Here are this past week’s amazing resources and great blog posts:
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Creating and Implementing Mastery-Based Assignments – Mari Venturino
This is the third blog post in my Mastery-Based Grading series. The first post, My Journey to Mastery-Based Grading talks about the why’s and a little bit of the how’s, and the second post, Tracking Data in Mastery-Based Grading discusses how I keep…
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Useful Resources On Using Tech With Students | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…
I was a guest this morning on the #EduGoalsMooc Twitter chat, and thought readers here might be interested in some of the resources I shared there (you can find all the tweets from the chat by searching the hashtag on Twitter).
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4 Ways Facebook Groups Can Transform Your Teaching – Class Tech Tips
Over the past year or so I’ve found myself using Facebook in an increasingly different way than in the past. Instead of using this social media platform to post pictures from a vacation, or comment on an update shared by a friend or family member… i…
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Effective Technology Integration: 15+ #EduGoalsMOOC Chat Resources – Teacher Reboot Camp
Today, The Goal-Minded Teacher (#EduGoalsMOOC) free open online course Twitter chat took place about the topic, Effective Technology Integration.
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7 Simple Steps for a Digital Detox
Do you sleep with the phone next to your bed? Or worse, on or under your pillow with it pinging or vibrating with every text, Tweet, or notification? Do you feel insecure if your device isn’t nearby or on your person? If you say yes, to any of these…
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How Today’s Students Are Different And What It Means For You – Smart Classroom Management
I’m often asked what if anything has changed during my 27 years of teaching. There are a few things, for sure.
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Free Technology for Teachers: ViewPure Now Offers Curated Playlists
ViewPure, a great tool for distraction-free YouTube viewing, has relatively new collections of videos for teachers. The collections are organized according to grade level and topic. Start here by choosing either high school, middle school, upper ele…
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Week 1: Let’s introduce ourselves – Student Blogging Challenge
Whenever you see either of these avatars or images on the world wide web, you will know it is me. I am a retired teacher who began blogging with students in 2008. I still blog with teachers and students in Tasmania, Australia.
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A Pour Photo Lacktribution – CogDogBlog
In ramping up for next week’s Mural UDG project on open education at the University of Guadalajara, I go back to something that, after so many years should be more enabled by technology, but is as messy as always.
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12 Alternatives To Letter Grades In Education
Few artifacts of formal learning are as iconic as the letter grade. What can I do to get an A?
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Free Technology for Teachers: 5 Audio Recording & Editing Tools – Feature Comparison Chart
A few years ago I put together a series of charts that provided quick overviews of the features of popular ed tech tools. Since then some favorite tools have changed features, changed business models, or went out of business. So I’ve decided to upda…
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Students Need to Solve Real Problems – John Spencer
In the 1908s, somebody decided that haircuts were way too messy. So, they combined a hair trimmer with a vacuum cleaner and we ended up with the Flowbee. I remember begging my parents for a Flowbee and they said “no,” because they thought I would us…
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Free Technology for Teachers: 5 Tools for Creating Multimedia Books – Comparison Chart
Developing a multimedia ebook or magazine can be a to get kids excited about writing. Incorporating pictures, videos, and audio can be a good way for students to illustrate and or further explain portions of fiction and non-fiction stories that they…
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Africa’s real Wakanda and the struggle to stay uncolonized is from The Washington Post. There’s a True Story Behind Black Panther’s Strong Women. Here’s Why That Matters is from TIME.
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We Need Your Help! Use Of Blogs In Education Survey – The Edublogger
Can you spare five minutes? We need your help! Every year we conduct a survey on how educators are using blogs. Our goal is to document the trends in educational blogging.
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Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog: What happens after the global warming problem is solved?
It is the year 2038. The global warming problem has been conquered, but environment crises still plague mankind.
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Free Technology for Teachers: 7 Options for Creating Timelines Online – An Updated Comparison Chart
Making timelines is a go-to activity for many social studies teachers. When I made timelines as a student and in my first year or two of teaching, timelines were made on paper. Today, there are better ways to have students create timelines.
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Chrome Extension: Tab Wrangler – NCCE’s Tech Savvy Teacher Blog
Do you suffer from tab overload? I know I do! I am constantly looking for an extension that helps me with my tab problem, but also gives me the options to keep my most used sites available.
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240 examples of how other families live. I’m looking at you World Geo teachers. | History Tech
We’re always looking for ways to help kids see the big picture. To compare and contrast. Find differences and similarities. To break down stereotypes. Dollar Street and Gapminder can help. Gapminder is a Swedish foundation that describes itself as a…
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7 Digital Learning Theories and Models You Should Know – Teacher Reboot Camp
While pursuing our teaching degrees we were introduced to various learning theorists and their insights about how people learn best. Some familiar names, included Piaget, Bandura, Vygotsky, and Gardner.
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Service Learning: Grants and FREE Resources to Help Your Students Serve and Grow @coolcatteacher
Service learning is when students learn by serving others. We Volunteer Now has fantastic resources, and they’re awarding $250 grants for 500 schools to use toward volunteer projects. Transform your school by helping students design their own projec…
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Wallpaper Your 3D Virtual Reality Room – TechNotes Blog – TCEA
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Free Technology for Teachers: Flowers of North America
Project Noah is a globally collaborative project to which anyone can contribute. On Project Noah you can share pictures and stories of the plants and the animals that you observe in your neighborhood.
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I’m adding it to The Best Articles & Videos Showing How Parkland’s Teens Are Responding To Tragedy. How Parkland Students Changed the Gun Debate is from The Atlantic.
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Ah, “student engagement.” A phrase used often (see The Best Posts & Articles On Student Engagement), but its meaning can vary.
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Free Technology for Teachers: The Role of Bird Migration in the Ecosystem
When I let my dogs out this morning I heard some birds chirping that I hadn’t heard in a few months. That’s a sure sign that spring can’t be too far away. The sounds of the birds this morning reminded me of a TED-Ed lesson that was published a few y…
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The Salem Witch Trials began on this day in 1692. If you go to this post on our U.S. History class blog – and scroll down – you’ll find the resources I use to teach about it, including the student assignment.
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Free Technology for Teachers: Squirrels!!! Why Are You Digging In My Lawn?
Along with the birds returning my yard, the squirrels and chipmunks are starting to dig around in my lawn. The same thing might be happening in your students’ yards too.
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Research: Children see words and faces differently from adults – UKEdChat
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Free Technology for Teachers: Aquation – A Game for Learning About Global Access to Clean Water
Aquation is a free game offered by the the Smithsonian Science Education Center. The game, designed for students in upper elementary school or middle school, teaches students about the distribution of clean water and what can be done to balance glob…
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Why your students need a podcast: How to do it fast and free | Ditch That Textbook
Podcasts are growing in popularity. By letting your students create one, they get an authentic audience and get a voice in a big way. It’s easy and free. Podcasts can serve a crucial role in preparing your students for the future and helping their l…
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Should I Start Defining the Game Elements Now? – Gamified UK – #Gamification Expert
Rate this item: No votes yet. Please wait… When you get going with gamification, it can be really really exciting.
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Google Search. It’s not just for breakfast anymore. | History Tech
I’m probably showing my age. But the old orange juice commercial still comes to mind every once in a while. You know the one. Everyday folks drinking orange juice all day long cause . . . you know, it’s not just for breakfast anymore. (You’re welcom…
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Visual representation of units of inquiry… – What Ed Said
A holistic, visual approach to collaborative unit planning, with the child at the centre, ensures that we are addressing our goal of developing the whole child.
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Next Generation Climate: Middle School NGSS Unit | Science for All
OVERVIEW: Climate Generation has a variety of climate resources for teachers including a middle school NGSS climate unit titled Next Generation Climate.
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Free Technology for Teachers: Reshot – A New Source of Free Images for Multimedia Projects
Reshot is a new site that offers free “handpicked” images that you can download to reuse in multimedia projects. The site, like many like it, lets you download images for free. According to Reshot’s licensing statement, image attribution isn’t requi…
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Steve Hargadon: My Reply to a Testing Organization’s Request
A testing organization’s representative asked me to consider having them cover the costs of my attending the SXSW EDU conference if I would specifically attend and write about the panel discussions featuring their representatives.
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Randi Weingarten Explains the Janus Case | Diane Ravitch’s blog
“I don’t write emails to our full membership and activist community often, but the Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court case warrants it. “The case is challenging the 45-year-old precedent that 23 states have used to determine wages, hours, and other terms…
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When I was a kid, Super Mario Bros. was my jam. After school, I couldn’t wait to take on the role of plucky plumber Mario or his brother Luigi.
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Failure and Its Uses–part one | Stories From School
One of my favorite quotes is Samuel Beckett’s “Ever tired. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” The line comes from Beckett’s send up on westward expansion—Worstward Ho. It is one of those bits of pragmatic wisdom that arises…
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Peer or Self-Assessment? Benefits and Challenges by @RichardJARogers – UKEdChat
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Managing the pressure of the ‘difficult’ class — The Learner’s Way
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2018 Global Minecraft Mentor program launches with over 300 educators | Minecraft: Education Edition
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5 Google Drawings features you (probably) don’t know about | Ditch That Textbook
Google Drawings is a powerful image creator, letting students make awesome products with their learning. Here are some features you might not know! Posters. Advertisements. Graphic organizers. Comic strips. Image annotations. Flyers.
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Free Technology for Teachers: Solve Me Puzzles – Play or Create Math Puzzles
Solve Me Puzzles is a free site provided by the nonprofit Education Development Center. The site offers free math puzzles for students to play and templates for teachers to use to create math puzzles. Solve Me Puzzles features three basic puzzle typ…
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Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero: Venn Diagram
Venn diagram is a wonderful resource from Read Write & Think that I just found out about from Monica Burns excellent blog. This is a great site or app (iOS/Android) that allows users to create their very own Venn diagram of two to three circles.
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Free Technology for Teachers: How to Create a Podcast
Last week Anchor.fm launched a new and improved site that makes it easy for anyone to create and publish a podcast. I liked the redesigned site so much that I featured it as my tip of the week in the Practical Ed Tech newsletter.
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Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog: Graupel Storm Hits Puget Sound
Sunday afternoon something strange hit the area between Seattle and Everett, from the Sound into the foothills. Small white pellets starting coming down, first slowly and then in an immense wave in places, piling up until some locations had accumula…
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Arthur Goldstein: The Hoax of the Anti-Union Janus Case | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Plutocrats have been trying to strangle unions since they began. They now have their best shot with the Janus case, which the Supreme Court is deciding now.
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OVERVIEW: WestEd recently published a free report titled- This report describes how the NGSS Early Implementers project in eight California school districts has supported thoughtful NGSS implementation.
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20th Student Blogging Challenge: Register Now – The Edublogger
If you want to connect with classes around the world while helping your students learn more about blogging in a structured way, you might be interested in the Student Blogging Challenge. The ten week challenge runs twice a year beginning in March an…
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Amusing Monday: Using musical notes to describe salmon migration | Watching Our Water Ways
Researchers working on innumerable scientific investigations throughout the world continue to present their findings in new and interesting ways, often apart from the usual charts and graphs.
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10 Activities for Teaching Historical Perspective – History Gal
Analyzing history from both sides of the story can encourage students to delve more deeply into the people and events they are studying. But, analyzing is difficult for many students. An easy way to help your students is to add a graphic component.
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Free Technology for Teachers: Rocket Science 101 – Build and Launch Virtual Rockets
Rocket Science 101 is a free app offered by NASA that helps students understand how rockets work. The app also helps students understand the differences between the four types of rockets most frequently used by NASA.
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Disruptions in Ecosystems Middle School NGSS Unit | Science for All
OVERVIEW: We are at an exciting spot in the implementation of NGSS where we are seeing some high-quality three dimensional instructional materials being released.
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Free Technology for Teachers: Truss Me – Design and Test Weight-bearing Structures
Truss Me is an app that students can use to design and test simple weight-bearing structures. Truss Me can be used in “challenge” mode or in “free play” mode. The challenge mode contains fifteen activities in which students are awarded points for st…
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Free Technology for Teachers: Ancient Rome 101 and Life as a Roman Teenager
National Geographic has a great series of YouTube videos called National Geographic 101. The most recent addition to that series is Ancient Rome 101. The video provides an excellent introduction to the origin, rise, and fall of the Roman Empire.
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Google Earth Tutorial for Non-Techie Teachers | Ed Tech Ideas
If you’re looking for a quick and easy to use tutorial for teaching students the ins and outs of Google Earth on the iPad, here you go.
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The Effectiveness of Online Learning Depends on Design |
As students of all ages spend more time learning online, it’s worth asking, “How effective is online learning?” The answer varies dramatically and depends entirely on the design of the online learning experience.
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12+ Missions Covering Various K12 Content for Meaningful Learning – Teacher Reboot Camp
Technology is a huge part of our students’ lives. Students all over the world have access to knowledge, resources, and experts to help them learn in rich ways and accomplish great things.
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Free Technology for Teachers: Ptable – Interactive Periodic Table of Elements
There are lots of websites offering interactive or dynamic periodic tables. One that has been around for many years now is Ptable. Ptable is an interactive display of the Periodic Table of Elements. Place your mouse pointer over an element to access…
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Free Technology for Teachers: My Top Six Sources of Public Domain Media
One of the questions that readers ask me on regular basis is, “where can I find images that my students can use in their projects?” Less frequently, but still fairly often I’m asked the same question about audio and video clips. In fact, I just answ…
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How Does Assessment Work in a P.B.L. Unit? – John Spencer
Visit a basketball court or a skate park or a rock climbing gym and you might just miss something happening all around. Assessment.
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Virtual Reality Without a Headset? Real Classroom Strategies for VR – Class Tech Tips
Can virtual reality happen without a headset? I was invited to speak at the 3rd European iPads in the Classroom in Amsterdam last month about creation and collaboration on digital devices.
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Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog: Protecting Seattle From Extreme Weather
Ironically, for a fabled wet area, our infrastructure is not well equipped for short periods (hours to a day) of heavy rain. An example of such heavy rain occurred on December 14, 2006, leading to street flooding and the tragic death of a woman in h…
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Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: 11 Ways to Increase School Safety Right Now
· 4 #EdTech Blogs to Bookmark · 9 Must Read Blogs for Innovative Teachers · 10 Digital Citizenship Bloggers to Follow · 10 Education blogs worth following – eSchool News · 11 Ed Tech Bloggers to Follow · 20 Best Blogs in Instructional Technology · 2…
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A Principal’s Reflections: Pushing Learners to Think with Performance Tasks
Pedagogy has been at the forefront of my thinking and work as of late. Decades of solid research have laid the foundation for current studies that bring to light how we can improve teaching, learning, and leadership.
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Convince Me – The Principal of Change
Educators around the world are embracing new ideas on what school can look like in today’s society and are advocating for growth in themselves first, and others around them. Times have changed, and education is not in isolation of needing to change…