Incorporating Speak Truth to Power into Your Classroom

New from DE:

On Human Rights Day, a day commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, in partnership with Discovery Education, is proud to announce the launch of a NEW Master Class Series for educators.  The 5-part series from Speak Truth To Power, an award-winning Human Rights educational program, features 5 leading educators who have brought human rights and social justice learning to their students using the no-cost Speak Truth to Power program.

Using stories to teach (and inspire)

I found this blog post (from Big Deal Media) interesting- how could it work in your classroom?

Math Fun!

Bonnie Brady (a former co-worker) recently shared Steve Wyborney’s blog with me. 

You will find a wealth of estimation material including introducing Esti-Mysteries!  

Here is Steve’s description:

 Each image invites students to wonder what number is represented by the image.  As you click through each Esti-Mystery, clues will appear that will allow the students to use math concepts to narrow the set of possibilities to a small set of numbers.  In the end, the students will need to call upon their estimation skills to solve the mystery and find the missing number.

Writing assignments and ChatterPIX- a perfect match!

Recently I worked with Kerry DiStefano’s and Alexa Miller’s second-grade class.

Here is what we did:

Students were asked to draw a picture of themselves using colored pencils.   Then

they were asked to write about their favorite winter activities. We edited all

writing pieces to keep them under 30 seconds and had students share their

favorite winter activities with the class.  

The students finished the project by recording their writing in ChatterPix. 

Please see the video below!

Answer the quiz and see..

The snowman!  This was an interesting spreadsheet project from Schooled inTech (written by Dave Carty).  Please click here to see the step by step directions (and to make a copy of the spreadsheet).

What’s the real difference?

Confused with the variety of online quizzes (ie, Kahoot? Quizzes? And more).  Matt Miller (Ditch that Textbook) has a nice comparison on the top classroom games.

5 things you didn’t know

About Google Classroom. I think number 3 is the most important.  Please see the complete list here from Alice Keeler.

Hot Spots

Richard Byrne  (Free Technology for Teachers) shared this great tool from Classtools (Russel Tarr) which allows you to annotate an image. In a way, it reminded me of ThingLink.  You can add a description as well as a link.  Richard has step by step directions here.  One of the nicest features (I think) is that you don’t need an account. (This is true of many of the Classtools applications- but you do need to remember the password and the link if you want to edit).  Below is a sample I created. Click on the dots to see the information.

Making your documents look nice

We all have our pet issues- one of mine is seeing the entire url embedded in a document.  If you need to insert a link, use the Ctrl K feature- Alice Keeler outlines the details here.

Looking for some free PD?

The annual Ditch that Textbook online PD is coming at the end of the month.  Please see the information below:

It’s called the Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit. There are nine video presentations

from awesome presenters on topics related to tech and solid teaching and

learning. Get your free ticket at: DitchSummit.com.

HOW IT WORKS: New presentations are released every day from Dec. 21-31

(except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day). They remain available until Jan. 8

so you can re-watch or catch up on any you’ve missed. They’re pre-recorded,

so you can watch them whenever you want until Jan. 8. After that, the summit

ends and the videos are unavailable to watch anymore.

FREE PD HOURS: You can get FREE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

CREDITS for watching the videos. There’s a form to fill out after each

presentation, and you’ll get an automatic PD certificate emailed to you.

Sign up for the digital summit at DitchSummit.com.

Would you like to draw a snowflake?

Lauren Conti has a great video that will walk you through the steps.

Decorate your tree

Eric Curts (from Control Alt Achieve) has shared another slide project.  While you may remember his make a snowman, this year you can decorate your own tree and then add a writing prompt for your students.  The tree above is my sample. Please see his blog post here for complete directions.

New from Discovery Education: Econ Essentials

Let your students discover the mysteries of human

behavior with the newest interactive learning resources

from Econ Essentials

One of the key differences between traditional economics and behavioral economics is

the use of experiments to test theories. Your students have likely done many

science experiments, but have they ever done an economics experiment? 

In the second of four Behavioral Economics Digital Lesson Bundles released by
Econ Essentials  titled “How We Are Affected by Preference,” students will explore
and experiment with two seemingly counter-intuitive human behaviors – loss
aversion and the endowment effect.  Students will test why they feel greater
emotional impact when losing the big game, why they value losses more than
they do gains, or why they may overvalue what they already own.

The American Revolution and Storyboardthat

Michelle Leonard recently shared some of her students’ Storyboardthat products.  This was an innovative way to have students demonstrate their understanding along with some creativity. Here are a few samples:

Table Top Texting (S.O.S.)

Lori  Dobrzynski (SMS Media Speciali) recently shared the above photo from one of her

classes.  She writes:

Eighth-grade students participated in Table Top Texting during their library visit.

Table Top Texting is an interactive way for students to express themselves.

The topic used for this fun example of written expression was the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry. 

You can find all the details on this Spotlight On Strategy here.  If you are in the District, log into your Discovery Education account and search for Table Top Texting- you will find a video as well as additional resources.

K-2 Resources from TeachersFirst

In this week’s highlights from TeachersFirst, there was a focus on the primary grades.  Here are some samples:

Grades K-2

Preschool and Kindergarten Games

This colorful site includes: animals, letters, numbers, colors, and shapes.

Play alphabet activities to learn letters. Choose from the activities in the

animal section of the site sorted into categories: look, create, play, count,

learn, and find.

Grades K-2

Fisher-Price Online Games

Play games that include popular characters such as Thomas the Train

or Fisher-Price Little People. Choose from different learning activities

such as colors, shapes, ABC's, and more. Sort games by age range, character,

or type of content.

Grades K-2

Scholastic Family Playground

Navigate your way through the games, stories, videos, and more available

for early elementary students. Familiar stories and characters are the f

oundation for activities: Clifford, Word Girl, Magic School Bus, and more.

Bouncy Balls (or eyeballs)

Looking for an interactive way to help your students manage the noise level in your classroom?  Check out Bouncy Balls and let the magic begin.  Change to eyeballs or emojis if you would like!  See the review here in TeachersFirst.

Seesaw- it’s not just for the young learner

I love Seesaw- there is so much your students can do! Matt Miller (Ditch That Textbook fame) has recently shared 20 suggestions for students of all ages.  Please click here to view it.

Creating tours in Google Earth (Web Version)

While creating tours in the desktop version is old news, now you can also create tours in the web version.  Richard Byrne (Free Technology for Teachers) has created a great how do video here.  Another option is to use the tutorial in Google Earth.  There are additional resources on their YouTube Channel. There are a variety of things your students could do with a map.

Have you seen the new Ditch That Textbook?

Matt Miller has shared many resources in his blog- now, in a redesigned site, you can find all his resources and videos.  Check it out here.

Stop Motion with Google Slides

Wanda Terral (who I follow on Facebook) is a Google guru.  She recently shared several of her presentations from a Georgia tech conference.  Here’s the link to her Stop Motion presentation.  She includes step by step directions as well as several templates.

We are thankful

During this Thanksgiving season, I had the chance to use ChatterPIX and iMovie to create some classroom videos.  The process was the same for each class. The students drew a picture and then using ChatterPIX, we recorded what they were thankful for- put them all together in iMovie and they are below. Special thanks to Ms. Greene, Ms. McDade, and Mrs, McNamara for allowing me to work with their classes.

Making feedback more alive!

Alice Keeler may have coined the phrase autopsy feedback in her blog post here.  Basically, she reminded me that all the comments I wrote after the fact were not really useful to the students.  She suggests adding a feedback date and then including response to feedback as part of the feedback. Using any Google tool (ie, slides, sheets, docs) assigned via classroom gives you access to the student work before it is turned in.  How could this help your students?

Learning Google Drawing Tools

I am thankful for this video by Lauren Conti- in it, she walks you through the Google Drawing tools to create this cute turkey.  Perhaps you could have your students try on their own before sharing the video.

Wish you could start to create stickers (digital badges)?

With this script from Alice Keeler, the hardest problem will be stopping!  Using her script, you can add images, word art, and more. This article contains some of my creations.

Download each slide as a png file and then add to your students’ work!  Read all about it here or see the video below.

Is Classroom moving too slow?

Alice Keeler has a suggestion- just duplicate the tab and while you are waiting for action in one tab to finish- you can work in the other tab.  Read all about it here.

Want to make your classroom a gameshow?

That’s the question Matt Miller (Ditch that Textbook) posed in a recent blog post.  From Quizizz and a slew of online assessments- you might find some inspiration.

Randomize your slides

Do you have a slide deck and like to switch up the order?  Consider using Slide Randomizer.  Add this add-on and you can automatically rearrange your slides.  For more information, please see Richard Byrne’s blog post here from Free Technology for Teachers.

Want to up your Slide game?

While I frequently use Slides Carnival to add style to my Google slides, I didn’t realize there are other vendors.  Thanks to Eric Curts, you can now review several slides sites with templates to make your Google/PowerPoint  Slides shine. Please see Eric’s blog post here.

Looking for classroom management tips?

Vicki Davis (CoolCatTeacher) shares her top tips for classroom management.  From building partnerships (with various partners), working the process, and something for those who finish early- you will something here that you can use in your class.

Social-Emotional Learning and DES

Sign in to your DE account and check out these new resources.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING: Discovery Education supports Social
and Emotional Learning (SEL) through its dynamic platform, relevant content,
robust channels, and instructional strategies. Explore and share SEL resources today.

BRINGING SEL TO LIFE: In our recent virtual field trip, we introduced students to the key pillars of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, social awareness, and relationship skills. It’s not too late for you to follow these students through their day and see how they learn to better understand themselves. Watch the Archive.

A presentation with a point

Slides Carnival has just debuted a new template- and with its clean

lines and colorful pencil border makes it a good fit for your classroom,

I’ve linked a sample below.

Branching Forms

You can create your own branching forms by adding sections and then changing the location for each response.  Want an easier method? Check out Alice Keeler’s blog post complete with her coding for branching forms. 

How many cities can you name?

Other than the geography aspects of this game, I found the population comparison interesting.  I didn’t realize Sayreville is about half the population of Trenton. This game is located here and reviewed in Richard Byrne’s (Free Technology for Teachers) post here. There is also a European version.

Create your own adventure

With Google Slides!  Matt Miller (Ditch that Textbook) provides detailed planning ideas and step by step directions here for making you and your students succeed with this interactive project.