2024

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For Teens Online, Conspiracy Theories Are Commonplace. Media Literacy Is Not.

ED Surge

How often do you come in contact with a conspiracy theory? Maybe on occasion, when you flip through TV channels and land on an episode of “Ancient Aliens.” Or perhaps when a friend from high school shares a questionable meme on Facebook. How confident are you in your ability to tell fact from fiction? If you’re a teen, you could be exposed to conspiracy theories and a host of other pieces of misinformation as frequently as every day while scrolling through your social media feeds.

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Digital Citizenship Resources–Lots of Them

Ask a Tech Teacher

Ask a Tech Teacher has a passel of online resources to help you introduce, teach, and reinforce digital citizenship to your students. Here’s our long list–and click here for updates if you arrive at this page late: Avatars Copyrights and Digital Laws Curriculum Applied Digital Skills –all tech skills Google’s Be Internet Awesome –abbreviated course K-8, scaffolded, Ask a Tech Teacher (with projects) Cyberbullying Cybersecurity Cyber Patriot program –by the Air Force DigCit–General

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How to Get Kids Excited About Writing

Cool Cat Teacher

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Speech-to-text, audio, personal drawings and pictures, and writing about things kids love are all part of helping kids get excited about writing. In today's show, we talk to 15-year educator Randi Ahrndt about encouraging kids to get excited about writing as we discuss interactive writing strategies and one of the best free tools for teaching writing.

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Tech Tip #138: 7 Ways to Evaluate Websites

Ask a Tech Teacher

169 tech-centric situations—tech topics most important to your teaching as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations Today’s tip: Evaluate websites Category: Parents When students use the internet to research a topic, likely they get hundreds—or thousands—of possible resources. Beyond selecting based on key words and extensions (such as selecting websites that end in .edu and.gov), how can they make choices that will inform their learning rather than misguide i

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

Speaker: Andrew Cohen, Founder & CEO of Brainscape

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

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How to Teach Digital Citizenship in Kindergarten

Ask a Tech Teacher

Understanding how to use the internet has become a cornerstone issue for students. No longer do they complete their research on projects solely in the library. Now, there is a vast landscape of resources available on the internet. But with wealth of options comes responsibility for their use. As soon as children begin to visit the online world, they need the knowledge to do that safely, securely, responsibly.

Teaching 370

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How Mentorship Has Kept Me in the Classroom

ED Surge

I began my teaching career as a Teach For America (TFA) Corps member in Jacksonville, Florida. I was part of a cohort of about 100 first-year educators, all united by a common mission: to serve under-resourced and underserved schools. Entering the classroom for the first time, I was filled with hope and passion, believing I could make a positive difference.

Teaching 329
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Tips for Supporting Students With Special Needs Using Technology

Ask a Tech Teacher

As you prepare for the holiday break and then a new year, it’s a great time to think about resources available in your classes for students with special needs. Ask a Tech Teacher has a long list of online websites and apps for a variety of special needs , but if you’re looking for a good overview of general tips, check these out: Tips for Supporting Students With Special Needs Using Technology You might not realize that over 60% of students with special needs benefit remarkably from

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5 Essential Questions Educators Have About AI

ED Surge

Walberto Flores EdTech Coordinator, Highlands International School San Salvador Artificial intelligence has entered our classrooms — sometimes invited and other times not — leaving educators to ask essential questions about its implementation and impact. Teachers are exploring how AI can be used to redefine learning experiences, strengthen student-teacher relationships and support students as ethical AI users and creators.

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Universal Design for Learning: What is it? Why use?

Ask a Tech Teacher

Education has come a long way since the focus on “reading, writing, ‘rithmetic” In Ask a Tech Teacher posts, we’ve covered many teaching strategies: Behavior Learning Theory Depth of Knowledge (DoK) Flipped Classroom Frayer Model Growth Mindset Habits of Mind Mindfulness Orton-Gillingham Project-based Learning (PBL) Socratic Method Standards-based Grading Understanding By Design Unschool VARK model Visible Learning Whole Brain Teaching Any of these might be perfect for yo

UDL 454
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Harnessing The Power Of Math Manipulatives

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.

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College ‘Deserts’ Disproportionately Deter Black and Hispanic Students from Higher Ed

ED Surge

In recent years, a growing body of research has looked at the impact of college ‘deserts’ — sometimes defined as an area where people live more than a 30-minute drive to a campus — and found that those residing close to a college are more likely to attend. But a new study shows that these higher education deserts affect some groups of students much differently than others.

Economics 334
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Halloween Projects, Websites, Apps, Books, and a Costume

Ask a Tech Teacher

Three holidays are fast-approaching–Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. If you’re a teacher, that means lots of tie-ins to make school festive and relevant to students. Here are ideas for Halloween projects, lesson plans, websites, and apps ( check here for updated links ): Websites and Apps 30-day Halloween fitness challeng e Build a Jack-o-lantern (in Google Slides) Carve-a-Pumpkin from Parents magazine – Resolute Digital, LLC (app) Enchanted Learning Halloween games, puz

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This School Nurse Explains How Her Work Goes Beyond ‘Band-Aids, Boo-Boos and Head Lice’

ED Surge

Many people think of school nurses as the people in a school building responsible for patching up a scraped knee, confirming a fever and checking students for lice. It’s not that they don’t do those things. It’s that those tasks are only a very small part of what Eva Stone views as a significant role within a school. Stone, manager of district health at Jefferson County Public Schools, a large district in Louisville, Kentucky, with about 100,000 students, has served as a school nurse for more th

Schooling 319
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From Blank Page to First Chapter: A Beginner’s Guide on How to Start Writing a Book

Ask a Tech Teacher

Ask a Tech Teacher is officially on Thanksgiving break so I’m going to pop in here with two posts from our international team that just couldn’t wait: From Blank Page to First Chapter: A Beginner’s Guide on How to Start Writing a Book- – for the teacher-authors following Ask a Tech Teacher, a how-to primer on writing the book that rattles around in your head (see below) Top 5 Game Development Platforms for Young Coders: Building Skills with Fun –perfect for those still do

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Thanksgiving Activities That Keep You in Charge of Learning

Ask a Tech Teacher

Teaching the days before big holidays is challenging. Students and teachers alike are ready for a break. Both struggle to pay attention regardless of how innovative and engaging are the lesson plans. I’ve been there often. As a result, I’ve come up with fun ways to support learning while students power through the last few days of school.

Learning 344
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Teacher-Authors: What’s Happening on my Writer’s Blog

Ask a Tech Teacher

A lot of teacher-authors read my WordDreams blog. In this monthly column, I share the most popular post from the past month on my writer’s blog, WordDreams : 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, written off as “s/he doesn’t like to read”.

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What Federal Data Tells Us About Challenges Finding Teachers

ED Surge

New federal survey data on the education workforce shows that a majority of schools had a tough time filling at least one fully certified teaching position this fall. Parsing education data into snack-sized servings. Public schools reported having six teacher vacancies on average in August, based on responses to the School Pulse Panel by the National Center for Education Statistics.

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AI and Writing Essays: Pros and Cons, How Will Students Learn to Write if an AI Writes It for Them?

Ask a Tech Teacher

Explore the benefits and drawbacks of AI in essay writing, including its impact on student learning. Unveil the evolving future of writing education with AI through these suggestions from the Ask a Tech Teacher team. AI and Writing Essays: Pros and Cons, How Will Students Learn to Write if an AI Writes It for Them? In the fast-changing digital world, integrating AI into education is both a breakthrough and a problem.

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National STEM Day Nov. 8th

Ask a Tech Teacher

National STEM Day is November 8, 2024, the unofficial holiday that celebrates science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education throughout the United States. Many add ‘art’ to the celebration for the acronym, STEAM. Here are some great ideas that remind your students of the excitement that is these core subjects: Ten Ways to Celebrate National STEM Day with NASA National STEM Day focuses on helping students advance in STEM fields, a priority of NASA as we continue to

STEM 356
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For Girls to Succeed in STEM, Confidence Matters as Much as Competence

ED Surge

One of Shane Woods’ favorite memories as executive director of Girlstart, a nonprofit that aims to empower girls in the sciences, was as a participant taking her own goddaughter to the organization’s back-to-school extravaganza. Parsing education data into snack-sized servings. They zipped through activities with rockets and robots, and Woods asked her goddaughter — named Sailor — what she thought of it all when they were heading home.

STEM 340
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Should Students Chat With AI Versions of Historical Figures?

ED Surge

Veteran multimedia producer and professor Lynn Rogoff has long experimented with ways to bring history alive for young people. So as she saw the rise of AI tools, she was quick to try them. In her latest film, “Bird Woman: Sacagawea,” viewers not only watch the story of Sacagawea — the young woman from the Soshone tribe who helped guide the Lewis and Clark Expedition back in 1804 — they can chat with her and ask questions about her life.

Primary 345
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Goal Setting for a Fourteen-year old

Ask a Tech Teacher

Can a high school freshman be goal-oriented? Should they—or is this too early? Though many deliberate, no one yet has invented a time machine to unring the proverbial bell. And high school requires the ringing of many academic, social and economic bells. Many future-shaping decisions become final based on these four years. Zoe, like your sons and daughters, is thinking about which college she wants to attend.

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Why Well-Behaved Teachers Rarely Make Systemic Change in Schools

ED Surge

When I came out to my family during my first year of college in the early 2000s, my mom’s immediate concern extended beyond my safety and happiness to my future as an educator. She asked, “But what about your career?” as though living authentically meant I’d have to hide my queerness to succeed in teaching. In that moment, even before I entered my teacher preparation program, I confronted a troubling reality: in education, there would always be scripts I’d be expected to follow.

Schooling 333
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What If Finding Child Care Online Were as Easy as Making a Dinner Reservation?

ED Surge

In 2024, if you want to make a dinner reservation, you’re very likely to open an app on your phone, input a few details and then filter your results to see which restaurants have availability for your party size, date and time. If you want to find child care, on the other hand, good luck. In most states, you can visit a website and see a map of providers in your area, along with some basic information about them — ages served, operating hours, quality rating — but details about their enrollment

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4 Critical Pieces of Every Lesson and How to Gamify Them video

Ask a Tech Teacher

Gamification of Education This video is from a series I taught for school districts. It is now available for free, here on Ask a Tech Teacher: –summarize with NoteGPT Summary Jacqui Murray discusses the integration of technology in K-8 education, focusing on gamification to enhance learning. Highlights Gamification enhances learning by incorporating game elements into education.

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9 St. Patrick’s Day Resources For Your Class

Ask a Tech Teacher

St. Patrick’s Day is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on March 17th to honor St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, credited with bringing Christianity to the country. The day is marked by parades, wearing green clothing and accessories, traditional Irish music and dance, feasting, and the symbolic consumption of foods and beverages like corned beef, cabbage, and Irish stout.

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Teaching Feels Like a Dead-End Job. Here’s How Schools Can Change That.

ED Surge

On the spectrum of professional experience for K-12 teachers, I am decidedly on the greener side. Although I knew I had a passion for teaching before entering college, I always had this idea in my head that teaching K-12 education wasn’t a real or appropriate profession for an Ivy League, engineering graduate like myself. Instead of industry or academia, however, I joined the stream of my peers entering the world of business management consulting.

Teaching 322
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New AI Tools Are Promoted As Study Aids for Students. Are They Doing More Harm Than Good?

ED Surge

Once upon a time, educators worried about the dangers of CliffsNotes — study guides that rendered great works of literature as a series of bullet points that many students used as a replacement for actually doing the reading. Today, that sure seems quaint. Suddenly, new consumer AI tools have hit the market that can take any piece of text, audio or video and provide that same kind of simplified summary.

Professor 349
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Tech Tip #64 Google Street View

Ask a Tech Teacher

In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education. Today’s tip: Google Street View Category: Problem-solving Q: I can’t find enough detail about a geographic area we’re studying.

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Most Teens Think AI Won’t Hurt Their Mental Health; Teachers Disagree

Ask a Tech Teacher

Generative AI is an exploding influence in education with lots of potential but unknown outcomes. Most people focus on its impact on school research, lesson plans–that sort–but another piece isn’t considered often enough: its impact on student mental health. This next article from but we’ll do in this article from Education Week does Educators, teens differ on AI’s mental health effects Teens and educators hold divergent views on its mental health effects of AI, wit