Soft Technology

You are probably familiar with Remind 101 and Class Parrot, but perhaps you haven't yet tried Cel.ly because you thought you already had your texting needs covered or maybe initially it looked too complicated; however, Cel.ly is in a whole other league from those other popular tools and is well worth the effort. A tool with enterprise level power that is completely free is too good to pass up. A reminder to teachers: Don't take the risk of texting your students directly. It's just not worth it when there's another way to have the same result with none of the risk. Don't put yourself in a position of having a "he said/she said" that could end up in court. ALSO: Group texting is a pain in most apps. Cel.ly solves all of the above. Here are ten things your school (or district or classroom) can do better and cheaper with  Cel.ly . 1. Set up a cell for your entire district for mass notifications, for example, "No school tomorrow due to Hurricane. Check l...

I think every Chromebook should come with this page. Print it out and put it in the box this Christmas! And if you see something we left out, please comment on this post and let us know. 15 Things to Know about Your New C h r o m e b o o k 1. There are a few things you can do with your Chromebook offline, but you will like your Chromebook best when it is on a wireless network. 2. You can log in with any Gmail address and password, including your work account if your company or school uses Google. 3. Any apps or themes you install in your Chrome browser on your computer will appear on your Chromebook automatically. 4. You do not have to just use Apps from the App Store; almost any website will work on a Chromebook. For example, Animoto.com, Prezi.com, etc. 5. Go through the tutorial to learn about right clicking and scrolling by using two fingers, pushing down instead of just tapping, and using ALT+Search to turn caps lock on and off. 6. Microsoft Office (and other traditional software)...

I'm impressed with what I've read so far of Engaging Students: The Next Level of Working on the Work  by Phillip C. Schlechty. Below is a portion that especially stood out. I wish I could Tweet the highlights from my Kindle Cloud Reader, though if I shared everything I like, I would undoubtedly severely violate copyright restrictions. If you are interested in student engagement, check out this book. The warning that follows this passage is to all educators: Take care not to confuse "on-task behaviors" with student engagement. You can tell the difference by asking yourself, if the reward or punishments were removed, would the good behavior continue? If students would still work on the project even if it weren't graded, they are engaged. If not, they may just be "on-task." Learn more about Schlechty's work on Google Books here .

Yesterday I had  Instructional Rounds  scheduled with a group of teachers involved in a special project . One of the 7th grade teachers I was scheduled to visit had a family emergency and wasn't able to be at school. I decided to go ahead and see what was going on since I already had the time set aside, and I have to tell you . . . It was amazing. The students are engaged in Project Based Learning and were finishing up their "Dream Big" project where they design their dream bedrooms in collaborative teams using Chromebooks. They must know furniture and building costs, calculate dimensions, and keep up with lots of spreadsheets and calculations, as well as use tools like MyDeco.com and Autodesk Homestyler  to create their rooms in 2 and 3D. Everywhere students were discussing projects and solving problems. It was TRULY a WOW! moment. Way to go Mrs. Brenda Schultz and class. We couldn't stop talking about you! Photograph Used with Permission from Andy Carlos Photograp...

I heard a story recently about an Instructional Technology Specialist who observed a great lesson in a teacher's room. The ITS said to the teacher, "Wow! That was wonderful! I'm so impressed!" and the teacher replied, "I know, but don't tell anyone or they'll all want to steal my lesson, then everyone will be doing it." The ITS person walked away in disbelief. In our field, "everyone is doing it" when "it" is a great lesson is our #1 goal. How could anyone have so completely missed the point? Sharing, being copied, or whatever you want to call it is WINNING in education! Be a winner today; share something. (Be sure to display image via email to see the graphic above, which is adorable and totally worth the one click.)

"If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original" -Sir Ken Robinson, TED Talk: Schools Kill Creativity From the best TED Talk ever, Schools Kill Creativity

Beth Still @BethStill Social studies teacher & online course designer. Moodler. Founder of the ISTE Newbie project. Difference maker. Super power: cat herder.#digicon12 organizer. I’ve had enough. I used to love my job, but  I just can’t do it anymore. Forty percent of my students are failing because they can’t/don’t/won’t do their work.  Something is wrong. REALLY wrong. Before you think I have totally lost my mind please let me explain. For the last eight years I have worked at a school where we have a tremendous amount of access to technology. Like most teachers, I started out by having my students locate information on the Internet. From there I began to have them create projects such as short movies. The next step was blogging and using different tools to reach out beyond the walls of our classroom to connect with others. I vary the types of things we do in class, but it just isn’t enough. I don’t feel like they are learning skills that will help them be successful i...

Here's a little video about a few of the thousands of things kids can do on a Chromebook in the classroom . . .

I love these headphones so much that it would be wrong of me not to tell you about them. I'm not recommending them for work so much as for pleasure, though I love them in all settings. They connect to my phone via Bluetooth--no wires--  and work flawlessly with my iPhone 4s and Galaxy Note 2  (though I must admit I've never been able to get them to hold a connection to my MacBook Pro, that doesn't matter much for me)  . I use them to hear something besides what's going on in my house all the time and they allow me to remain calm and composed when something loud and annoying is happening that would normally stress me out. I also wear them in the bathtub, though I'm sure this isn't safe, so don't try this at home. I'm an expert :-). And I wear them in the store so I don't have to talk to anyone unless I feel like it (think #introvertgift). After a few hours my ears start to hurt, but so far, I have never found a pair of headphones that stay on where t...

Create a staff development project using stickers and clouds and motivate your staff to attend after school trainings. Enjoy! Materials: http://goo.gl/ZbecY

Guest Blogger: Eliza Wright, r each Eliza @lucidchart on Twitter Wish you had access to a free online tool that allowed you to quickly fry up graphic organizers for the whole class?   Give Lucidchart a try.  As a popular diagramming web application, Lucidchart offers a modern solution to the age-old challenge of visual learning.   Teachers can manage a team account that allows them to collaborate with their students' work in real-time classroom setting.   We realize that graphic organizers are a time-honored tool for visual engagement, so we added graphic organizer templates to our educational templates section.  Now you can make great-looking graphic organizers in a snap. When you use Lucidchart to create graphic organizers--or any other type of diagram--you get fresh content, a plethora of publishing options, and customization out the wazoo. Plus, we’re completely free for educators and students. If we’ve piqued your curiosity, keep reading. How to sign u...