback on their progress. Rather than do an entire worksheet of problems, wait for the teacher to grade it and give them their scores back, online quiz tools can provide students with feedback immediately after every question or at the completion of the questions. This is win win. The students are more motivated and receive their scores immediately. Teachers save time grading. The quiz generators often have data that the teacher can then look at to see what percentage of the class are being successful, how long it is taking them to do the work, and more quickly target students that need help.

I typed up all of my worksheets, quizzes and tests into quia.com. This allowed me to spend my time helping students rather than grading. The analytics and reports helped me to better target students and make adjustments to my instruction. It also helped me to differentiate. It is unlikely that a worksheet is appropriate for every single student in the class. Some students need more practice, some students need less. Using Quia I could type the questions into a question bank to assign the students a random 3-5 problems. The catch was that they had to get 100%. Instead of doing 30 problems and finding out they were not doing it correctly students would do ONE problem and discover they were not doing it correctly. They would make adjustments and try again. If they were unsuccessful again they would stop and ask for help. This reduced or eliminated a lot of frustration for my students. Having students link to online quizzes allows me to provide the students choices. Advanced students can practice more challenging work. Students who are struggling can practice work that is more at their level. Because the computer is grading the questions it is not a grading burden on the teacher to have different students doing different work.

Short Answer

Using Google Docs, Google Forms or something like Quia is a better solution than having students annotate a PDF for short answer questions. Using Google Forms I can see EVERY students short answer in a spreadsheet. This is grading bliss. I am not opening and closing 30-200 digital files. I open one spreadsheet and I see every students answer all at once. I can create a column for feedback and quickly and easily respond to each students answers in the feedback column. Use a mail merge to email students their feedback or use Autocrat to merge the students answers and your feedback into a Google Doc and share it with the student in Google Drive.

You can see Alice's original article here.

Quizlet for iPad

If you haven't discovered it already, Quizlet is a great app as a tool for studying.  Quizlet had been out for awhile, however from my experience it offers a decent amount of capability for being a FREE app.

Not only is this a great tool for general study of facts and concepts, but it, also, works well for learning languages.

Starting off, a student can easily Sign-up and Sign-in via their school Gmail account.  Making it very easy and secure for a student to register for an account.  Once started, a student can create a data bank of terms and definitions grouped in what Quizlet calls study sets.  Below is a video demo of using Quizlet.

The New Empower 2.0

If you haven't seen it already, Empower's (formerly Educate) site has had an overhaul on its layout and design.  Very new; and very different.  However, much more user friendly and much simpler to navigate through.  It's designed to allow the user to have most everything they need without having to look to hard for it.  I think the one feature that many will appreciate is you have immediate view and access to your classes and class data right on the homepage when you login to your account.

Before, the homepage was the messaging service (which, you can still access in the top right-hand menu) and you had to look around for you class data.

I have embedded below a string of tweets I posted yesterday during workshop loaded full of helpful tips and demos of the new Empower site design.  Be sure to peruse through these posts to help you learn how to navigate and use Empower.

You can access our SAD1 Empower Site by going to:

sad1.educatek12.com

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Happy Safer Internet Day

Accessing Other Calendars on Your Mobile Device

In our digital-age, calendars have a completely different view than they used to when we pinned our favorite yearly calendars to our wall, or placed it on our desks.  Today, having multiple calendars on one account is standard.  The advantage to having multiple calendars is having the ability to accommodate many different events, shifts, programs or even lifestyles; have the ability to isolate the view of these events; and the ability to share these with others.

There are times when you need access to a calendar that someone else created on our mobile device - smartphone or tablet.  For example, our Middle School has their own events calendar, and faculty have the ability to add the Middle School calendar to their own Google Calendar for viewing.  I have had some faculty approach me wanting to be able to access this same Middle School calendar on their iPad.

Unfortunately, there is no simple, one-step for this procedure (that I know of).  However, it is still easy to do.  Through this method you will be able to access other calendars on your mobile device's calendar.

To begin, you will have already needed to add a calendar created by someone else to your own Google Calendar by a link shared to you by the creator of that calendar.  Then, you will have to add your Google account to your mobile device's settings (i.e. on an iPad: Settings; Mail, Contacts and Calendars).

Then go to Google's Calendar Sync Settings on any web browser.  Here you can select (or deselect) the calendars you wish to have available on your mobile device. When you view your mobile's calendar, the newly added calendars from others, should be accessible.

Meeting Strangers Online

In my Digital Citizenship classes I have been holding in our 7th and 8th grade classes, I talk about the dynamic of meeting strangers on the street and meeting strangers online.  When we grow up, we are taught not to talk to strangers.  Parents know that there are malicious people out there and they want to protect their children.  My daughter is very much a social butterfly, and we have to instill in her not to talk to strangers.

In my classes, we discuss how the rules change when meeting strangers online.  The average part of an online lifestyle is meeting strangers.  It is one of the best parts of being online.  Sharing, collaborating, strategizing, meeting, communicating, learning - many careers require the ability to do this with strangers online; and students can learn a lot from strangers online.

The main element I try to capture with the students is that meeting strangers online can be a great opportunity, however we have to learn when the relationship (and I do not mean romantic relationship, but any kind of communication or transaction with a stranger is referred to as a relationship in the class) gets uncomfortable, or private information is being asked for, then red flags should go up and we should reconsider the value of the relationship.  I teach students how to deal with situations like this - logging off, leaving the conversation, changing the subject, not revealing your real name, and especially not giving out personal information.

How To Set-Up and use iCloud Drive On The iPad

Remarkable Aerial Footage Shows What Auschwitz Looks Like Today

Gmail Labels to Organize Email

Great example of how you can make the most of Gmail labels to organize your email.

Digital Citizenship Classes in 7th and 8th Grades

It have been a rather busy two months for me at the Middle School.  I have been in the 7th and 8th grade classrooms teaching students about Digital Citizenship and making right choices online.

We, the PIMS administration and myself, decided last year that we need to teach our students about the impact they make online as well as on themselves as digital citizens; ways that they can be more street-smart with their activity online and when dealing with strangers.

I teach three 8th grade classes, and five 7th grade classes.  Each student has to pass each assessment of each class in order for them to take home their 1to1 iPad device.

The material I have chosen to use as my curriculum is from Common Sense Media.  These guys are fantastic with their thorough approach to dealing and helping parents, teachers, and students understand what is safe and not-so-safe in our media.  From reviews on apps, movies, games, websites, and books, to educating parents on what is trending for kids.  Common Sense Media has also created a rather extensive curriculum for teaching digital citizenship.  Look through their curriculum here.

In December I taught the 8th grade.  The lessons included:

• What's The Big Deal About Internet Privacy?
• A Creator's Rights
• Identifying High-Quality Websites

In 7th grade, I am currently teaching:

• Scams & Schemes
• Safe Online Talk
• Cyberbullying: Crossing the Line
• Trillion-Dollar Footprint
• Risky Online Relationships

All of these classes I have found to be effective for helping students understand how they can impact the internet as well as how the internet can impact their lives, positively and negatively.

Student Note-taking Using Infopics

In case you missed it on my Twitter or Google+ profiles, this is a great post from Tony Vincent.  He sharing a "newer" concept for student note-taking.  He shares several app suggestions and how each app works.  He also gives some great tips and design suggestions that are very helpful for students.  This video is so well put together, that you could have students preview it for themselves and watch them takeoff with creativity, meanwhile making meaning of your classroom content.

Review his blog article regarding Infopics here.

Learning Workshop Idea for PIMS

I realize that lessons and plans for learning workshops have been already planned for the rest of this school year.  However, thinking ahead, for next year, SimCity has recently released an iOS app, FREE.

If you are not familiar with SimCity, it is a simulation gaming franchise that has been out since the late 80s and the premise of the game is that you are the mayor of a potential city.  As mayor, you have to build and improve your city to help it grow and make your city residents happy.  As a learning tool, students will learn how to manage the cities finances and resources, make critical thinking decisions and learn to work efficiently with the resources they have to develop a successful running city.  Not only is the game fun and clean, it is a great way to develop strategic thinking and problem solving and planning.

Perhaps consider this for your next Learning Workshop in the 2015-16 school year.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

The SimCity gaming community in education is so large, there is a site devoted to creating lesson plans and collaborating lesson ideas when using SimCity in the classroom.  Check out GlassLab's SimCityEdu.