2017

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Rethink Your Grading Practices

Catlin Tucker

This year I have posted several blogs about grading and assessment. I encouraged teachers to stop taking grading home for two simple reasons: Grading in isolation robs us of the opportunity to have conversations with students as we assess their work and, ultimately, makes feedback one-sided and less effective. Grading at home robs us of precious time with our families, time to relax, and time to create dynamic learning experiences for students.

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How Will AR Transform Education? [#Infographic]

EdTech Magazine

By Meghan Bogardus Cortez At both the primary and secondary level, augmented reality has the power to provide students with more interactive experiences.

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Google Classroom: Top New Features to Learn Over the Summer #gafe

The CoolCatTeacher

A conversation with Alice Keeler on episode 97 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter. Today Alice Keeler @alicekeeler shares the must-try new features of Google Classroom. She also teaches us how we can learn Google Classroom features and hacks over the summer (even without students.

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Blended Instruction vs Blended Learning

A Principal's Reflections

Schools continue to make investments in technology to engage students better, improve outcomes, and prepare all learners for the new world of work. We are beginning to see more and more innovative uses of technology not just to personalize, but also to make the learning process more personal. When a solid pedagogical foundation is in place, the stage is set to challenge students to demonstrate thinking and learning in ways that we could never have imagined a few short years ago.

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Enhancing Higher Education with Generative AI: A Responsible Guide

Generative AI holds tremendous promise for all stakeholders in higher education. But guardrails are needed. Strong governance that empower instructors are at the core of a responsible approach to using generative AI in academia.

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8 Ways to Annotate Readings, Websites and Online Articles with Examples

Teacher Reboot Camp

“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.” – John Locke. One of the most important skills for our digital learners is inspecting the information they consume with a critical eye. The challenge is to turn this into a habit students do outside the classroom. One idea is to get students to annotate their readings regularly.

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Boost Girls’ STEM Education to Combat Sexism in Tech

Ed Tech from the Ground Up

Access to high-quality science, technology, engineering and math programs, like coding, from a young age will improve female participation in the technology field. The post Boost Girls’ STEM Education to Combat Sexism in Tech appeared first on Market Brief.

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Helping Learners Move Beyond “I Can’t Do This”

User Generated Education

I work part-time with elementary learners – with gifted learners during the school year and teaching maker education camps during the summer. The one thing almost all of them have in common is yelling out, “I can’t do this” when the tasks aren’t completed upon first attempts or get a little too difficult for them. I partially blame this on the way most school curriculum is structured.

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Adapting, Balancing, and Collaborating in Mentor Public Schools

Digital Promise

Mentor Public Schools is a suburban district 20 miles east of Cleveland, Ohio, which serves 7,650 preK-12 students across 42 square miles. The district provides opportunities to its students through its emphasis on the fundamental ABCs – adapting, balancing, and collaborating – which they will highlight at the spring 2017 League of Innovative Schools meeting in late April.

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OneNote–the all-in-one digital notetaking, classroom app for educators

Ask a Tech Teacher

It used to be, every class I taught started with students scrambling for notepaper and sharpening their pencils. Everyone took notes and used those to study for exams. If students wanted to share notes, they had to find a copy machine. Many schools still do this, but there’s a better way: Digital notetaking. Students can use whatever computing device they have — including a smartphone — to record notes that can then be filed, shared, multimedia’d, and collaborated on.

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Panel Presentations: Connect Students with a Real Audience

Catlin Tucker

When I spoke at Californa’s Better Together Teachers Summit , I talked about the power of connecting students to an authentic audience online. I emphasized the role technology can play in helping teachers to get more eyes on student work and, as a result, motivate students to do their best work. In addition to connecting students to an online audience, I also invite community members, parents, and other students into our classroom regularly.

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Enhancing School Device Management for Improved Learning

Schools face increasing challenges as technology becomes integral to education. Efficient device management is essential for maximizing technology use and safeguarding investments. Our article discusses the importance of tracking devices, outlines current challenges, and suggests modern solutions that go beyond traditional methods like Excel. Learn how advanced tracking systems can streamline operations, improve maintenance, and offer real-time updates for better resource allocation.

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My Story: Fire, Loss, and Rebuilding

Catlin Tucker

On Sunday, October 8th I went to bed early. I had been waking up between 4-5 AM all week to do work for my doctoral program. We had also hosted my husband’s family for the weekend, and I was exhausted. Normally, we go to be at 11 PM, but that evening I crawled under the covers at 9:30 PM. It was a warm and windy night. I could hear the wind whistling through the trees outside my window.

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Google Extends Digital Literacy Training to Teachers

EdTech Magazine

By Meghan Bogardus Cortez The tech giant’s Be Internet Awesome campaign now includes a free course for teachers.

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Teaching & Assessing Soft Skills

Catlin Tucker

The career landscape is changing dramatically. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the average worker currently holds ten different jobs before the age of forty. This requires a high degree of flexibility and adaptability. Students who leave high school with strong soft skills will work more harmoniously with others and be more successful tackling unfamiliar tasks.

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Borrowing a Powerful Brainstorm Protocol from IDEO

Catlin Tucker

This summer I spent a week at IDEO in San Francisco learning about design thinking and their process for tackling challenges. While I was there, I observed a team brainstorm and was shocked by their results. Like most teachers, I want students to brainstorm and generate ideas to fuel their inquiries and drive projects. However, this seemingly simple task of generating ideas is really challenging for students for a few reasons.

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Quickly Create Personalized Learning Experiences that Work

How can we actively engage learners 24/7, on their level and according to their interests, while respecting their learning styles? It’s not impossible. In this guide: Explore how to transform traditional, one-way videos into two-way interactive learning experiences Understand different types of artificial intelligence (AI), including - Generative vs.

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6 Shifts to Maximize Productivity and Happiness

Catlin Tucker

This year I’ve decided to pursue my doctorate at Pepperdine University. It is a blended program with a mix of face-to-face and online learning, which is obviously perfect for this blended learning enthusiast! My program will allow me to continue teaching and coaching, but it will present some very real challenges for me personally when it comes to balancing my various roles and responsibilities–mother, teacher, trainer, coach, speaker, and author.

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How Tech Can Help Students with Disabilities Thrive in STEM Education

EdTech Magazine

By Calvin Hennick Tools give students with special needs the same access to science and math activities as other schoolchildren.

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3 Ways to Get More Young Women Interested in STEM

EdTech Magazine

By Meghan Bogardus Cortez From computational thinking to role models, educators can use classroom tech to further engage young women in science, technology, engineering and math fields.

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Grade Interviews

Catlin Tucker

Over the last two years, I’ve moved further and further away from traditional grading. I’ve blogged about grading for mastery of skills instead of the accumulation of points and ditching my traditional grade book in favor of an ongoing assessment document. I identify target skills and assess these critical skills over the course of the grading period.

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Can Brain Science Actually Help Make Your Training & Teaching Stick?

Speaker: Andrew Cohen, Founder & CEO of Brainscape

The instructor’s PPT slides are brilliant. You’ve splurged on the expensive interactive courseware. Student engagement is stellar. So… why are half of your students still forgetting everything they learned in just a matter of weeks? It's likely a matter of cognitive science! With so much material to "teach" these days, we often forget to incorporate key proven principles into our curricula — namely active recall, metacognition, spaced repetition, and interleaving practice.

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Google Slide Scavenger Hunt

Catlin Tucker

After posting my Google Doc Scavenger Hunt activity, I had several teachers ask if I had created scavenger hunts for any of the other Google tools. Below is the scavenger hunt I designed for Google Slides. Teachers are welcome to access and use this Google Slide Scavenger Hunt. Just click “File” on the presentation and “Make a copy.” It will automatically save to your Google Drive, then you can edit your version so it works for your students.

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Google Docs Scavenger Hunt

Catlin Tucker

With the new school year, comes new students and a steep technology learning curve. My goal is to make learning how to use technology fun and engaging. Given how many tools we use, that’s no small feat! Many of my incoming 9th-grade students have never used the Google Suite prior to my class. I could spend 10 minutes walking them through Google Docs and explaining the functionality, but I’d lose their interest immediately.

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Google Partners with ISTE and Others to Create Digital Citizenship Game

EdTech Magazine

By Meghan Bogardus Cortez Be Internet Awesome aims to educate digital civility in an interactive way.

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Faster Feedback: Create Editing Shortcuts in Google Docs

Catlin Tucker

Since I published “ Stop Taking Grading Home ,” I’ve had a ton of teachers ask me how I am able to give feedback on Google Docs so quickly. I give real-time feedback to ~8 students in a 25-minute station. It definitely helps that I am a skilled typist. I also keep the scope of my feedback narrow, so I am not trying to correct everything in one real-time editing station.

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Behind the Bell: The Underlying Impact of Tardiness in K-12 Schools

Managing a K-12 campus with constant pressure to meet performance metrics is challenging. And tardiness can significantly limit a school from reaching these goals. Learn more about why chronic lateness matters, and key strategies to address the following impacts: Data errors caused by manual processes Low attendance and graduation rates that affect a school’s reputation Classroom disruption, which leads to poor academic performance High staff attrition and “The Teacher Exodus” Unmet LCAP goals t

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4 Skills Tech Industry Employees Say Today’s Students Need to Succeed

EdTech Magazine

By Meghan Bogardus Cortez From communication to STEM experience, these experts offer tips on future readiness.

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Project Based Learning is a Roller Coaster

Catlin Tucker

One of the most challenging aspects of this school year has been using project-based learning to integrate curriculum. Projects are a beast! It feels like I am boarding a roller coaster each time we begin a new project. In fact, it feels like every project follows the same emotionally turbulent trajectory as pictured below. Phase 1: Introduce the Project.

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Battling Against Traditional Perceptions of Teaching and Learning

Catlin Tucker

My goal with blended learning has always been to shift the focus from me to my students. I want to place them at the center of learning. I want them to ask questions, conduct research, engage in conversations, collaborate with peers, and make meaning for themselves. I believe this is the best way to prepare them for life. However, the truth is that. being a student in a student-centered classroom is hard & some kids just don't want to work that hard Click To Tweet I teach 9th and 10th grade,

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Google Classroom: Exploring the Benefits for Teachers

EdTech Magazine

By Meghan Bogardus Cortez We take a deep dive into the advantages of this popular Google tool.

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The Battle of the Authoring Tools: A 10-Point Comparison for Picking the Right One

Speaker: Chris Paxton McMillin, President of D3 Training Solutions

There are plenty of great authoring tools for developing eLearning, but the one you select could directly impact your course's outcomes. Depending upon your learners’ needs and your organization’s performance goals, you could be overlooking considerations that impact the both effectiveness of your courses and how long it takes to finish them. From general capabilities to specific workflow structures, some aspects are critical when it comes to learning objectives and deadlines.

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3 Problems with Traditional Grades

Catlin Tucker

For the last two years, I’ve been moving farther away from conventional grades. This has been a huge shift for me. I used to grade everything and dump hundreds of points into my digital gradebook over the course of a semester. When grades were due, my gradebook spit out a percentage for each student and that was the grade he/she received. There are several problems with this approach.

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Save Your Sanity with a Things to Revamp for Next Year List

Catlin Tucker

Some teachers will probably hate me for even mentioning next year when we still have a month of school left, so my apologies for those of you who don’t have the bandwidth to think about it yet. However, I find myself feeling the same way every year around this time. I experience a mix of guilt, frustration, and exhaustion. I feel guilty about all of the things I didn’t get to or all of the aspects of my teaching that could have been better.

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Solving Real-World Problems Is Key to Ed Tech Success

EdTech Magazine

By Meghan Bogardus Cortez More students embrace technology and STEM topics if use is relevant to the world around them.

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Students Email Their Parents About Missing Work

Catlin Tucker

In my last blog post titled, “ Stop Taking Grading Home ,” I explained how I use the Station Rotation Model to provide students with real-time feedback as they work instead of taking grading home. I had one teacher ask me what I do when a student arrives at my teacher-led station and has not done the work required. That’s a great question, so I wanted to share my very simple strategy with my readers.

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The Roses and Thorns of an LMS Strategy: How to Flourish with the Right LMS

Speaker: Amanda Davis, Chief Experience Officer and Liam O'Malley, VP of Association Solutions

The "new normal" is now a little less new, a little more normal. Does that mean your current LMS strategy is in need of a refresh? Is your organization or association leaning into the always-evolving eLearning environment to ensure you have the tools and content to remain relevant through all this change? There are many complex decision-making processes within your learning & development strategy and LMS lifecycle management, including: Selection.