Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

Here are some great blog posts and cool resources from this past week:

• Student File Bookshelf – A template created by Tanya Price | SlidesMania

  Tanya loved the File Cabinets and Mangai’s vault of options but neither were enough for the number of students she usually has. So she created a bookshelf with 26 slots.

• Free Edu Digital Planner made with Google Slides with hyperlinks – From July to July | SlidesMania

  By popular demand, this time, I started the week view on Monday, and even though a lot of people voted for it to go from August to July, a lot of teachers teach all year round, and their calendar starts on July, so many gave me the idea to make it a…

• Classroom Games and Tech – Ed-Tech to Engage and Inspire: Back-to-School Classroom Game – Say Whaaat?!

  Don’t actually click the Present button to show the first slide to the class. You have to be able to drag words around, so it can’t be in Presentation Mode. Choose one student to be the Judge. Or you can be the Judge the first time if you like.

• Free Technology for Teachers: 7 New Google Meet Features for Teachers

  In a move that clearly is an attempt to match the functionality of Zoom and Microsoft Teams, Google has announced some new features that will soon be coming to Google Meet for G Suite for Education users.

• How schools and teachers can combat systemic racism

  Evidence of systemic racism in American society and the education system persists in schools even in progressive cities such as New York and Chicago, where “Black and brown” students are still too often labeled as underperforming, says Gholdy Muhamm…

• Upshot

  Public schools are increasingly filled with black and Hispanic students, but the children identified as “gifted” in those schools are overwhelmingly white and Asian. The numbers are startling.

• We Cannot Reform Prisons without Reforming Education! – EdLANTA

  Many Metro Atlanta school districts are returning back to school on today. But how many of these schools will actually decrease the number of Black students impacted by bias in policies designed to throw them into the school to prison pipeline?

• Gifted and Talented Programs Separate Students by Race – The Atlantic

  The segregation of America’s public schools is a perpetual newsmaker. The fact that not even 1 percent of the incoming freshman class identifies as black at New York City’s elite Stuyvesant High School made national headlines last month. And New Yor…

• NGSS Phenomenon — The Wonder of Science

• Five New Resources For Teaching About Racist Monuments | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  Protests target Spanish colonial statues that ‘celebrate genocide’ in US west is from The Guardian. What persuades white Southerners to remove Confederate flags and monuments? is from The Washington Post.

• New TED-Ed Video & Lesson: “First person vs. Second person vs. Third person” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  This new TED-Ed video and lesson is a decent tool to use with students when teaching the difference between first, second and third person:

• Mixiply

• Guardian Adventures Training Center

  Guardian Adventures has created immersive, exciting, and interactive programming for your organization that provides everything you will need to host your summer camp, afterschool, or recreation programs completely online – any time during the year.

• Turing Tumble Educator Guide 1_0.pdf

• Education – Turing Tumble – Build Marble-Powered Computers

• jstumble

• Tumble Together

• Using MOUSE TRAP Game to Explore Force and Energy – Mensa for Kids

• Welcome to the MLAB – YouTube

  tags:vr industry

• The Oregon Trail

• State officials scramble to protect streams and wetlands in wake of federal rule | Puget Sound Institute

  Federal protections for millions of small streams and wetlands across the country were eliminated on Monday, following an unsuccessful legal effort to block new regulations that redefine “waters of the United States.

• Which Way Does Electricity Flow?

• Turing Tumble Simulator

• A Lever and a Place to Stand: Always Wear Protection: A Quest to Convince People to Wear Masks

  When you go to college in the middle of nowhere, you probably attend the programs in your residence hall, especially if you are a freshman, because there isn’t really much else to do. So it was that I ended up at a program about AIDS awareness in th…

• Debunking PBIS myths: Why does PBIS work?

  One of the reasons it can be so difficult to get a PBIS initiative off the ground or get buy-in from your staff is the assortment of myths surrounding PBIS. Certain fundamental aspects of PBIS are misunderstood, and this affects the way it’s perceiv…

• Visual organizer platform with circles | CirclyApp

  Sign up for free! Create with our revolutionary simple and intuitive interface Alone or in a team, it is easy and quick to sketch stylish lists about your tasks, ideas, projects, leads and customers with circles. The drag and drop based canvas of Ci…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Video: The Solar System to Scale

  I guess I’ve been a bit of a space kick lately as over the weekend I shared an augmented reality app about spacecraft and yesterday I featured the NASA selfies app. This morning I found an interesting video about creating a true-to-scale model of th…

• Jesse Hagopian: Why Seattle Educators Demand Cut to Police Budget | Diane Ravitch’s blog

  Jesse Hagopian is a high school teacher and social justice activist in Seattle. He has been a leading force on behalf of Black Lives Matter Movement. He wrote this opinion article for the Seattle Times to explain why Seattle educators want money red…

• Live from NCCE Archive: “Coding with MakeCode in Minecraft Education Edition” – NCCE’s Tech Savvy Teacher Blog

  Dr. Jason Neiffer is the NCCE Tech-Savvy Administrator in Residence. Jason is the first Assistant Director/Curriculum Director of the Montana Digital Academy, Montana’s public state virtual school.

• Equity & Diversity Resources Pt. 1 | Science for All

  I know that a lot of educators are digging into books on equity and diversity this summer. Here are a few resources that have been key in my personal journey as a white male looking to become more culturally aware, equity-focused, and anti-racist. I…

• How To Introduce Gamification (or anything new, really) • Teched Up Teacher

  Introducing change like a new idea, routine, or workflow to anyone can be difficult. Introducing gamification to students is no different. I remember when I started gamifying seven-ish years ago, introducing gamification was actually harder than cre…

• Lumen: City Challenge in Minecraft Marketplace | Minecraft

• June’s Quest of the Month: Preparing for middle school – Classcraft Blog

  Your students have navigated through the perils of elementary school, kept learning during a pandemic, and finished their school year … virtually! … now their next great adventure awaits! But are they ready to venture to … middle school?!?

• Virtual Charter Industry Expecting Big Growth and Profits Due to Pandemic | Diane Ravitch’s blog

  The virtual charter industry is anticipating growth in enrollments and profits, thanks to the pandemic. The largest of the virtual charters is the K12 Inc. virtual charter chain, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, whose revenues exceeded $1 bill…

• Free Technology for Teachers: NASA Selfies – Put Yourself in Space and Learn a Bit About It

  NASA Selfies is a fun and free app for “taking a selfie in space.” What it really does is just put your face into the helmet of a space suit that is floating in space. You can pick the background for your space selfie. Backgrounds are provided from …

• Video: “Who Is Responsible For Climate Change? – Who Needs To Fix It?” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  I’m adding this new video to The Best Sites To Learn About Climate Change. You can see all the data appearing in the video here.

• It was 100ºF in Siberia This Weekend — The Adventure Blog

  At this point, I think it is safe to say that 2020 is working hard at becoming one of the worst years in human history.

• talking-math-with-tweens-how-to-bring-math-into-daily-life-with-middle-schoolers

  Is a dump truck a vehicle? What about a skateboard? An elevator? A hamster wheel? These are some of the questions math educator Christopher Danielson has asked — or been asked — while playing a reasoning game he calls “Is It or Not?” The game began …

• Coronavirus trends – Yummy Math

  Johns Hopkins University of Medicine has a team that maintains current maps and data about the Coronavirus.  They record changes and show trends of the virus activity throughout the World. Enjoy exploring the data, all of the visual mappings, and th…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Spacecraft AR – Explore NASA Spacecraft With Augmented Reality

  Spacecraft AR is a free iPad and Android app offered by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The app enables students to learn about various NASA spacecraft including the Curiosity rover, Voyager, Mars Exploration Rover, and a handful of other spacecra…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Story Spheres – Create Audio Tours of Immersive Imagery

  Story Spheres is a free tool for adding audio to 360 degree images that you own or have the rights to re-use (Creative Commons licensed or public domain). With Story Spheres you can add audio narration and ambient audio to your 360 images.

• How PBL Gets All Kids in the Game | Mike Kaechele

  School is a game with official “rules” for how to play: Show up every day. Do all of your work (even if it is mindless, busy work). Test well (this is the ultimate part of the game where we decide the “winners”). Figure out what each teacher wants a…

• Backward Design: The Basics | Cult of Pedagogy

  In their book Understanding by Design, which was originally published in 1998, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe introduced us to backward design, an approach to instructional planning that starts with the end goal, then works backward from there. Here …

• It’s Not Children’s Education We Should Worry About, It’s Their Mental Health

  The decision on when to re-open schools has become one of the most hotly contested issues around easing the coronavirus lockdown. But while the debate has largely focused on the loss to children’s education while schools have been shut, a bigger con…

• Station Rotation in an Era of Social Distancing |

  Teachers are preparing for an uncertain future. Many are unsure if they will be returning to school on a traditional schedule, a blended learning schedule, or completely online.

• The beginning of the end of our obsession with standardized tests – The Washington Post

  America has been obsessed with student standardized tests for nearly 20 years. Now it looks like the country is at the beginning of the end of our high-stakes testing mania — both for K-12 “accountability” purposes and in college admissions. When Pr…

• A Principal’s Reflections: Moving to a Hybrid Learning Model

  We don’t know for sure what education will look like in the future, but one thing is for sure, and that is the need to adapt and evolve. The pandemic shuttered schools across the globe, and lessons, some of which were very hard, were learned.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

Check out these great blog posts:

• Council Post: Video Games Are Standing In For Physical World Experiences During Social Distancing

  CEO and Co-Founder of Instant Interactive, the Entertainment division of Primal Space Systems. Tourism, theme parks and museums are among the many ways that we fulfill a deep human need to explore, discover and experience some of the most curated an…

• Dungeon Map Doodler

  Dungeon Map Doodler Draw Map Dungeons With Ease! Dungeon Map Doodler is a new, free to use drawing tool accessible from any web browser.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Five Overlooked Features of Google Forms Quizzes

  Google Forms has been my go-to tool for making quizzes and surveys for at least a decade. Over the years Google has added lots of handy little features that have made my job easier when it’s time to make a quiz. Unfortunately, not all of those featu…

• The Complete Guide To Student Digital Portfolios | CampusPress

• Backward Design – Educational Technology

• Unpacking Privilege With Children Through Sports

• The first dinosaurs may have laid soft eggs without hard shells | New Scientist

  The first dinosaurs laid soft eggs and it was only later that some groups evolved eggs with hard shells, according to new research. The finding overturns a long-standing assumption that dinosaurs always laid hard-shelled eggs like modern birds.

• MANY New Resources For Learning About Juneteenth | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  Why Juneteenth Matters is from The NY Times. Five myths about Juneteenth is from The Washington Post.

• New Study Shows Children Learn Better While Studying Outside | The National Interest

  The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the education of at least 1.5 billion school students. That’s more than 90% of the world’s children.

• Save The Ice Cream Shop

• Downloadable Resources – Crypto Corner

• 5-radical-schooling-ideas-for-an-uncertain-fall-and-beyond

  There is no one answer for what the coming school year will look like, but it won’t resemble the fall of 2019. Wherever classrooms are open, there will likely be some form of social distancing and other hygiene measures in place that challenge tradi…

• FDA approves video game for treating ADHD in kids

  BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has for the first time approved a video game for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children. The FDA said Monday the game built by Boston-based Akili Interactive Labs can improve…

• iCivics

  Ever tried to win a disagreement? In Argument Wars, you will try out your persuasive abilities by arguing a real Supreme Court case. The other lawyer is your competition. Whoever uses the strongest arguments wins!

• Distance Learning FAQ: Solving Teachers’ and Students’ Common Problems | Edutopia

• How to Keep Students’ Attention in a K-12 Virtual Classroom | Edutopia

• Everything counts when helping young salmon survive their risky journey to the sea | Puget Sound Institute

  When considering the amazing migration of salmon, we often talk about their long journey from the ocean, guided by smell, to the very stream where they first emerged from the gravel.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Sodaphonic – A Quick and Easy Way to Create MP3s

  Sodaphonic is a free online audio recording and editing tool. It’s easy to use and can be used without creating an account on the site. To create a recording on Sodaphonic simply head to the site and click on “start new project.

• Should Teachers Wear Face Shields, Masks, Or Both? | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  Many of us now wear masks when we go to places where we will be in close contact with others, like stores. There’s now on-going discussion about if teachers should wear face shields instead of masks (for example, the State of California is providing…

• Global EdTech Academy – YouTube

  Free, universal access to an entire suite of live and recorded EdTech resources, MasterClass sessions, and Office Hours. Stay tuned for more details!

• Schedule – Global EdTech Academy

• A teacher’s plea for compassionate grading – Chalkbeat

  First Person is where Chalkbeat features personal essays by educators, students, parents, and others trying to improve public education. This is my 20th year teaching full-time. I believe in high standards for all students. I do not give easy A’s.

• Google Drive’s Best Kept Secret • Teched Up Teacher

  As I was planning out our Innovation Lab, I knew I wanted my kids to experience the digital arts. Video, photo, and audio editing are important skills our kids should be familiar with.

• How To Ease Students Into Independent Inquiry Projects | KQED

• Press Record: Making Thinking Visible in the Classroom | The Infused Classroom

• Find the Learning in Any Game | Common Sense Education

• G Suite Updates Blog: Manage Google Meet and classic Hangouts separately in the Admin console

  Subscribe for the latest updates on G Suite products and features.

• Codes and Ciphers – Crypto Corner

• The Best Online Learning Games – 2020 (Part One) | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  It continues to be time for mid-year “Best” lists. You can see all my previous Online Learning Games “Best” lists (and there are a lot since I’ve doing this since 2007) here. Note that they’re also continually revised and updated.

• A Principal’s Reflections: Upgrading Family Communications

  As technology continues to evolve, it will continue to become an even more embedded component of society. With that being said, it is essential for school leaders to meet their stakeholders where they are at and engage them in two-way communications.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

Here are last week’s selection of great blog posts:

• The Best Thing You can Do Now to Prepare Next Years’ Students for the Flipped Classroom! – Flipped Learning Simplified

  One of the most important things to do as you flip a class is to get student buy-in.  Students need to see how the flipped classroom benefits them.  They also need to know how to operate in a flipped classroom.

• flipped-classroom

  Video lectures at home? Homework in class? Welcome to a new world of active learning where teachers can be there when students need them.

• Planning for Effective Online Learning Takes Months Not Days. Let’s Get Started – Flipped Learning Review Editors Features May 20 %Flipped Learning Review

   – Dan Jones – For so long, the idea of creating digital lessons, learning new computer programs, or looking at new methods of instruction was put on hold because we were comfortable doing what we had always done, and if it isn’t broken, why fix it?…

• Homepage – Flipped Learning ReviewFlipped Learning Review

  On Monday, April 16, 2018 The Flipped Learning Global Initiative (FLGI) will publish the 2018… –  by Dan Jones – Our classroom is a sacred space. We can decorate our classroom, structure…

• Texas A&M Study: Face Masks Critical In Preventing Spread Of COVID-19 – Texas A&M Today

  A study by a team of researchers led by a Texas A&M University professor has found that not wearing a face mask dramatically increases a person’s chances of being infected by the COVID-19 virus. Renyi Zhang, Texas A&M Distinguished Professor of Atmo…

• How Systemic Racism Infiltrates Education | Ben & Jerry’s

  Go to school, do well, get into college, and you’re on your way to a good job and a happy life. You put in the work, and you’ll be rewarded. That’s the promise of education. Sounds great. Like it should be true.

• Remote teaching resources – my best tips and ideas on one page

  The Coronavirus is impact schools across the world.

• Youth in Quarantine: How prolonged school closures may affect young students – Marin Independent Journal

  Editor’s note: This is the second in our new series Youth in Quarantine, which elevates the voices of Marin’s youth. Samantha Parr is a reporter for the Jolly Roger, Drake High School’s newspaper, and a sophomore.

• Reopen schools with a ‘golden age of play’ (opinion) – CNN

  William Doyle and Pasi Sahlberg are co-authors of “Let the Children Play: How More Play Will Save our Schools and Help Children Thrive.” They are the fathers of children in public schools in New York and Sydney, respectively, and are founding member…

• Federal Appeals Court Rules: No Right to Education | Diane Ravitch’s blog

  A federal appeals court overturned a landmark ruling that affirmed the right to an education. Education is necessary for full citizenship, so voters can be fully informed. However the appeals court did not agree. In April, a 3-judge panel of the U.S.

• Flipped Classroom 101 | Edutopia

• Innovating in the classroom with real-time tools – Unreal Engine

• The Flipped Classroom – Education Next : Education Next

• What blended learning is – and isn’t – Blended Learning Universe

• Free Technology for Teachers: The Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s Activities You Can Do at Home

  My daughters are currently obsessed with a book titled On the Loose in Washington D.C. It’s a book created in the “Where’s Waldo” style, but instead of having to find Waldo you have to find animals.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Canva Now Has a Desktop App for Windows and Mac

  Canva is a tool that I use almost daily for everything from creating YouTube thumbnails to designing full presentations like the one that I’m giving this afternoon. And as I wrote earlier this year, there are at least ten good ways to use Canva in y…

• Protests are as American as . . . well, America. And, sadly, so is racism. Resources for teaching about both | History Tech

  Let’s be clear. I really have no idea what I’m talking about.

• It’s a Hoax! Teach Critical Thinking and Analysis Through Online Hoaxes – Creating Lifelong Learners

  What follows are three of my favorite hoax links, shared in a Google Workshop for Educators.  Use these to teach students that not everything posted on the internet is true.

• 3 Tips to Make Any Lesson More Culturally Responsive | Cult of Pedagogy

• Confronting Bias in Schools: Classroom Conversations on Race, Ethnicity, and Identity, American Educator, Fall 2019, Vol. 43, No. 3, AFT

• Free Technology for Teachers: Three Free iPad Apps for Learning Programming Basics

  An iPad isn’t the ideal device for practicing coding and programming principles. I prefer to have students use a full-size Windows or Mac computer as they can split their screens to see lessons and practice in side-by-side windows.

• Live from NCCE Archive: “Using Minecraft Education Edition Build Challenges to Connect with Students During Remote Learning” – NCCE’s Tech Savvy Teacher Blog

  Dr. Jason Neiffer is the NCCE Tech-Savvy Administrator in Residence. Jason is the first Assistant Director/Curriculum Director of the Montana Digital Academy, Montana’s public state virtual school.

• Enigma machine / Tom MacWright / Observable

• List of Ciphers

• Pigpen Cipher (online tool) | Boxentriq

• Blogging About The Web 2.0 Connected Classroom: 3 Reflections and Considerations For Teaching and Learning In 2020

  In March 2020 nearly the entire world’s education systems were thrown into the unknown when the COVID-19 Global Pandemic shuttered schools and teaching and learning moved to remote means. Still to this day in many parts of the world schools are shut…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Sharing vs. Publishing Google Docs

  I have published more than 1,000 tutorials on my YouTube channel over the last ten years. Some of those videos feature older versions of tools that many of us every day.

• The Ultimate Guide to Copyright, Creative Commons, and Fair Use for Teachers, Students, and Bloggers

• Free Technology for Teachers: Create Virtual Class Pictures With Pixton EDU

  As the school year winds down those of us who still have classes in June may be looking for some ways to replicate our typical end-of-year activities. One of those activities could be a class photograph.

• Carbon Dioxide Levels Hit New High Despite Coronavirus Lockdowns — The Adventure Blog

  Over the past few months, while we have been in the midst of the coronavirus lockdown, there have been a number of stories about how the Earth has been benefiting from reduce human activity.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Acoustic Atlas – Sounds of the Wild West

  Acoustic Atlas is a Montana State University Library project that features an ArcGIS Storymap. The Acoustic Atlas storymap is an audio and visual tour of Montana’s four ecosystems. As you scroll through Acoustic Atlas you will see read text and see …

• A Principal’s Reflections: Are Schools Ready for What Comes Next?

  At the beginning of 2020, no one could have foreseen the impact of the pandemic. In the face of a myriad of obstacles, educators have stepped up to implement remote learning to get through the remainder of the academic year.

• when-teachers-choose-to-escalate

  Let’s look at a scenario that I think we will all find familiar (I, for one, am guilty of this choice). A student, let’s call him Mike, comes to class agitated.

• Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: 5 Tools for Virtual Yearbook Signing – All Free!

  Virtual yearbook signing provides a great way for students to have those they care about from near and far share kind, inspiring, and important memories that marked their year. There are several ways to create a way to sign a personalized virtual ye…

• beyond-protests-5-more-ways-to-channel-anger-into-action-to-fight-racism

  Protests against the violent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others are emboldening and expanding the movement to fight racism. But to make progress, many of us may need to adjust our thinking — and our actions.

• Core Open Alpha: Create and Play for Free Now

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

More amazing blog posts from this week on current topics and needs:

• Free Technology for Teachers: Milanote Offers Nice Templates for Creating Multimedia Storyboards

  Milanote is a neat tool that I like to think of as being part storyboarding tool, part bookmarking tool, and part task management tool. For this post I’ll focus on the storyboarding aspect of Milanote. Milanote offers dozens of templates for making …

• Learning from Home – Teaching Matters

  Copyright Teaching Matters, Inc. Our subject-specific experts partner directly with teachers, teacher leaders and school leaders to develop deeper content knowledge and master instructional strategies that lead to better student outcomes.

• Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: Norms in the Online Classroom

  · 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…

• State Of California Releases School ReOpening Guidelines – It’s Going To Be A Hell Of A Fall | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  The State of California just released school re-opening guidelines. Of course, the state is also cutting the education budget by 10-13%.

• Automatically Remove Background from Image – PhotoScissors

  PhotoScissors interactive cutout tool for foreground segmentation enables new smart ways of removing backgrounds from still images. Go to our Tutorials page and see for yourself how easy it is for anyone to do with just a few simple steps.

• Hornets, crabs and rodents: setting traps to locate and contain invasive species | Puget Sound Institute

  While media reports were raising alarms about an invasion of dangerous “murder hornets,” Washington state entomologists were quietly planning a trapping program, which will mark the beginning of a search-and-destroy mission against the Asian giant h…

• I Know Schools Are Facing A Budget Crisis, But It’s A Huge Mistake To Not Have Summer School For Our Most Vulnerable Students | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  As I’ve written earlier, I think most students are going to be fine despite missing the last two or so months of school (see I’M NOT CONVINCED THAT STUDENT LEARNING LOSSES THIS YEAR ARE TRAUMATIC, BUT THEY WILL BE BAD IF WE’RE ONLINE NEXT YEAR).

• If all we offer is uninspiring learning, we’re in trouble | @mcleod | Dangerously Irrelevant

  What about learning? Yes, that’s a reason too… for some. But engagement data show that many/most of our students are not coming to school because their learning is engaging.

• how-nyc-students-and-teachers-are-making-sense-of-george-floyds-killing

  Teachers are creating space for students to talk about protests, anti-Black racism and police violence. They’re also holding space for those who don’t understand Black Lives Matter.

• Classroom Games and Tech – Ed-Tech to Engage and Inspire: 3 Tips for Getting Started With Game Design

  These videos were already shared in previous posts from my game design club series, but I wanted to get them in them one place. (I compiled some related interviews in this post.) My goal with these videos was to concisely state three tips that would…

• Getting Ready to Teach in K-12 Schools Next Year | Edutopia

  • their first foray into online learning raised issues about pacing, structure, and the lack of interactivity and rigor, and the sometimes confusing plethora of communication and instructional channels (Google Classroom, Zoom, YouTube, email, and various apps). Most found the largely asynchronous nature of learning a “lonely” experience.
  • Technology alone cannot make learning engaging, so in developing online systems, schools will need to map out their curricula, ensure articulation and complementarity between face-to-face and online learning, and intentionally design for both these environments, seeking a balance
  • “High touch” learning: involving more collaborative activities and synchronous interaction with teachers and classmates.
  • Greater interactivity: games, web-based simulations, and interactive videos—and fewer worksheets.
  • Personalized learning: a range of activities that address students’ skills, abilities, interests, and home situations—from choice boards to personalized learning pathways to individual projects.
  • More challenging activities: projects and activities that address real-world challenges and involve students creating versus simply consuming information.
  • • Direct instruction: transmitting information about concepts, skills, and procedures via demonstrations, lectures, screencasts, videos, or online presentations.
    • Cognitive models of learning: structured activities that don’t just put information in students’ heads but get knowledge out—inductive reasoning, open-ended questioning, experiments, metacognitive strategies, and problem-solving.
    • Social models of learning: collaborative instructional methods we can still use in online learning—jigsaw approaches, reciprocal teaching, discussions, debates, and peer tutoring
  • one of the most important things we can do is prepare our students to be successful online learners.
  • Personal characteristics related to successful online learning: motivation, time management, digital citizenship, persistence, self-regulation skills, and help seeking.
  • Parents and guardians who don’t speak English and those who lack digital skills, who cannot assist teachers with home instruction, or whose homes may not be conducive to learning online will need additional assistance.

• how-teachers-and-schools-can-help-when-bad-stuff-happens

  “I would recommend that they address issues from the beginning. Talk to the students about: You know, we’ve all been through a difficult experience. I know that some of you may have lost your home. Some of you been in a shelter and been in very unus…

• QuizWhizzer – Fun, gamified quiz races

• Interactive Worksheets | Wizer.me

• Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: Anti-Racism Lessons & Videos

  Educators who want to engage with students about the death of George Floyd and racism in America, may find helpful these resources compiled by The New York City Department of Education.

• Classroom Games and Tech – Ed-Tech to Engage and Inspire: How to Start Making Games – Advice from Game Designers – Spring 2020

  I already shared three of these four short videos in other posts, but I wanted to collect them in one. The past two months I ran a virtual game design club for middle school students and I interviewed two of my friends. (All posts in this series can…

• Sacramento County Office Of Education Releases Fall Re-Opening Guidelines, Apparently Without Talking To Unions? | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  The Sacramento County Office of Education today released their guidelines for re-opening schools in the fall. You can read about it at the Sacramento Bee article, Sports canceled. Students in masks. Sacramento health officials urge big changes for s…

• Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero: 30 Sites/Apps for Digital Storytelling

  Digital Storytelling is the process of telling a story through the use of digital means.  Also, it happens to be one the easiest ways to int…

• Music Synchronizes the Brains of Performers and Their Audience – Scientific American

  When a concert opens with a refrain from your favorite song, you are swept up in the music, happily tapping to the beat and swaying with the melody. All around you, people revel in the same familiar music.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Three Ways to Make Short Audio Recordings – No Accounts Required

  Since late last year when Google finally added native support for audio in Google Slides I’ve fielded a steady stream of questions from readers looking for suggestions on the quickest and easiest ways for kids to record audio on their Chromebooks.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Two New Google Docs Features in G Suite for Education

  Back in February Google added Smart Compose and Autocorrect as new features in Google Docs. However, those features were only available in Google Docs in G Suite for Business accounts.

• Student Self-Assessment: Now More Than Ever | All Things Assessment

  When I wrote my last blog post in January, and made self-assessment my personal learning resolution, I did not know that in a few months my brain would be incredibly tired from learning way too many things in a short amount of time.

• Citizen science games: the ultimate list | Citizen Science Center

• Bad News

• Arcademic Skill Builders – Math Games, Language Arts Games, and much more

• Math Games for Kids | Kidopo | Page 2

• MemoMoti

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Collaborate on a YouTube Channel

  Like many other schools, this spring my school held our awards ceremonies virtually. A colleague and I managed the distribution of the recordings of those ceremonies. We did this by collaborating on one YouTube channel.

• The Best Video Creation Tools for Teachers and Students | Free Video Editing Software and Apps Ranked

  A good video creation tool is a must in every teacher’s toolbox. But what’s the best editor or program to use? This question has plagued me for a long time.

• Transcribe Audio to Text | Transcription Company & Website – Rev

  ServicesTranscription 99% accuracy, by human professionals $1.25 PER MINUTE Rough Draft 80% accuracy, machine generated transcript 25¢ PER MINUTE Captions English captions for videos $1.

• Very Good Interview: “What’s motivating nationwide protests?” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  GDJ / Pixabay This is a very good ABC News interview with Marc Lamont Hill:

• Free Technology for Teachers: 5 Ways to Edit Images in Google Slides

  A decade+ ago when I started using Google Slides it was a rather bare bones alternative to PowerPoint. That is no longer the case. Today, there are tons neat little features that you can use in Google Slides to improve the appearance of your present…

• New TED-Ed Video & Lesson: “When is a pandemic over?” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  MirceaIancu / Pixabay I’m adding this new TED-Ed lesson and video to A BEGINNING LIST OF THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS:

• Kids will need recess more than ever when returning to school post-coronavirus

  School leaders globally are tasked with the unenviable challenge of planning for school reopenings after COVID-19 pandemic shut downs.

• Yours for the making – Instructables

• ‘You get engagement from everyone’: Mott Haven teacher incorporates baseball in science curriculum – Bronx Times

• ‘Teaching for Black Lives’ — a handbook for educators to fight racism – The Washington Post

  On July 10, 2018, I wrote about a book that had just been published titled “Teaching for Black Lives,” a collection of writings that helps educators humanize blacks in curriculum, teaching and policy and connect lessons to young people’s lives.

• What if we liberated the learning from report cards – What Ed Said

  Every time we’ve thought about how we might improve our reports, we’ve failed. The barriers to major change have somehow seemed insurmountable.

• Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: Creating Breakout Rooms with Google Meet

  It’s easy to create breakout rooms using Google Meet. Start by creating a hyperdoc agenda that lists each topic and with that topic provide a link to the breakout room agenda. It’s also a good idea to have a main room / lounge where participants can…

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.