English Language Arts | Power Up What Works The English Language Arts (ELA) Instructional Strategy Guides The Instructional Strategy Guides provide you with a pathway to learning. Each Guide focuses on key areas of ELA: reading literature and informational text, language, writing, and foundational skills. It includes information about relevant Common Core State Standards, evidence-based practices, and ways to differentiate instruction with technology. The Guides provide value to teachers, as well as PD leaders, teacher educators, and administrators. How to Use The ELA Instructional Strategy Guides Select and use materials to strengthen teaching and learning and Professional Development.
Create an Audio QR Code Follow the Steps Below These are the directions for creating a QR code that will allow the user to play audio upon scanning the code. This function would serve you well if you wanted to deliver instructions for learning centers (science investigations, for example), presentations, and in so many other ways. Enjoy! Step One - Create the Audio (MP3) I would complete this step with either Record MP3 or Vocaroo. Step Two - Make the QR Code Now that you used one of the sites mentioned above to create an audio recording, you may take the link to that recording, and create a QR code that students may scan to hear the audio file. A Second Option - Tellagami Learning How to Use Tellagami Tellagami is a fun iPad app that allows you thirty seconds to say what you need to say. Tellagami, Step Two So after you've made your "Gami," the best thing to do would be to upload it somewhere. Once you've uploaded to YouTube, you will then be able to get a link that will allow you to create a QR code with it.
25 Fun Ways to use QR Codes for Teaching and Learning I’ve culled a bunch of ideas from different teachers who have shared their approaches to using this simple but powerful construct in the classroom. Once your students are equipped with a device that can read QR codes and they know how to scan them, you’re ready to use ideas like these in your classroom! If you’re not already familiar with it, scroll down to the bottom of the article to learn how to easily create QR codes, and find QR Code readers. Ideas, Ideas, and More Ideas! The article, Ways to use QR Codes in the Elementary Classroom and Using Google Docs to Create Them, by Jill Thompson, offers these uses: Library Book Add-On: Put QR codes on classroom library books, linking out to information about the author and or book. These ideas come from the web page QR Codes – What are they and how can I use them in my classroom? Assistive Technology: “Provide an alternative access format for students who need additional support in reading and writing.” Creating and Reading QR Codes
A Guidebook for Social Media in the Classroom Is Social Media Relevant? Take the Quiz Before we talk social media, let's talk about the relevance of social media by taking a quiz. Which of the following is most likely to be true? ☐ Should we teach letter-writing in the classroom? The Social Media Answer ☑ There's one form of writing that can arguably get someone fired, hired or forced to retire faster than any other form of writing. One form of writing is that powerful. If you guessed social media, you're right. The Social Media Myth The myth about social media in the classroom is that if you use it, kids will be Tweeting, Facebooking and Snapchatting while you're trying to teach. You don't even have to bring the most popular social media sites into your classroom. 12 Ways Teachers are Using Social Media in the Classroom Right Now Tweet or post status updates as a class. It's in the Standards Social media is here.
Bubbl.us Mind Map Create a new Mind Map Once you are signed in, click the "New Mind Map" button. A tab titled "New Mind Map" will appear with the editor underneath. Click on the bubble's text to edit. Create new bubbles To create a 'child bubble', click the button on the bottom of the bubble. To create a 'sibling bubble', click the button on the right side of the bubble. Bubble Controls When you hover over a bubble, you will see a menu that lets you do the following: Text Formatting You can use pseudo tags to format the text in bubbles. For example: [b] will become bold [/b] = will become bold [i] will become italic [/i] = will become italic Note that the formatting is only visible when bubble text is not being edited. Saving Work To save a mind map, click on the "Save" button in the upper right-hand corner of the editor. The mind maps you save will show up in the Mind Map Browser panel. Share a link to your mind map Want to show off your work via Facebook, Google+, Twitter or e-mail? Save as an image
A Beginner's Guide to Using Schoology: The Back-to-School Essentials It's that time of year again—the time for you to begin getting reacquainted with the Schoology platform in preparation for the new school year. But don't stress about that. Even though we've added some new features, getting back into the swing of things will be just like riding a bike, especially if you followed our End of Year Best Practices. For those of you out there who need a little refresher, and for those of you just starting out (Welcome, by the way), we've put together a quick overview of the platform that will be available here on the blog and in our Help Center. If you look up at the top of your screen, you'll see four different "profiles" on the left—Home, Courses, Groups, and Resources—and some icons and your name on the right. This top navigation is always available, no matter where you are on the site. And keep in mind that Schoology streamlines navigation. Home Page Your Home Page is where you will start every time you log in to Schoology. Course Profiles Group Profiles
11 Quick and Amazing ways to use PowToon in your Classroom by PowToon! Read Time: 6 minutes I recently read a study on creativity that blew my mind: “A major factor in creativity is education: not whether you had a ‘good’ or ‘expensive’ or ‘public’ education, but whether you were encouraged to develop your creativity starting at an early age and continuing throughout your school years.” — Adobe Powtoon in Your Classroom — Creativity & Education We saw this first-hand, when Edson Tellez, a volunteer teacher in rural Mexico, wrote to us about how Powtoon changed the way his students viewed the world. The mind blowing fact is that developing creativity is the primary determining factor in the overall success of your students! 1 – Students must have a platform to be creative with (physical materials, online programs, a stage etc…) 2- Direction – Even if you teach in the most affluent school, with the most expensive technology; your students are still only as good as the direction given to them. And Powtoon wants to help you ignite this creativity! 1. 2. 3. 4. Ms.
6 Easy Steps for Getting Started Using Free Plickers for Assessment Data is an essential component in education, yet sometimes it can be viewed as a necessary evil for educators. In the past, a teacher may teach a lesson and require students to complete an exit ticket assessment activity to show mastery of the concept(s) reviewed over a certain time frame. Passing out the materials and grading individual student responses can be a time consuming task. As the year goes on a teacher’s attitude toward data collection may change and decline as assessment becomes more overwhelming. What is a Plicker? In my classroom, students’ desks are grouped in pods to allow collaboration during activities. First, here is the website for downloading this must-have app to your device: Steps For Integrating Plickers: Go on the website and create a teacher account on plickers.com.Choose the tab labeled classes at the top of the page and type in your class roster. Overall, I have had a wonderful experience using this app in my classroom.
Top Five Ways to Use Screencasting in the Classroom This article was written by guest author Ron Kotlik for our quarterly education newsletter, the Learning Lounge. If you have an interest in contributing, please fill out this form. Screencasting is one of the most dynamic tools educators can use to transform their classroom in a dramatic fashion without investing a tremendous amount of time learning a new software piece or app. While most teachers are excited to use a “new” technology their frustration grows when there is a significant learning curve involved and little time or support available to learn what is necessary. The tools available to create screencasts are easy to use and can be quickly implemented by both teachers and students. 1. “Live screencasting,” creating a live recording during a class activity, is one of the easiest ways for teachers to begin the adventure of using this tool to promote positive change in their classrooms. 2. 3. 4. 5. About the Author, Ron Kotlik: Related 20 to Watch: Deb Wolf July 12, 2011 July 10, 2013
How to Easily Insert Questions and Quizzes into Videos Using EduCanon Have you ever wished you knew how to easily add questions into a video to create lesson content or to help ensure that students are engaging with video content? Well, you can, for free! One of the many great tools I learned about at FlipCon14 in June was EduCanon. I’d been interested in finding a tool that would enable users to easily add questions or quizzes into a video, but just had not been able to make the time to find a good one. Today I took EduCanon for a spin, and recorded a new 3 Minute Teaching With Technology Tutorial to show how easy it is to add questions to a video and create a quiz using this wonderful free tool. Check it out … Go ahead, give EduCanon a try today! Watch the rest of 3 Minute Teaching with Tech Tutorials on this web page, or by opening this YouTube Playlist. So, have you used EduCanon or similar tools? About Kelly Walsh Kelly Walsh is Chief Information Officer at The College of Westchester, in White Plains, NY, where he also teaches. Print This Post