Tag: #ABCsofedtech

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Z is for Generation Z

Who are Generation Z?

who are Generation ZThe term Generation Z refers to teens and pre-teens born after 1995 and was officially launched in 2014 as part of a marketing presentation. The salient characteristic of their generation is its apparent fondness love of and comfort with new technology.

So, in order to find out more about Generation Z, we asked middle school students about theirs and their families’ relationship with technology. And found no easy generalizations.

And what does this all have to do with that pesky “digital natives” conversation?

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W is for Weekly Geek Podcast

Creative ways to share learning opportunities

creative ways to share learning opportunitiesTeachers at Lamoille Union Middle/High School learn about the latest tools and resources available to them in a unique and engaging way.  Marc Gilbertson, the Integration Specialist and Meagan Towle, the librarian, carve out 20 minutes in their busy schedules to get together and crank out a short video podcast series called the Weekly Geek to share available resources.

Check out this week’s entry demonstrating three tools to encourage visual and audio engagement in learning.

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V is for Voice Recordings

Why voice recordings work for young adolescents

why voice recordings work for young adolescentsAs students use technology to explore and capture projects that show both their emerging proficiency with skills and snapshots of who they have been, are and may become, tools that allow students to add their own human voice to multimedia can be invaluable in the discovery and showcasing process.

Here’s why voice recordings work for young adolescents and 3 tools we like for creating them.

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T is for Timelines

Timeline tools for transformative learning

timeline tools for transformative learningTimeline tools can serve two important purposes: concrete help with project planning (for PLPs, 1:1 rollouts, PBL) and for displaying evidence of learning in an easily digestible format.

But the online, anytime/anywhere, collaborative nature of such tools can unlock meta-learning for students, providing them with a platform for bolstering collaboration and project-planning skills.

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R is for REAL Reflection

Getting real about student reflection

getting real about student reflectionAh, reflection. It may bring to mind an introspective moment, perhaps gazing into the still waters of a mountain lake and seeing a slightly puzzled person staring back. That’s not the kind of reflection we are talking about here.

Reflection in a 21st Century learning sense is a key component of personalized learning.

Reflection allows students to construct knowledge, make personal connections, and ultimately become self-driven learners. More like a trailside break on a wilderness trek than a lazy lakeside afternoon. Continue reading “R is for REAL Reflection”

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P is for Performance Tasks

Using performance tasks as a way to measure student knowledge

using performance tasks to measure student knowledgeWhen working with a group of middle school science teachers recently whose goal was to increase the depth of knowledge in their shared common assessments, we explored using Performance Tasks as a way to measure student knowledge and skills gained, as they apply them in novel and real situations.

It’s the “do” in the KUD (know, understand, and do) that so often gets left behind, but is so important in the world of deep learning.

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N is for Nearpod

How these educators used Nearpod for professional development

nearpod for professional developmentEducators instinctively understand the engagement power of a tool that allows learners to actively participate in the learning.

For those of you new to Nearpod, this multi-platform app allows teachers to shoot out presentations — think Powerpoints or Google Slides made interactive — directly to their students’ devices.  Content slides can be interspersed with embedded polls, quizzes, and drawing tools for in-the-moment formative assessment.

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M is for Minecraft

M is for Minecraft

How to use Minecraft with students

how to use Minecraft with studentsMinecraft is an example of welcoming in student-driven modes of learning, exploration and demonstration of learning. Students find the platform deeply engaging because they can use it to build entire worlds, and many prefer to do their building collaboratively, or outside of school hours. But Minecraft also requires reading, writing and blogging skills, and can have real-world impact.

“Bio,” says one 9th grader. “We were in Bio. And there were some machines sitting there and one was a centrifuge. And I knew what it was because of Minecraft.”

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L is for Learning Management System (LMS)

What can you do with an LMS?

what can you do with an LMSLMS stands for Learning Management System. An LMS is an application for planning, delivering, managing, and assessing a learning process.

Likely, your school or district will choose which commercial LMS package to deploy (Canvas, Haiku, Schoology and Google Classroom are a few), but how you use it is entirely up to you.

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I is for Identity

identity in PLPs

3 tech-rich strategies for exploring identity with students

identity in PLPs

“Who am I?” is the question at the heart of the adolescent mind. Almost all challenges, tests, and dilemmas relate to the central theme of identity.

Young adolescents seek to find answers to questions like, “Where do I fit in?”, “What makes me different or special?” and “What do I believe?”

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G is for Group Device Management

Physical management of tech

aka OMG Where Did All These Cords Come From

management of tech in a 1:1The act of simply registering, storing, charging, keeping track of and distributing apps to devices in a 1:1 environment is a full set of challenges on its own. And so, while we’ll later this week get to the other two important aspects of Group Device Management — Behavior Expectations and Communicating With Families — let’s take a few minutes to tackle the physical realities of suddenly having mumble-hundred pieces of identical technology arrive at your door.

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