January 31, 2017

FAKE NEWS!

Lesson to use to teach students how to detect it.

Think critically!

There has been a lot of talk lately about the effect fake news has on people’s opinions and all aspects of their life. It is important to teach students how to detect fake news and to think critically about the sources they use online.
There are many wonderful lesson plans already made to help combat this trend. Below are some of my favorites:

C-Span Classroom: Lesson Idea: Media Literacy and Fake News

goo.gl/K7vqGj

Ted Ed Lessons Worth Sharing: How to Choose Your News

goo.gl/KHvF5M

SLJ Article: Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a “post-truth” world 

(Full of great resources) by Joyce Valenza

goo.gl/QspB8I 

January 24, 2017

CK-12 Foundation is a FREE open-source website that provides teachers and students with many resources to use in Science and in Math.

There are science and math stimulations, study guides, lesson plans, videos, and even Flexbooks (digital textbooks that can be customized).
CK-12 was designed to work anywhere on any device. It is interactive with Google Classroom and Edmodo as well as other platforms. Although the site is free to access, teachers and students will gain even more by signing up for a free account. It’s easy to do as you can sign in with your Google account.

Take a look at ck-12.org

To learn more about CK-12 and Google Classroom, watch this short video: https://youtu.be/2aF8gqhEYxs

To see a more detailed video on how to use the features, CK-12 has created a series of video’s. You can access them here: https://www.ck12info.org/about/ck12-webinars/ 

January 24, 2017

From BetterCloud Monitor:

5 Secret Google Drive Shortcuts To Impress Your Friends With

To get the most out of Google Drive, there are a few little-known keyboard shortcuts you can use. Here are five shortcuts for common tasks that’ll power up your productivity (and impress your friends).

n – Rename a file/folder
The typical way to rename a file in Drive is to right-click on it and select Rename. However, you can do this with a single keystroke instead. When you have a file selected, just hit the n key and the rename window will automatically open.

. – Share a file/folder

If you’re sharing a file, you usually click on the Share icon up at the top, or right-click the file and choose Share. But again, you can do this with a keyboard shortcut instead. This time, just select a file or folder and hit the period button. Then, the share dialog window will open and you can share it with others.

z – Move a file/folder

Moving a file or folder in Drive is an important tool for staying organized. Select the file or folder and hit the z key, and it’ll open up a window where you can decide where you’d like to move it.

s – Star a file/folder

Another organizational tool is starring items in Drive so that you can quickly pull up a list of the most important files you have stored. Typically, you’d right-click on the file and click Add Star. (These files are then easily accessed by clicking on the “Starred” list on the left-hand side of the screen.) You can star files even more quickly by just selecting them and then hitting the s key. To unstar the file, hit s again.

qq – Adjust the display density

Do you like seeing a lot of space between your files? Or perhaps you like a more compact view? To adjust the display density of your Drive file list, just hit q and then q again. You can toggle through the settings (just hit qq again) to choose the display setting that you like best.


Click here to watch this video on YouTube.

January 17, 2017

Using the Highlight Tool Add- On in Google Docs

There are many wonderful add-ons available to be used within the Google Suite. One that is making a lot of news lately is called the Highlight Tool.
What this tool does is provide a way to highlight different text within a Google Doc using a variety of colors. But what makes it such an asset comes afterwards.... you can export the highlighted text into a separate document by either sequence or color.

This may sound familiar as there are other add-ons that do the same but the difference here is the Highlight Tool is FREE!

To see how it works, watch this short 6 min. youtube video from Josh Harris: https://youtu.be/tGRRCvbY3kw

There are many ways this add-on can be incorporated into Language Arts, Social Studies/History, or anywhere else that requires research and using information. But that is not all, Eric Curtis shows how youcan use this add-on for Math problems.

Be sure to check out his blog post to see how using the highlight tool add-on can help students solve story problems in math:
http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2017/01/math-highlights.html 

January 17, 2017

Google Classroom....now with Differential Learning and Better Teacher Notification.

Recently, Google released some new updates to Google Classroom that teachers all over are celebrating. The changes were:

• Individual assignments—Teachers can post work and announcements to individual students in a class.
  
• New teacher notifications—Teachers receive email and mobile notifications when a student submits late work or resubmits work.
  
• Classroom user metrics— Administrators can view Classroom usage reports in the Admin console.
  
• Coursework improvements for third- party developers—Third-party applications can programmatically create questions, modify coursework, and add materials to coursework.
  
• New Android feature: Teachers can edit the class description and add materials to the About tab.
  
  One of the new updates teachers are raving about is the new ability to differentiate classroom instruction right within the same class by utilizing individual assignments. For more information on this new feature, please watch this very short video: https://youtu.be/PsdnF6-gJyk
  
  Another update to make life easier for teachers is the email notifications for when students submit late work or resubmits work. No longer will teachers have to constantly check past assignments. YEAH! 
  

January 10, 2017

Recap: a free student video response app

“Recap provides teachers with new, creative ways to gather evidence of student thinking using video. It helps create new learning connections between students, parents and teachers, and foster more transformative dialogue by everyone. Great for any age!”

Recap is designed to have students provide their feedback in a fun and easy manner by recording their own responses and/or capture their thinking on video.

It can be used to provide: 

• Formative Assessment
• Reflection
• Class Management 
• Parent Communication

Recap is multi-device which means it can be used on an iPad, Laptop, Chromebook and more.

To learn more, click here: https://letsrecap.com/ 

January 10, 2017

Benefits of using Fake Twitter.

Eric Curtis has a great blog post titled Write Less to Write Betterwith Google Docs.

There are times when it is beneficial to encourage students to write Less than they normally do. It’s important for students to be able to “distill their ideas down to just the most important, relevant, clear, and concise words. By putting limits on the number of words or characters our students can use, this forces students to:

• Summarize key points
• Select what is most important
• Choose words that best convey meaning • Restate concepts
• Avoid unnecessary filler and fluff” (Curtis)

In the blog post, Eric provides tips on using Google Docs to help limit the number of words using the doc tool Word Count. His instructions are very clear and practical. However, I like his “Compose a Tweet” template better as it ties into how students are communicating online.

In the same vein, Alice Keeler has a blog post titled Mock Twitter Chat with Your Students. Alice recommends using Google Docs as well and provides excellent instructions on how to conduct your own Mock Twitter Chat.