Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

Here are last week’s selection of posts and resources:

• AI Dungeon

• Virtual Station Rotation – Google Slides

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Increase the Chances of Your Students Actually Watching Your Instructional Videos

  On Friday I gave a couple of presentations at my school about ways to improve the chances that students actually watch the entirety of the videos that we share with them. Some of the ideas that I shared apply to videos that you make and some of the …

• Zoom Announces Feature Coming Next Month To Allow Student Choice Of Breakout Rooms | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  Anyone who has used Zoom knows that the breakout rooms feature is gold. One of their shortcomings, however, is that they don’t allow easy student choice for which rooms they get to enter.

• Vaccines: Nasal or Shot?

  Students read a short article about nasal vaccines and intramuscular vaccines with a focus on the development of a vaccine for coronavirus. Students can listen to or read the article on NPR: Shots about how a nasal vaccine might be more effective in…

• The Unboxing Video: A fun classroom video activity – Ditch That Textbook

  Unboxing videos can be a really fun, effective way for your students to show what they know. Here’s how to use this activity in your class! Wait … really? An unboxing video? People really record themselves opening boxes — and upload them to YouTu…

• Tool – Analyzing Your Team’s Remote Learning Readiness

  The first step towards strengthening your learning team’s remote learning readiness is to carefully analyze your current practices.

• Dear Teacher – Pernille Ripp

  Perhaps like me, you are sitting behind your computer screen right now wondering what else you can get done tonight? Perhaps, like me, you just drank another cup of tea hoping that the warmth and caffeine will give you the boost you need to get thro…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Back-to-School Email Tips & Reminders

  Every year at this time I share some cute videos intended to help students understand proper email etiquette. This year those lessons are going to be more important than ever as we’re all likely to get more email from students than ever before.

• New TED-Ed Video & Lesson: “Is the weather actually becoming more extreme?” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  Comfreak / Pixabay I’m adding this new TED-Ed lesson and video to The Best Sites To Learn About Climate Change:

• “Strategies for Embracing Anti-Racist Work in Our Classrooms” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  Strategies for Embracing Anti-Racist Work in Our Classrooms is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column.

• Quizizz Adds Features That Makes It A Simplified Nearpod | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  I’m a big fan on Quizizz – I love how easy it is to create learning games, it’s simple to add audio, a piece of cake to integrate with Google Classroom and, unlike Kahoot, it shows the question and answers in the same screen so students don’t have s…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Getting Started With Flipgrid – Teacher & Student Views

  In the last month I’ve shared videos about how to make split screen videos in Flipgrid and how to make whiteboard videos in Flipgrid. It was pointed out to me, in the form of a reader request, that those are great features once you know how to use t…

• Becoming the Teacher Virtual Students Need

  Since March and the closing of physical school my teaching has begun to transform. That’s been a good thing – a time of true discovery.

• Langscape: Map

• Book Creator

  Book Creator is a simple tool for creating awesome digital books. Create your own teaching resources or have your students take the reins.

• skribbl – Free Multiplayer Drawing & Guessing Game

  skribbl io is a free multiplayer drawing and guessing game. Draw and guess words with your friends and people all around the world! Score the most points and be the winner!

• eSports: The Growing Extra-Curricular Activity NOW!

  Believe it or not, gaming is gaining popularity in schools, not just as a pastime, but as part of curriculum. Dr. Kristy Custer is one of the pioneers of the video gaming movement in schools.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Tools for Displaying YouTube Videos Without Distractions

  On Monday I answered a question from a reader who was looking for some recommendations for tools to show YouTube videos without displaying the “related” content that appears next to and below videos on YouTube. The first two tools that came to mind …

• Free Technology for Teachers: A Handful of Videos to Help Students Understand the Electoral College

  You can’t go to a news site today and not see something about the upcoming U.S. Presidential election. When you do go to those sites you’ll often find current polling data about the popularity of a given candidate and or the probability of a candida…

• Pandemics – Causes and Cures – Google Play

• Five Characteristics of Learner-Centered Teaching

• Tool – Technology Recommendations for Remote Environments

  Jamboard is one of Google’s simplest digital tools.  It allows for up to 20 groups to brainstorm around the same topic in the same space. Each group is given a simple “whiteboard” where they can post digital sticky notes, upload pictures or write wi…

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Use Nicknames in Google Meet – And Why You Should Try It

  One of the best features of Google Meet is one that is front and center at meet.google.com but is often overlooked or misunderstood. That feature is the option to give your meeting a nickname.

• 6-classroom-strategies-that-work-for-generating-student-discussions-online

  Conversation is a cornerstone of Cicely Woodard’s classroom. Every day last spring, her eighth-graders at Freedom Middle School in Franklin, Tennessee posed questions, discussed math problems in small and large groups and responded to one another’s …

• Free Technology for Teachers: Certify’em Introduces New Features

  Certify’em is a Google Forms add-on that I’ve been using and recommending for the last few years. Certify’em makes it quick and easy to send personalized certificates to students who pass a quiz in Google Forms.

• 10 SEL ideas to launch the year | Mike Kaechele

  Whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face to start the year, educators are realizing that the only way to begin this year is by focusing on Social and Emotional Learning. This really isn’t new as most teachers start off any school year with te…

• Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero: Make Beliefs Comix for Digital Icebreaker

  Make Beliefs Comix is a excellent site that educators around the world are using for digital storytelling, project based learning, reinforcing vocabulary, and more.

• Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero: Brightful Games

  Brightful Games is an excellent site for educators to use to use as a “digital icebreaker” activity for students to use when teaching Remotely. In fact, this site goes hand-in-hand w/ T&L’s list to find ways for students to meet in an online environ…

• How to Create Online Assignments for Students

  Understood’s resources for educators are backed by research, vetted by experts, and reviewed by classroom teachers. Understood’s resources for educators are backed by research, vetted by experts, and reviewed by classroom teachers.

• Affirming Black Lives Without Inducing Trauma | Teaching Tolerance

  Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators—teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners—who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform th…

• A Strategic Guide to Community Gamification, 2019

  Gamification is an important tool to build and grow your online community. Unfortunately, it’s being touted as a panacea that can fix even the deepest issues plaguing poorly performing communities.

• A Principal’s Reflections: Developing Asynchronous Remote Learning Tasks

  Over the past couple of months, I have written extensively on the topic of remote learning. As I continually work with more and more districts and schools on an ongoing basis, ideas keep percolating in my mind as to the pedagogically-sound strategie…

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

Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

Check out these great posts from last week:

• YouTube

  Collaboration during the synchronous lessons is crucial to keeping kids engaged. It also sets the stage for structured cooperative learning activities that could occur live or asynchronously as part of remote blended learning to empower kids. In thi…

• Should You Allow Students To Wear Pajamas During Zoom Lessons? – Smart Classroom Management

  Yet here we are. Oddly, it’s a controversial one. Evidently some teachers have received significant pushback for not allowing pajamas during Zoom lessons. Fair enough. These arguments do make sense on their surface.

• The Possibilities & Perils Of Teaching & Learning With Tech | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  I’ve been leading some professional development sessions for our school’s staff this summer. Let me know what you think.

• The Remote Learning Checklist: Tools, tips and ideas – Ditch That Textbook

  When the coronavirus pandemic hit, many teachers were sent scrambling. How do I teach? What do I assign? How do I do this remotely? What a difference it makes to have a summer to prepare.

• 20 interactive PowerPoint activities to add awesome to classes – Ditch That Textbook

  Select a picture that either introduces your current lesson focus or is key to your subject for the lesson and let students caption it. Add a thought bubble or speech bubble.

• A Principal’s Reflections: Strategies to Foster Discourse and Collaboration in Remote Learning Environments

  The past couple of months have been challenging for educators, to say the least.

• Push a Column to Each Sheet in Google Sheets – Teacher Tech

  I had a request by a premium member that they had one Google Sheets spreadsheet with a tab per teacher to keep track of the daily contacts with students and parents. She wanted to add a column each day with the date to each of the sheets for the spr…

• Bitmoji Classrooms: Why Teachers Are Buzzing About Them

  If social media posts are any indication, Bitmoji classrooms are becoming a teacher obsession. Since so many teachers are planning to “return” only to online classrooms in the fall, they’re building these colorful virtual environments for their stud…

• factitious

• Free Technology for Teachers: A Comics Activity as an Icebreaker

  Disclosure: Pixton EDU is currently an advertiser on this blog. As the new school year begins you may find yourself looking for some new ways to conduct icebreaker activities. One thing you can try is having students create avatars for themselves th…

• ELA escape room high-school lesson plan — August’s Quest of the Month – Classcraft Blog

  Do your students have what it takes to solve a series of 26 digital escape rooms?

• Google Classroom: Give Parents a List of Assignments – Teacher Tech

  Google Classroom is designed for students to find their work. There is no ability to give parents the ability to see the Classwork page other than the student showing it to them.

• 5 Things You May Not Know About Google Classroom – Teacher Tech

  As with any platform, there are things to understand that are not a button to click on. Knowing how Google Classroom works with Google Drive and how it interacts with students can help you to better use Classroom.

• Present Google Slides Animations with the Pear Deck Power-up

  Overview Want to show a video about the Mars Rover in your Pear Deck presentation? Need to carefully transition items into a slide to reduce information overload? Did you find the perfect GIF of a plant emerging from its seed? To make your videos, a…

• planning-for-2020-2021-4-questions-to-put-equity-at-the-center-of-your-family-community-engagement

  This blog post is excerpted & adapted from Restart & Recovery: Considerations for Teaching and Learning System Conditions from the Council of Chief State School Officers. See the full report for more guidelines, vetted resources and project context …

• A 4 Part Distance Learning Instructional Framework that Works

  Doug Fisher has some great ideas about how to schedule break-out rooms, practice time, and other hard-to-manage areas of distance learning. Get Credit! Some schools, districts, and organizations allow credit for listening to podcasts.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Five Tips for Live Online Instruction

  Whether you use Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams for online class meetings there are some universal things that you can do to make the experience better for you and your students.

• How to Use Augmented Reality in Distance Learning – Class Tech Tips

  Have you thought about using augmented reality in distance learning this year? In this blog post, I’ll take you through strategies for using this powerful supplemental resource to support student learning at home.

• Seek Education | Interactive & Immersive Learning Through App-less Augmented Reality

• EcoMOD: Computational modeling and virtual worlds for 3rd grade ecosystems science | @mcleod | Dangerously Irrelevant

  Chris Dede, esteemed faculty member at Harvard University and one of my co-hosts at Silver Lining for Learning, has a project that is a finalist for a STEM DIVE award. Check out the video below.

• The Pack – NYSCI

• SMART Exchange

• Distance Learning Activity: Sketchnoted Recipes – YouTube

• SKYPE A SCIENTIST – Home

• Students Should Share Their Process, Not Just Their Product – John Spencer

• Learn how to teach with Fortnite Creative in your classroom – Unreal Engine

  As educators, we often talk about the importance of providing students with real-world experience and preparing them for life after school. Game development is one of the largest industries in the world, with a variety of job opportunities that span…

• Asynchronous vs. Synchronous: How to Design for Each Type of Learning |

  This school year will look very different for most teachers. Some are beginning entirely online and others are returning to school on a modified schedule where they will only see students in person a couple of days a week.

• Creating Comics in Middle and High School Classrooms | Edutopia

• My Mind Was Blown Today After Learning How To Collaboratively Annotate PDFs On Google Drive | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  I’ve always had problems trying to figure out how to get Google Docs to play nice with PDFs. I had given up, and concluded that Actively Learn was going to be my “go-to” tool since it lets you upload sizable PDFs and allows students to answer questi…

• Blogging About The Web 2.0 Connected Classroom: 4 Focus Areas For Successful Remote Leading

  The whole reason we are even talking about remote learning is because science tells us the way we stay safe is to stay home.

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Create Split Screen Videos in Flipgrid

  A couple of weeks ago Flipgrid introduced some new features and product changes for the 2020-21 school year. One of those changes was a slight relocation of the whiteboard recording tool. At the same time a new whiteboard option was added.

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Use Grid View in Google Meet – No Chrome Extensions Required!

  For months teachers have asked for a grid view option in Google Classroom without having to use a Chrome extension. That wish is starting to be granted. In Google Meet there is now an option to display all meeting participants in a grid view. The gr…

• Failure Is an Option: Teaching Your Child to Cope with Disappointment | Parents

• How to Create Google Classroom Blended Learning Lessons (Part 3)

• Rube Goldberg – NASEF | High School Esports Clubs

• Module Overviews & Guide — Shifting Schools

• How Does Assessment Change in a Remote or Hybrid Environment? | All Things Assessment

  Just like many of you, I had to develop a whole new set of skills in the last few months, as learning went online for the adults I work with in the same way most of you moved to remote teaching with your students.

• Getting Ready for Virtual Reading Conferring with Students – Pernille Ripp

  In three short weeks, the new school year kicks off in our household. No one thought at the end of last school year that we would be going back virtually but I am so grateful that this is the decision my district has made.

• Pear Deck 101 + Q&A

  Last week, I presented as a part of Pear Deck’s Pear Fair 2020. My presentation was Pear Deck 101 for Google Slides. During the presentation, there was a live chat. Many people said it went too fast for a 101 Session. Luckily, it was recorded so it …

• Classroom Games and Tech – Ed-Tech to Engage and Inspire: Show Off the Learning With Digital Posters Using Google Slides

  These work great in any class from 5th grade to 12th. Using digital tools, you can easily assign this as a project for remote learning. This summer I made a full project about this that’s available on Teachers Pay Teachers. I also made a short “prev…

• Interesting: Study Finds That “Student-Centered” Activities Better Than “Teacher-Centered” Ones – Except When It Comes To Pacing | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  Countless studies have found that “student-centered” instruction can be much more effective than ones that are commonly considered “teacher-centered” (see The Best Research Demonstrating That Lectures Are Not The Best Instructional Strategy and The …

• Free Technology for Teachers: Five Current Google Meet Features to Note

  Last week Google announced a bunch of additional features that will be coming to Google Meet later this fall. Before those appear in your Google account, here are five other features of Google Meet that you should how to use.

• YouTube

  Learn the basics of Google Jamboard and ideas on how to use this interactive tool in remote learning. To view the slides deck for this presentation, go to: https://ift.tt/3aAYOxa Follow me on Twitter: … https://ift.tt/1kwsCwF

• Jamboard Basics – Google Slides

• planning-for-2020-2021-4-questions-to-put-equity-at-the-center-of-your-family-community-engagement

  After addressing the accuracy and clarity of my assignments’ written components, I next log in as a student and try out what I’m asking them to do. I usually try the task using an iPad, since that’s the technology most of my students are using.

• How I’m Teaching Remotely – YouTube

• Labster | 100+ virtual labs for universities and high schools

• Pivot Interactives – Vernier

• Creating Moments of Genuine Connection Online | Cult of Pedagogy

  Listen to my interview with Dave Stuart Jr. (transcript): If you’re reading this in August of 2020, you’re most likely in the midst of juggling a hundred different things right now. You’re managing all the messy details of starting a new school year…

• 20-questions-to-help-decide-whats-best-for-your-kids-and-you-this-school-year

  Families with school-age kids are in a serious bind this fall — but you don’t need us to tell you that. A growing number of school districts are offering solely remote learning this fall.

• 45 Remote Learning Tips from @Curiosity_Films – Teacher Tech

  Jim Bentley (@Curiosity_Films) shared on Twitter a thread of his tips for Distance Learning. With his permission I have reposted them: 1. Everything takes 3x longer. 2. Tech is not a silver bullet. 3. 1:5 = instructional min. : min. prep 4. Kids are…

• FREE! Genially: Create Interactive Graphics – Teacher Tech

  Genially offers free education accounts that allow you and your students to create interesting interactive graphics. Use Genially to provide more instruction on a screenshot or to give information about elements of your curriculum.

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

Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

Check out these blog posts from last week:

• Our Distance Learning Classroom FAQ Template

  Welcome, families, to another fantastic school year! Do you have questions about the technology in our classroom? Use this guide as a helpful resource. Print out and post the cheat sheet for quick reference. Contact me at any time if you have other …

• Games For Learning

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Create, Share, and Collaborate on YouTube Playlists

  As the school year begins you might find yourself looking through a lot of YouTube videos that you’ll share with your students throughout the coming months. Creating playlists on is a great way to organize those videos and share them with your stude…

• How To Ensure Students Wear Masks And Socially Distance – Smart Classroom Management

  First off, whether and when schools open and under what conditions is a decision school districts will make. I’m not advocating one way or another. Here at SCM, we deal with what is in front of us.

• A simple exercise for (digital) parenting – NetFamilyNews.org

  This is inspired by all the families in Parenting for a Digital Future, the book I reviewed earlier this week (I also added this as a sidebar in that post for readers’ convenience).

• Case Study – Gluten

  This case study was created for distance learning and is a short exploration of how celiac disease affects the digestive system. This is not a long case, and should probably only take 20-30 minutes to complete. I plan to use it with breakout groups …

• How Social Emotional Learning Can Take Center Stage This Fall

  Let’s face it: this is not going to be a typical Back to School season. With the tumultuous events of COVID-19, economic issues, and antiracism efforts nationwide, students are coming back to us with questions and concerns that are weighing heavily …

• How Schools Are Taking SEL and Mental Health Online | EdTech Magazine

  CJ Reynolds, a ninth grade teacher and HMH ambassador, said in a press release about the report that educators are not only responsible for teaching — they must also help “nurture students’ minds, bodies and souls.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Journey Into the Deep Sea – Neat Nat Geo VR Experience

  Earlier this year I featured National Geographic’s fantastic playlist of 360 degree immersive videos that can be experienced with or without a virtual reality viewer. Recently, National Geographic added another excellent video to that collection. Th…

• Free Technology for Teachers: 50 National Geographic 360 Videos

  Watching 360 degree videos is probably my favorite thing to do with my Google Cardboard viewer. A lot of people don’t realize that a Cardboard viewer can be used for more than just Google Expeditions.

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Direct Students to Videos Based on Answer Choices in Google Forms

  This morning I answered an email from a reader who wanted to know if there was an easy way to direct students to videos based on how they answered her quiz questions. My answer was to make the quiz in Google Forms and use the built-in answer feedbac…

• how-to-help-young-children-sleep-better-during-covid-19

  Most days, Jen Lamott would describe her daughter, Katie, as cheerful and kind. Lately, though, the 7-year-old has been acting moody and sometimes grunting instead of talking. “It’s like we have a teenager suddenly,” Lamott said.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Seven Zoom Tutorials to Watch Before School Starts

  As the new school year approaches I’ve been getting a lot questions about Zoom. I have published some tutorials on my YouTube channel that address most of those questions. Until this morning I haven’t put them all together in one place. Here are my …

• Tips For Parents Of Online Students – e-Learning Infographics

  Tips For Parents Of Online Students—Infographic Stay connected with the teacher Why wait for a parent-teacher conference? Connect with your child’s teacher by text, email, call, or video chat.

• Remake of 2.0 Session 4

• Reimagine Choice Boards

• Create a Community Quilt Google Classroom Banner – Mari Venturino

  Back to school is an exciting time! Back to school during a pandemic where we are teaching 100% online is exciting, but in a completely different way! As we head back to school, I am trying to find as many ways to connect with my students and build …

• 4 Ideas for Empowering Students During Remote Learning – George Couros

  In my newly released, self-paced course, “Developing the Innovator’s Mindset Through Remote, Face-to-Face, and Blended Learning,” I discuss the importance of empowering learners in any environment, online or offline.

• How to Run an EdCamp via Zoom – Copy / Paste by Peter Pappas

  I recently ran a edcamp style morning session for our incoming MATs at the University of Portland’s School of Education.

• Free Technology for Teachers: New Google Classroom and Google Meet Updates to Note

  This afternoon Google announced the launch of some helpful new Google Classroom features. Some of these were teased back in June. A couple of the new features will require some work by your domain administrator while others are available right now t…

• Video Conferencing: Establishing Routines and Structuring Online Time with Students |

  I had the pleasure of chatting with Linwood Paul, an executive coach, for an episode of my podcast, The Balance. In the final moments of our conversation, I asked him what advice he had for achieving a work-life balance at this moment when many of u…

• How to Make Virtual Meetings More Interactive for Students – John Spencer

  Video conferences can be exhausting. You might notice that students who are highly engaged during an in-person session suddenly disengage in a virtual meeting. Often, there are challenges with video lag or simply the inability to see the room entire…

• Google announces a ton of new tools and features to ease online education for everyone | Pocketnow

  Google has today kicked off its global The Anywhere School event, as part of which, the company has made a ton of announcements to make virtual education easier for students as well as teachers.

• Wearing a neck gaiter may be worse than no mask at all, researchers find | Boston.com

  As the number of novel coronavirus cases continues to rise nationwide, the recurring message from many public health experts and doctors has been simple: Wearing masks saves lives.

• HyperDocs Templates for Getting Started | HyperDocs

• (7) Cameras Be Damned | LinkedIn

• Strategies to Build Engaging Digital Lessons for High… | PBS Education

• Blended and Online Learning | Center for Teaching | Vanderbilt University

• 8 Easy and Fun Back-to-School Online Activities (Part 2) | Shake Up Learning

• How to create learning pathways – The MDN project | MDN

• List of Online Tools for Distance Science Learning (OpenSciEd & Inquiry Hub) | Science for All

  Teachers using OpenSciEd & Inquiry Hub materials have assembled a Google Sheet with a variety of online tools and how those tools might be used by science teachers during distance learning.

• #P4DF: The book about (digital) parenting – NetFamilyNews.org

  Family context eclipses screen time. If you get nothing else from the new book Parenting for a Digital Future, that one takeaway would help so many educators, policymakers, pediatricians and advocates trying to get “Internet safety” and “digital wel…

• Free Technology for Teachers: SciShow Kids Returns Next Week!

  A little over a year ago SciShow Kids, one of my favorite YouTube channels, announced a hiatus. I thought that was going to be then end of the channel. Much to my surprise this afternoon I saw an update from the channel announcing its return.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Three Ways to Explore the News Through Maps

  One of the things that I liked about the old version of CNN Student News is that it almost always included a map to show students where a story is taking place in the world. I tried to do the same whenever I taught current events by showing students…

• Here’s How I’m Setting-Up My iPhone As A Doc Cam | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  The Internet is awash with ways teachers can turn their iPhone into a document camera. Here’s how I’ve done it – I can’t guarantee it’s the cheapest, but I would be surprised if anyone found an easier way.

• ‎Minecraft: Education Edition: Minecraft and Esports | Liminal’s Carrie Linden & Will Partin and Stephen Reid on Apple Podcasts

  Minecraft and Esports | Liminal’s Carrie Linden & Will Partin and Stephen Reid Minecraft: Education Edition

• Copy of Student TECHtorials – Google Sheets

• Ward’s World

• Free Technology for Teachers: All About Zoom Breakout Rooms

  Breakout rooms is one of the best features of Zoom. If you’re anticipating using Zoom this fall and you haven’t tried the breakout rooms function, you need to try it. Breakout rooms will let you create small group work environments within your Zoom …

• A Principal’s Reflections: Keeping Kids Engaged in Remote Learning

  With the pandemic not letting down in many places, schools are beginning to focus less on re-entry and more on starting the year with remote learning.

• cooperative-learning-practices

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

Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

Great blog posts!

• Peter Greene: The Risk That Families Take When They Choose a Charter School | Diane Ravitch’s blog

  In this article that appeared in Forbes, Peter Greene reviews the implications of the Network for Public Education’s report of charter school closures. When parents choose a charter school for their child, they are gambling that the school will be a…

• How To Teach While Wearing A Mask – Smart Classroom Management

  At some point, we’ll all be back teaching in person. Only now it will be behind a mask. At first glance, this seems more than just a nuisance, but impossible to do effectively. After all, students need to see your mouth and facial expressions to ful…

• ArcGIS StoryMaps

• Google Classroom: Do NOT Use Quiz Assignment – Teacher Tech

  In Google Classroom on the Classwork tab you can create assignments. One of the choices is “Quiz Assignment.” DO NOT USE THIS! What is the difference between assignment and “Quiz assignment”? They are both assignments. You can edit, score, and reuse.

• Back to school, COVID news for parents on virtual class, hybrid, pods

  As students head back to classes this fall – online, in-person or a hybrid of the two – millions of families are walking a tightrope, trying to balance safety with continued academic growth.

• how-children-process-grief-and-loss-through-play

  That expertly handled transition—recognizing that the children were stuck and might need a nudge—demonstrates a few important principles about play, according to Carlsson-Paige. First, the teacher did not judge the children’s play or let her own anx…

• Distance Learning 2.0 – Personal Professional Development

  Congratulations, you made it to month five of the Covid-19 pandemic. We’ve never been so happy to see Spring Break end! There has been a ton of talk, arguing, and anxiety over the reopening of school. And the talkers are not finished.

• Gez.la

• 10 Essential Google Classroom Tips | PCMag

  Start the remote school year right with these simple but important Google Classroom tips for students and parents of younger students. Students everywhere are being thrown into Google Classroom.

• Free Technology for Teachers: What You Need to Know About the Latest Version of Flipgrid

  Earlier this week Flipgrid published a slew of updates and had a big online event to hype it up showcase those new features. A lot of the updates were largely cosmetic. From what I’ve seen so far, nothing fundamentally changed with the way that Flip…

• Free Technology for Teachers: A Handy Tool for Picking Accessible Color Schemes

  Earlier today I hosted a webinar about tools that teachers can use to improve the accessibility of the slides, documents, and videos that they create for their students.

• Getting Ready for Back-to-School During COVID-19 – CLASSROOM COMPLETE PRESS

• alison yang weebly blog

  In my current school, teachers have begun to explore ways to promote student agency, increase student choice and integrate student voice. We have also discussed different ways that teachers could (and can) develop the KIS Quality Learning Behaviors …

• Worldwide Shipping, UV-C |Active Ventilation & HEPA – flowerss

  100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipping>>Worldwide Express Shipping Available. Handling time>> Ship within 24 hours after payment. —High-density polyethylene casing, which prevents chemicals, saliva droplets, and paints from splashing into the eyes. Thi…

• NPE Releases New Report on Astonishing Charter School Closure Rates | Diane Ravitch’s blog

  Today, the Network for Public Education released a new report on the astonishing rate at which charter schools close. The period covered in the report was 1999-2017, using data collected by the U.S. Department of Education. The findings were researc…

• Private Schools Collected Billions from Federal Paycheck Protection Program | Diane Ravitch’s blog

  Baptistnews.com reported this important piece of information. Private schools have scored billions from the Paycheck Protection Program. This represents a massive transfer of public funding to private and religious schools. Of course, this fulfills …

• 20-Time In Education Inspire. Create. Innovate.

  tags:20% 20time time genius hour genius hour genius_hour geniushour passion innovation fedex-day fedex_day fedexday 20%time education 20

• Experiments

• Extreme Sounds: Lessons in a Noisy World | Science Project

• Welcome to GLT

• Classroom Gamification

• Resources – Education – Google Maps

• Shut the Front Door (Again)! Updated Differentiation With Google Forms

• How to Conquer Your Blended Learning | The Infused Classroom

• Creating Meaningful Feedback

• 7 Ways | The ISTE Standards for Students Music Video – YouTube

• The Difference Between UDL and Traditional Education

• Establishing Purpose for Yourself and Your Students

  ” replacing objectives with standards was actually a step backward in education”

  • replacing objectives with standards was actually a step backward in education
  • We believe that students need to understand the purpose of the lesson at some point during the course of it, but not necessarily at the very beginning. For example, when we read informational texts to our students, we don’t always establish the purpose in advance of the reading. Often, we read parts of the text, invite students to talk with group members, draw connections between the text and their experiences, and then debate the information presented before revealing the purpose behind what we’re doing.
  • One of our colleagues, a physics teacher, rarely reveals the purpose in advance of a lab because she wants students to first have experiences that will then make the purpose statement relevant. In many cases, students hypothesize the purpose, asking their physics teacher about it, as they complete the lab.

• Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: We’re All Digital Citizenship Teachers – Here’s the “How To Guide”

  As schools around the globe rapidly transitioned to remote learning, it became apparent that it is the responsibility of all teachers to engage students of all ages in a dialogue around responsible digital interactions.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Watch Out for This Sneaky Email Scam – And a Super-techy Lesson on Email

  On Monday I wrote about an email scam that tries to trick people into thinking they have violated a photographer’s copyright and need to add a link to their websites to remedy the problem. Yesterday, I had another sneaky scam attempt land in my inbo…

• Free Technology for Teachers: A New Way to Make Sure People Can View Your Videos in Google Slides

  One of the common mistakes that people make when inserting their own videos into a Google Slides presentation is forgetting to change the permissions on the video file itself.

• DOGOnews for Teachers

  I am amazed by the ease of DOGOnews, coverage of current events, rigor of articles and vocabulary, the short videos, vibrant pictures, and well written questions. After implementing DOGOnews, my class saw an increase in overall state assessment scor…

• Parlay Ideas | The Future of Classroom Discussions

  Browse our growing library of discussion topics created by teachers like you. Learn about the mission, research, and pedagogies that drive our work.

• The Difference Between “Good” Teaching & “Successful” Teaching – And What This Means For The Next School Year | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  Ted Appel, our school’s former – and great – principal, talked about the importance of looking at teacher “input” instead of student “output” when considering if a teacher is doing good work.

• How to Help Elementary Students Get Used to Masks | Edutopia

• A 60-Foot Robot Just Took Its First Steps | IFLScience

• But What If They Get Addicted To Your Gamified System? – Gamified UK – #Gamification Expert

  Amazingly the question “But what if people get addicted to the solution and stop working” has come up in more than one conversation with clients over the years. It’s an interesting question, that is worth thinking about. At first, it is easy to dism…

• Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: Breakout Rooms: Best Practices

  Break out rooms provide a great way for students to work in small groups. Here are some best practices to ensure the success of breakout rooms. Discuss with students what the norms of breakout rooms will be.

• Getting to Know You Survey with Google Forms – Mari Venturino

  I always start my school year with a student survey. In my first few years of teaching, this was a paper survey. Later, this turned into a Google Form. A couple years ago, I blogged about my getting to know you survey. (Here’s the original post.

• 4 Ideas for Building Relationships During Remote Learning – George Couros

  In my newly released, self-paced course, “Developing the Innovator’s Mindset Through Remote, Face-to-Face, and Blended Learning,” I discuss the importance of building relationships in any environment, whether it is online or offline, and provide som…

• 7-guidelines-setting-clear-online-lessons

  4. 1-2-3: Use numbers to drive students through your lessons. For me, the first item listed was always attendance, and after that, I listed content for the lesson, relevant documents, and links for submissions.

• Blogging About The Web 2.0 Connected Classroom: 6 Ways To Build Community…Even From A Distance

  Feedback is one of the best ways to support student learning. According to John Hattie , Feedback has an effect size of .64 and is often …

• A Principal’s Reflections: Edtech Tools for SPED, Math, and Reading

  Over the past two years, I have been blessed to partner with District 205 in Elmhurst, IL.

• What is the difference between MTSS Tiers 2 and 3?

  Multi-leveled systems for support (MTSS) consists of three different tiers that are used to identify and support students who need varying levels of intervention. Tier 1 consists of students who do well academically in a traditional classroom enviro…

• How K-12 Teachers Can Plan When They Don’t Know What to Plan For | Edutopia

• ALT Codes – Alt Codes for Maths / Mathematics

• what-are-parents-doing-for-child-care-here-are-3-options-with-trade-offs

  Kirk Gallegos is a single father of four. He works construction in Barstow, Calif. Prudence Carter is a single mother of one. She’s the dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Stream Multiple Sources at Once With OBS Studio

  Last week I got an email from a reader who was looking for a means to stream or broadcast from multiple sources. Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams can do that if you use screensharing.

• Enough: (Re)Designing Assessment Practice to Interrupt Racial Inequities in our Schools | All Things Assessment

  How many times have you uttered that same word in these past few months? Pause for a moment. How often has the word “enough” emerged as an emotion or direction toward your children? To your spouse or partner? To your neighbor? To your social media f…

• Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero: Gimkit

  Gimkit is an excellent game based learning solution that makes it easy for educators to assess learning and differentiate instruction. This is done through fun educational games that even students can help create and use for self paced learning.

• Updates to the Classcraft universe for Back-to-School 2020 – Classcraft Blog

  Starting this week, we’ll begin rolling out changes to the Classcraft universe — the vast world of characters, locations, pets, powers, and more that make Classcraft such a rich experience for students.

• Flexible resilience: My manifesto for the coming school year

  You know up until this point, if you’re subscribed to my email list or if you follow me on social media, that I’ve been advocating for teachers to use this first part of your summer break to rest and recuperate.

• Teaching — The Wonder of Science

• How Culturally Responsive Lessons Teach Critical Thinking | Teaching Tolerance

  In the following excerpt from the 2019 collection Democratic Discord in Schools: Cases and Commentaries in Educational Ethics, Clint Smith responds to a case study titled “Bending Toward—or Away From—Racial Justice?” The study follows an instruction…

• Cameras in the Classroom: What to Do Instead | Tech & Learning

  Some school districts have the short-sighted idea to put cameras in the classroom this fall so that students learning remotely have access to the classroom. Not only is this a bad idea, it is a colossal waste of money. Here’s why:

• Larry Cuban: The Best Post on Dilemmas of Reopening | Diane Ravitch’s blog

  Larry Cuban reposts here the best summary of the dilemmas of reopening the schools during a pandemic. Trump and DeVos think that they can sit in D.C. and order the schools to open up for in-person instruction or lose funding.

• Get Students Talking with Ongoing Conversations | Cult of Pedagogy

  In our dreamiest of teacher dreams, some of us might imagine days when our students spontaneously erupt into complex, nuanced conversations about the things they’re learning in our classes.

• 10 Strategies Designed to Engage Elementary Students Online |

  A few weeks ago, I published a blog titled “8 Ideas Designed to Engage Students In Active Learning Online.” I had several elementary teachers request that I work on a similar blog focused on younger learners.

• A Principal’s Reflections: 5 Keys for Successful Remote Learning

  There is a lot to consider as schools either begin the school year or reassess where they currently are based upon the current COVID19 situation.

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

Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

Here are great blog posts from this past week:

• Zoom Teaching: How To Improve Learning, Attentiveness, And Self-Discipline – Smart Classroom Management

  How to be a good student—one’s physical and mental preparedness—is absolutely critical to academic success. Sadly, teaching these skills have been thrown into the dust bin alongside sentence diagramming and mathematical algorithms.

• Meet the Teacher Template – Teacher Reboot Camp

  This week is Meet the Teacher. I created a slideshow to guide the virtual meet-up with parents and students. I was really touched when my toddler looked at the slideshow and said, “I want to be in that classroom.

• Game-Based Learning: Preparing Students for The Future | EdSurge Guides

• Class of 2030: What do today’s kindergartners need to be life-ready? | Microsoft EDU

  • while automation replaces today’s lower-skill jobs – the fastest-growing occupations will require higher-level cognitive skills in areas such as collaboration, problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity

• Heaven’Lee Slime: It’s about time for Heaven’Lee Slime! – Mindstream

  Everyone becomes a chemist when you create Slime! Heaven’Lee and the Triogrlsss will demonstrate how to mix, measure and create the perfect chemical reaction for a batch of gooey slime.

• Building Classroom Community – Google Slides

• Saturday’s Three Must-Read Articles & Must-Watch Videos On Reopening Schools In The Fall | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  The Risk That Students Could Arrive at School With the Coronavirus is from The New York Times. These kids are getting left behind when schools go online is from CNN.

• Gamification Trends In 2020 – e-Learning Infographics

  Here is a list of 5 gamification trends in 2020, packed with tips and ideas you can use to engage your learners better. For each gamification trend, we have provided practical tips on how you can leverage it.

• TeachVid – Home: Teach languages with videos

  Create language learning content with interactive text reconstruction activities and quizzes based on short videos. Search for resources to use with your classes, or use our unique resource-creation tools to create your own TeachVid resource based o…

• APOD: 2020 July 31 – Mars 2020 from 5,000 Feet

  Explanation: On Thursday this snapshot from a small plane 5,000 feet above Florida’s Space Coast caught a rocket’s trail rising into the blue morning sky. It was July’s third launch of a mission from planet Earth bound for Mars.

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Check the Accessibility of Your Google Slides

  Yesterday afternoon I saw someone on Twitter ask if there is a way to evaluate the accessibility of a slide presentation. My answer was to try Grackle Slides.

• The-Cell-Game.com

• 5 tools for remote learning with Chromebooks – Ditch That Textbook

  Schools have been making the transition to a reduced-paper learning environment. Students learning remotely need to have their work all in one place. Book Creator is an incredible resource for students to help organize their work and ideas and inter…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Phidgets – A Fun, Free, Hands-on Way to Learn Python, Java, and More

  Disclosure: Phidgets is an advertiser on this blog. As the new school year approaches Phidgets is one new thing that I’m excited to use with my students. Phidgets provide a fun, hands-on way for students to learn to program in Python, Java, C#, and …

• Improving Student Collaboration in Remote and Hybrid Learning – John Spencer

  In this latest article, we explore how to improve collaboration in distance learning by empowering students to own the collaborative process.

• Classroom Games and Tech – Ed-Tech to Engage and Inspire: Improved Google Sites Headings Using Slides

  Recently I saw a teacher ask online about better font options in Google Sites. Actually I have always appreciated the limited fonts in sites, so students don’t get “lost in fontland” looking for the perfect one among hundreds.

• What if we focused more on Reading Engagement and less on Reading Levels…especially with struggling readers? – Practice What You Teach

• Pear Deck

• TPACK in 2 Minutes – YouTube

• What are the 4Cs? – YouTube

• Home | InCtrl

• 142 distance learning tools

  Distance learning is more important (and common) now than ever before. And while it certainly brings a fair share of its own challenges for both students and teachers, it also has a number of benefits. For students, these tools are new and novel, so…

• A Better Plan for Fully Reopening Schools This Fall | Tech & Learning

  Districts around the country are sharing plans for the reopening of schools this fall. In many cases the plans are rather complex and impractical for working families.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Preparing for the Worst With Zoom, Dual Monitors, Microphones, and More

  In the last couple of weeks I’ve received a bunch of emails and Tweets from people who are panicking about going back to school and having to simultaneously teach students in their classrooms while also live-streaming and or recording their lessons …

• Google Meet Breakout Rooms – Enterprise Feature – Teacher Tech

  Breakout rooms are exciting because we should not be coming together to let one person do all the talking. The person doing the talking is the person doing the learning.

• Gutenberg

  From Project Gutenberg, the first producer of free eBooks. Project Gutenberg is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks. Choose among free epub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. You will find the world’s great literature here, with …

• Edutopia – essential-apps-physical-and-digital-classroom

  With face time at a premium, formative assessment is moving even more to the forefront of excellent teaching. As knowledge is forming, teachers need to review the data on student understanding so that they can make the most of face-to-face instructi…

• Classroom Activities to Start Your Online or Hybrid New Year Strong

  Katie Hull Synieski and I share a book excerpt offering ideas on building relationships as our online or hybrid school year begins, including question starters and

• Key SEL report from UNESCO, insights from youth in 6 countries – NetFamilyNews.org

  In what video panel discussion could you watch a high school student in Bhutan lead his peers in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Japan and South Africa, along with their adult moderator, in a mindfulness practice – after which you’d hear from a neur…

• 7 sites with ready to use lesson plans and 9 perfect primary source icebreakers | History Tech

  Today you get a two for one. I’ve got my quick favorites. SHEG. Library of Congress. National Archives. All can be adapted to a remote learning environment. But a few minutes of brainstorming and the list quickly grew.

• Educator who taught kids this summer outlines the reality of reopening schools – The Washington Post

  Some schools have now opened their doors for the start of the 2020-21 school year, and a new experiment in coronavirus education is beginning. Alcoa City Schools in Tennessee, for example, opened last week in a region with low infection rates on a s…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Historical Scene Investigations – A Great Way to Get Students to Use Primary Sources

  Historical Scene Investigation is one of my favorite resources for U.S. History teachers and students. I’ve used it and referred people to it for years. HSI presents students with historical cases to “crack” through the use of evidence found in the …

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Make a Digital Bookshelf in Google Slides

  This summer I’ve had more requests for book recommendations than I ever have in the nearly thirteen year history of this blog. I’ve also had a ton of requests for help making things like digital choice boards.

• How Not to Hijack Black Lives Matter | Psychology Today

  It’s hard for some Americans to understand the slogan, mantra, and heart behind, “Black Lives Matter” (BLM).

• #NGSSslowChat – Wakelet

  We built Wakelet using the latest technologies to make it faster and easier to use. Unfortunately, your browser doesn’t support those technologies.

• A Principal’s Reflections: Preparation for What Comes Next

  It is a stressful time for everyone. COVID-19 cases are increasing in many places, and social distancing measures are being extended. Through it all, there is anxiety and fear as it pertains to what comes next.

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