Combining Common Sense's #DeviceFreeDinner with The Family Dinner Project's Conversation Starters and Dinner Games is sure to make some lasting memories this holiday season. Give it a try at your house!
Monday, December 12, 2016
#DeviceFreeDinner
Combining Common Sense's #DeviceFreeDinner with The Family Dinner Project's Conversation Starters and Dinner Games is sure to make some lasting memories this holiday season. Give it a try at your house!
Holiday Themed Games and Websites
If you're looking for some fun online games this holiday season, check out technology rocks. seriously's recent blog posts. Some have a religious tone while others are secular.
20 Chrome Extensions, Web Apps, & Add-ons for Math
I recently came across this list of 20 Chrome Extensions, Web Apps, & Add-ons for Math. A few are geared toward elementary but there are several that could be helpful at the high school level. Take a look!
21 Chrome Extensions for Struggling Students and Special Needs
Check out this list of 21 Chrome Extensions for Struggling Students and Special Needs. There are several helpful Chrome extensions that you may want to investigate further. The list includes Test-to-Speech extensions, Readability extensions, Reading Comprehension extensions, Focus extensions, & Navigation extensions.
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Doodle: Scheduling Made Easy
Monday, December 5, 2016
App: PhotoScan by Google
If you're looking for a way to scan old photos without a scanner, check out Google's PhotoScan app (iTunes, Google Play) mentioned in this DMN article.
Digital Citizenship and Documenting Learning
This article on Digital Citizenship and Documenting Learning explores the the relationship between literacy and documenting learning. HOW does documenting learning have an effects on awareness, skills and developing habits around the so called 21st century “Now” literacies.
Monday, November 28, 2016
11 Tips for Keeping Up with Technology
With the ever changing world of technology, it's hard to keep up. Mindshift recently tweeted this graphic with tips. Take a look!
What is a Twitter Chat anyway?
The evening of Wednesday, November 16, Frisco ISD held our first ever Twitter Chat under the hashtag #FISDchat. With over 50 participants for our first attempt, it was pretty successful. The discussions were great between the professionals who contributed but Centennial HS didn't have much representation. There will be more Twitter Chats later this school year. We'll send out the schedule once it's set.
What is a Twitter Chat?
Twitter chats, sometimes known as a Twitter party or a tweet chat, happen when a group of people all tweet about the same topic using a specific hashtag (#) that allows it to be followed on Twitter. The chats are at a specific time.
Do you have to participate or can you just watch?
You don't have to participate but often as discussions progress you'll likely feel the urge to share your own thoughts and experiences. Set up a Twitter account and handle beforehand, just incase you want to contribute.
Resources. These may help you prepare for the next #FISDchat...
- Frisco ISD's Tips for Signing Up for Twitter
- Frisco ISD's How to Participate in a Twitter Chat
- FISD's Digital Melting Pot: Twitter page
- 10 things that happen during a Twitter chat article
As always, you can ask me any questions you may have!
Monday, November 7, 2016
eSchool Gradebook Indicators
If you haven't clicked on the indicators in your gradebook, you should. In my opinion, the "Student was absent this day" indicator is probably the most useful. Click on these in your gradebook and see what they do!
Monday, October 31, 2016
Edutopia's The Big List of Educational Grants and Resources
If you're looking for an educational grant, check out Edutopia's updated The Big List of Educational Grants and Resources.
Monday, October 24, 2016
New Google Features
Google has rebranded Google Apps for Education (GAFE) as G Suite. Along with that recent change, last week they added a few more features to Google Docs and Google Forms. Read more.
Google Docs Add-on: Writing Reviser
It is always
helpful to get a second set of eyes to look over your writing. This might include
peer review, teacher feedback, or even a text to speech tool to hear your words
read back aloud to you. One other helpful tool is the SAS Writing Reviser
Add-on. When you run this tool you can choose from 25 different tests that will
check over your document. These include tests in sentence economy, sentence
variety, sentence power, sentence clarity, and more. This can be helpful to
give students additional insight into their writing and some possible
corrections or improvement they may make when revising.
To add an
Add-on:
Open a
Google Drive Doc and select Add-ons. Then search for SAS and add. J
Monday, October 10, 2016
Common Sense's Top EdTech Eleven
Common Sense publishes a Top EdTech Eleven list and updates it often. Check it out to see what they say is the best of the best in the world of EdTech.
If you have any questions or want someone to investigate with you, please contact your DLC, Penney Matos!
Monday, October 3, 2016
Math and Logic Problems
MS Office: Save to Drive
Uploaded files will remain in their original format until you tell it to open in the Google equivalent.
NOVA's School of the Future
Monday, September 26, 2016
The Importance of Creative Commons
As a teacher you're always on the look out for resources your students can use legally and responsibly. Learn how Creative Commons licenses can help address some of these challenges. Learn more.
5 Video Tutorials to Teach about Online Safety
Monday, September 19, 2016
Do We Need to Teach Students to Use Technology?
Newsela for today's news
Little known start-up @Newsela is a great way to keep students (and adults) informed about today's news! Read more here. Visit Newsela here.
Monday, September 12, 2016
Annotate PDFs, images, and more with Google Classroom app
Recently, Google added the ability to annotate on Google docs, images, PDFs and MS Office documents to its Google Classroom mobile app. This is awesome news for teachers and students wanting to annotate, especially from iPads, Google tablets, and both Android phones and iPhones. Read more:
Finding Fair Use Photos - Teacher Resource
An educator, JFloodEdu, created this Tackk resource for teachers use with students to help explain Fair Use Photos.
Alternatives for TechSmith's Snag-it, Knowmia, Screenchomp
Richard Byrne at FreeTech4Teachers has come up with a list of alternatives for TechSmith's discontinued Snag-it's Chrome extension, and Knowmia & Screenchomp iPad apps. Click to read.
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
#SeriousAcademic
This is a good discussion of what it means to be a “serious academic” and how social media is now an integral part of academia. Tammy Turner originally found the article and I thought you may find it interesting.
The 10 Best EdTech Blogs for Teachers to Follow
If you're looking for more EdTech related ideas, I highly recommend you check out this list of The 10 Best EdTech Blogs for Teachers to Follow. There are a lot of good suggestions on the list!
Monday, August 29, 2016
Add to My Drive
Anytime you open a Google document, whether you have view only, comment or edit rights, it shows up on your Shared with me list in your Google Drive account. If you'd like to have the file moved to your My Drive list for easy access later, click the little drive icon at the end of the file's name at the top of the document. You can then organize it into your folder system within your Google: My Drive.
Educational YouTube Channels
I recently ran across this list of educational YouTube channels. Take a look and see if any are a good fit for your class! If so, they're the perfect thing to add to the "Course Resources" in the top left block of your Learning Hub course. See Penney Matos for help!
Integrating Digital Citizenship in your Google Classroom
iPhone Users -- Medical ID Set-Up
If you or someone you know uses an iPhone, it's a good idea to set up your Medical ID in case of emergency. You never know when an emergency may arise. This post from technology rocks. seriously. shows you how.
Monday, August 22, 2016
Inspirational Classroom Posters
The technology rocks. seriously. blog has posted several inspirational posters for teachers to download, print and post around classrooms and hallways. Posters can be found on her August 16 and August 17 posts. Check out the blog for more posters.
Saturday, July 9, 2016
What is Digital Citizenship?
As educators are asked and expected to incorporate Digital Citizenship into their classes, it helps to first understand, "What is Digital Citizenship?". Read more.
Monday, May 23, 2016
Things to Consider
As the end of the year approaches, it's a good time to reflect on your year and make notes for what's to come. I suggest you also take a look at 4 O'clock Faculty's Thoughts from #TCT16 poster.
FISD's New Secondary Website: Digital Melting Pot
Introducing Frisco ISD's Secondary Digital Learning Coaches' new technology support website: Digital Melting Pot.
Over the summer, my staff Titan Tech Tips website will be narrowed down to include only Centennial HS specific information. All general tech help (Eduphoria, eSchool, Office, Google Drive, etc.) that is the same for all FISD staff will be accessed through this new site. My student tech help site will remain unchanged for now.
CISD's 10 Must-Do's Before Giving a Kid an iPhone or iPod
If you have children at home, I highly recommend you check out CISD's post 10 Must Do's Before Giving a Kid an iPhone or iPod. It includes several fabulous tips that everyone should know about!
Monday, May 16, 2016
Never Lose Work and Keep Kids Honest
When using Chrome (not just a Chromebook), using the keyboard shortcut <Ctrl><Shift>+T will open all recently closed tabs. This can not only help save yourself some work but can also let you know what your students were recently doing and closed as you walked by. Read more...
Wizer.me: Blended Assignment Builder
Wizer.me is a new blended assignment builder. You can search through already created assessments or create your own. More are added every day.
Check out what Sara Isbell, FISD Digital Learning Coach, has to say about it. Read more...
The Wayback Machine
Alan November wrote a blog post titled "The Essential UniqueSearch Tool Your Students May Have Never Used" which featured The Wayback Machine. If you haven't played with The Wayback Machine, you
should! This site is a great way to show students that things just don't
go away when you delete them on the Internet. It's also a great way for
students to find research sites from way back that may give them a better
picture of the topic they are researching.
Not sure where to start? Try looking at the history of www.cnn.com or www.foxnews.com.
Monday, May 9, 2016
10 Terrific Tools for Teachers
As part of Teacher Appreciation last week, Control Alt Archive posted their list of 10 Terrific Tools for Teachers. They picked some good ones! Read more...
BYOD Activities that Work
Help keep your students engaged these last few weeks of school. Check out this list of BYOD Activities That Work. As always, if you would like any help with any of these tools or ideas, please contact Penney Matos!
Google Slides Q & A -- Talk with your audience, not at them
Google Slides recently added a Q & A feature, allowing audience members to be active participants in presentations. Check out this blog post on the new feature.
If you or your students present from an iPad or iPhone, check out this article.
Article: What Educators Need to Know About Technology Addiction
Common Sense Media recently published an article titled "What Educators Need to Know about Technology Addiction". It includes a summary of recent survey findings and some suggestions of what can be done. If you're for or against technology use in the classroom, you should take a look. This is a real problem.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)