Ask a Tech Teacher
APRIL 24, 2019
Education has changed. No longer is it contained within four classroom walls or the physical site of a school building. Students aren’t confined by the eight hours between school bells or the struggling budget of an underfunded program. Now, education can be found anywhere — teaming up with students in Kenya, Skyping with an author in Sweden, or chatting with an astrophysicist on the International Space Station.
Educators Technology
MAY 22, 2019
JeopardyLabs is an excellent web tool that allows you to easily create Jeopardy-like games without the need for PowerPoint. We have already reviewed it in the past, however, if you haven't it.read more.
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Amy Brown Science
DECEMBER 7, 2019
What types of organic compounds are contained in the foods we eat? Sometimes an old idea is still the best way to teach a concept. That is how I feel about this lab, " Testing Foods for Organic Compounds." I have been doing this lab for over 30 years, and I never tire of doing it. Granted, it is a bit messy and the observed results are sometimes a little subjective, but my students always love these two days in the lab.
User Generated Education
FEBRUARY 17, 2019
Readers of my blog know my thoughts and feelings about effective student learning. I have written blogs on: All Lesson Should Be Interdisciplinary Learning – [link]. The Imperative of Experiential and Hands-On Learning – [link]. Authentic Learning Experiences – [link]. Intentional Creativity – [link]. The Magic of Making: The Human Need to Create – [link].
Speaker: Andrew Cohen, Founder & CEO of Brainscape
The instructor’s PPT slides are brilliant. You’ve splurged on the expensive interactive courseware. Student engagement is stellar. So… why are half of your students still forgetting everything they learned in just a matter of weeks? It's likely a matter of cognitive science! With so much material to "teach" these days, we often forget to incorporate key proven principles into our curricula — namely active recall, metacognition, spaced repetition, and interleaving practice.
The Innovative Educator
APRIL 17, 2019
The World Report on Disabilities says that 15% of the population today lives with some form of disability. If you're not in that 15% today, chances are you may be In the future. That's because in the years ahead, the prevalence of those with disabilities will rise as the population ages. In fact The Institute on Disability reports that more than 1/3 of those over 65 have a disability.
STEM Education Central brings together the best content for STEM education professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Ask a Tech Teacher
APRIL 11, 2019
I’ve been teaching technology for over fifteen years. While student familiarity with this tool has improved, one thing that never varies is the myths surrounding teaching with it. It’s a constant struggle with parents and colleagues who have far more enthusiasm regarding this subject than expertise. Just when I think I’ve got everyone coloring between the lines, things change and I have to get a different paintbrush.
Ask a Tech Teacher
AUGUST 21, 2019
If you missed this article over at ReadiLearn , here are my thoughts about teaching technology in kindergarten: Why Kindergartners Must Learn Technology. When I started teaching technology almost twenty years ago, I taught K-8, three classes in each grade every week. I was buried under lesson plans, grades, and parent meetings. I remember suggesting to my principal that he ease my schedule by eliminating tech for kindergartners.
Ask a Tech Teacher
JANUARY 7, 2019
Every year, I review a large number of websites, apps, and resources that help educators blend technology into their classrooms. I get lots of feedback from readers sharing their experiences, asking questions, and clicking through to see if a particular tool will serve their needs. But, I often don’t hear how the product worked in the fullness of time.
Ask a Tech Teacher
JUNE 5, 2019
Summer has a reputation for being nonstop relaxation, never-ending play, and a time when students stay as far from “learning” as they can get. For educators, those long empty weeks result in a phenomenon known as “Summer Slide” — where students start the next academic year behind where they ended the last. “…on average, students’ achievement scores declined over summer vacation by one month’s worth of school-year learning…” ( Brookings ).
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Mathematics, a subject steeped in abstract concepts, often poses challenges to students, especially those in grades 5-10. But imagine a bridge that transformed this intricate maze into an interactive adventure.
Ask a Tech Teacher
APRIL 15, 2019
Wrapping up your school technology for the summer is as complicated as setting it up in September. There are endless backups, shares, cleanings, changed settings, and vacation messages that — if not done right — can mean big problems when you return from summer vacation. If you have a school device, a lot of the shutdown steps will be done by the IT folks as they backup, clean, reformat, and maybe re-image your device.
Ask a Tech Teacher
NOVEMBER 5, 2019
Actively Learn is a freemium online education platform that allows students to read a book (or some other document), make comments, answer questions posed by the teacher, and even collaborate with others. Quickly, it is becoming the close reading tool of choice for teachers because of its ease of use, differentiation of needs, depth of tools, and variety of resources.
Ask a Tech Teacher
JUNE 21, 2019
When preteen kids see parents and older siblings thumbing away at social media accounts, they want to do it. They don’t understand when told they are too young. There have been a few efforts to extend social communication tools to younger kids but mostly, kids don’t like them so end up on apps designed for teens or adults, like Snapchat or Instagram.
Ask a Tech Teacher
JUNE 10, 2019
Every year, education finds new ways to make learning more inclusive and diversified. The latest change agent is Artificial Intelligence (AI), now being used in classes to focus learning, simplify redundant tasks, and infuse lesson plans. Ask a Tech Teacher contributor, Kamy Anderson has eight practical ways to use AI in learning: Artificial intelligence (AI) is disrupting the education industry.
Ask a Tech Teacher
JULY 8, 2019
Math used to be a tedious memorization of facts and formulas. That changed somewhat when online worksheets allowed students to practice until they got it but it didn’t make it any more fun. Then that too changed when rote drills and worksheets were replaced with cerebral challenges and dynamic exercises. Thousands of students found out, to their surprise — and often, their parents — that they loved math.
Ask a Tech Teacher
JULY 2, 2019
Reading is defined as “ the action or skill of absorbing written or printed matter silently or aloud.” Sounds dry, maybe even boring, but the ability to read has been credited with exercising the mind, saving lives, bringing people together, and predicting success in school. It alleviates boredom in the bits of free time that pop up between soccer and dinner and it can be done alone or in a group.
Ask a Tech Teacher
MARCH 28, 2019
The Number One reason–according to students–why their computer doesn’t work is… It’s broken. As a teacher, I hear this daily, often followed by the solution, I need a different computer. My students innately think computer problems are something they can’t solve. I asked them what happened in class when I wasn’t there to fix the problem, or at home.
Ask a Tech Teacher
APRIL 26, 2019
Nearly three million students currently attend online programs and six million take at least one online class. This means learning online has become one of the most popular approaches to education. I am an adjunct profession who teaches solely online for a variety of big-name colleges and Universities. Each year, the classes grow in size. Whether you like it or not, this is the future of education, where people pursue learning without the need for a car, expensive gas, parking fees, campus-bas
Ask a Tech Teacher
FEBRUARY 18, 2019
During the last month, Ask a Tech Teacher readers voted on which tech tools had the greatest impact on their teaching. For this Best in Category award, we asked them to look for the ones that made them say Wow and rush to share with colleagues everywhere. Then we looked for the following qualities: how dependable is it. how versatile is it for time-strapped teachers. does it differentiate for the varied needs of students and teacher. do educators like it (fairly subjective, but there you have it
Ask a Tech Teacher
JUNE 24, 2019
Technology and the connected world put a fork in the old model of teaching–instructor in front of the class, sage on the stage, students madly taking notes, textbooks opened, homework as worksheets, and tests regurgitating facts. Did I miss anything? This model is outdated not because it didn’t work (many statistics show students ranked higher on global testing years ago than they do now), but because the world changed.
Ask a Tech Teacher
MARCH 21, 2019
The latest national data reports that while a growing number of students graduate high school, college enrollments are decreasing. Students cite a lot of reasons for that: I can’t afford it. I can’t get in. It’s too hard. I have a good job. It isn’t worth it. Whatever is to blame, the result is that students increasingly take on the complicated economics of working and raising families without the knowledge, maturity, or experience to succeed at those.
Ask a Tech Teacher
NOVEMBER 23, 2019
Coding–that geeky subject that confounds students and frightens teachers. Yet, kids who can code are better at logical thinking and problem solving, more independent and self-assured, and more likely to find a job when they graduate. In fact, according to Computer Science Education , by 2020 , there will be 1.4 million coding jobs and only 400,000 applicants.
Ask a Tech Teacher
JANUARY 24, 2019
Data collection and analysis are cornerstones for many STEM and STEAM programs but they’re not just about math. They teach students how to think critically and solve evidence-based problems. Unfortunately, data collection hardware is expensive and setup is complicated–intimidating for many non-tech-minded teachers. Enter award-winning PASCO Scientific with a commitment to providing innovative, affordable tools for K-12 science and math programs.
Ask a Tech Teacher
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
One of the most difficult skills to teach in school is problem solving. I can’t tell you how many kids–and parents–ask me, “How do I get an A.” My answer: “By thinking,” which oddly confuses them. We talk about what that means–problem solving, critical analysis, logical thinking–but often, that sounds hard to them–too hard.
Educators Technology
MARCH 31, 2019
YouTube is undoubtedly a great source of educational video content to use with students in class. whether you are looking for subject specific content or generic insights elated to professional.
Ask a Tech Teacher
OCTOBER 2, 2019
Surprisingly, 15-20% of the population has a language-based learning disability and over 65% of those are deficits in reading. Often, these go undiagnosed as students, parents, and teachers simply think the child is not a good reader, is lazy, or is disinterested. Thankfully, the International Dyslexia Association sponsors an annual Dyslexia Awareness Month in October aimed to expand comprehension of this little-understood language-based learning condition.
Ask a Tech Teacher
JUNE 17, 2019
I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m going to take a few days this summer to review them with you. Some are edited and/or written by members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, by tech teachers who work with the same publisher I do. All of them, I’ve found well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, taking into account the perspectives and norms of
Ask a Tech Teacher
FEBRUARY 1, 2019
Here are five of my favorite tech tools for teacher-authors: 1. A good editing program. Whether you’re self-published or agented, you want your documents as clean as possible. You can edit it yourself, use beta readers, or pray, but one more option to include in your toolkit is a good online editing program. Often, these ask you to copy-paste your text into a dialogue box on their website and they take it from there.
Ask a Tech Teacher
JUNE 20, 2019
Technology is a natural education fit in everything from math to Spanish to literacy. The one corner of K-12 learning that is not so obvious is PE — Physical Education. In that class, we think of physical stuff — not digital — like running and exercising. But kids love technology’s apps and software. Is there a way to use these to encourage physical fitness?
Ask a Tech Teacher
FEBRUARY 11, 2019
Here’s an interesting piece from Ask a Tech Teacher contributor, Jane Sandwood, on the explosion of wearable technology and its place in the education ecosystem: How Wearable Technology is Changing Education and Easing Disabilities. As of 2015, 94% of K-12 students had a computer in their home, with 61% of the same demographic having internet access as well.
Ask a Tech Teacher
JULY 26, 2019
Ask a Tech Teacher contributor, Linda Cartwright, has a great list of basic writing apps to get your students started with the new year. A few–like Hemingway and Kaizena–I’ve used successfully in my classes. A few others are new to me. Let me know what you think: In the digital age, teachers are concerned with the literacy of their students.
Educators Technology
NOVEMBER 24, 2019
Speech to text technologies allow you to transcribe your speech into text in a couple of clicks. Most of the established platforms integrate this kind of technology. For instance Google has it.
Educators Technology
MARCH 10, 2019
Technology is definitely a game changer in today’s classroom. Its pervasive widespread in educational settings speaks volumes about the growing importance we come to place in it. However, while many.
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