EdTech by Emily

Lots of people are discovering the power of Flipgrid! Michael Hughes, a teacher in Lake Elsinore, California, is taking Flipgrid to the next level. He uses Flipgrid to help manage stations for his littles. He puts the QR code for the grid on the students' response sheet so that they can access it easily. You HAVE to check out his Twitter page to see his examples! ( Click here .) I would love to see his ideas in action.  Drop me a line!  We can work together!

No More Red Ink is an online practice platform that focuses on grammar. Students pick topics that interest them. All of their practice materials are customized to their interests. Teachers can assign diagnostic materials or specific lessons to all students or differentiate by student need. Students are also able to work through the practice modules independently. Students are given immediate and adaptive feedback based on their responses. No More Red Ink is geared toward students 4th grade and up. As with any freemium product, there are certain features that are gained with a paid subscription . If you decide to try No More Red Ink , give me a shout! I'd love to help you get started or hear how it goes for you. Student Interest page: View of teacher data page:

These virtual manipulatives by Toy Theater are my latest favorite math find. Reasons I love this site: Simple but elegant design attracts kids but isn't so busy that it is distracting. Each tool also has a description for its instructional use.  Some tools list the Common Core standards they could address. (I know, I know...) Many also have a link to even more pedagogy information, related printables, and even videos. The manipulatives include some that are fantastic for early numeracy such as Rekenreks, two-color counters and ten frames. There are even some pretty good math and reading games included on the site. (Although there are more math games than reading at this time.) The makers promise it is free for teachers. Not freemium, free. 

This Chromebook training by Nadine Gilkison is AMAZING! I think it is intended to use with students but I think it would be awesome for adult training, too! Actually, all of Nadine's stuff is great. You should definitely check her out on Twitter or on her blog !

Winter Holidays with Storyboard That StoryboardThat is one of my favorite tools for demonstrating learning. One thing I love about this tool is that StoryboardThat includes lesson ideas & plans for use. In this post , StoryboardThat shares several examples of lessons revolving around winter holidays. As with most edtech tools, StoryboardThat offers a free plan and a paid plan. With the free plan, users can create a 3 x 1 storyboard or a 3 x 2 storyboard. To use the free plan, simply click the Create a Storyboard button and start working. When finished, users can screenshot their work so that they can have evidence to turn in. If you love StoryboardThat so much you choose to pay for an account, you and your students will be able to save your work & create with multiple layouts. As a teacher, you can also create classes and assignments and use rubrics with the paid account. You can read more about the paid account features here . One thing to think about, Storyboa...

This is a nifty little tip I use all the time if I need to hop on someone else's machine and don’t want to completely log them out of what they are doing. It’s called INCOGNITO MODE. Incognito mode is a clean window that is not automatically logged into anything, and it doesn’t save your history or save cookies. It will also remove login information so that it doesn’t appear the next time a window is opened. To learn how to open an Incognito Mode window as well as learn 8 more reasons you might benefit from Incognito Mode CLICK HERE . Article credit: Kasey Bell from Shake Up Learning

I got this idea by listening to the Google Teacher Tribe Podcast with Kasey Bell (from Shake Up Learning) and Matt Miller (from Ditch That Textbook). The idea is this: create a Google Slide with a page for each student. On the first slide create a Table of Contents linked to each student’s slide. It will help facilitate the beginning of a collaborative lesson and also help you find each student’s work quickly. Personally, I would make one Google Slide this way and copy it for each assignment so that I wouldn’t have to create the Table of Contents each time. You can SEE AN EXAMPLE HERE .

Have you heard about Flipgrid? IT’S AMAZING! Flipgrid is an online video discussion platform. I made a Google Slides presentation about its features. If you’re the type of person who wants PD in your pajamas, feel free to explore it and I’d love to hear how you implement it! If you’re the type of person who wants an in-person demo, feel free to schedule some time with me !

Research proves that using graphic organizers improves student learning. (Read more about that in this Cult of Pedagogy article .) Did you know you could have students complete graphic organizers DIGITALLY?! Eric Curts gives us not only a tutorial but also 30 free templates to copy, modify or use as needed. Check out his tutorial and templates HERE . EXAMPLES:  

I came across this cool tool from Alice Keeler that would support our writing goals this year. It is a Google Slide with some Alice Keeler magic. Students can write the different parts of a piece on each slide. Then they click “Slides Essay” and “Create a Doc” to automatically create one writing piece from each part they typed on the Google Slide. You can read more about Alice's cool tool on her blog .

This tech tip comes from my friend, Kim Estes, who works at Burleson ISD. Her team has developed a collection of learning resources that are based in Google apps. You can find the collection of resources here. There is a filter you can use to search through the collection. For example, this document could be assigned as an exit ticket for students to show 5 things learned about a certain topic:

Language Is A Virus-But in a good way!!! I made the above image with a visual poetry tool on languageisavirus.com . That tool alone is pretty cool but it’s not all that Language Is a Virus has to offer. It also has daily writing prompts, writing games, exercises, techniques, text generators and text manipulators. Here is what Language Is a Virus has to say about their purpose: “Languageisavirus.com exists to cure writer's block and inspire creativity. You can choose from a multitude of writing games, gizmos, generators, writing prompts and exercises, tips, experiments and manifestos from infamous avant garde writers and how-to articles on fiction writing and poetry.” Language is a Virus is a tool I think every language arts teacher would love to have in their collection.

Looking for STEAM activities to implement in your classroom? Then you MUST check out Campbell USD out of California’s STEAM resource page ! Their “STEAM task force” put together a website full of STEAM activities and resources. You will especially want to take a peek at their STEAM Integration Lesson Menu that gives suggested STEAM activities for each grade. If you see something of interest that I could assist with, give me a shout!

Imagine Forest is a free, online resource that makes writing stories easy and fun. They have created a collection of inspirational creative writing resources for kids. They also have a creative writing community where students can publish their work. You can read more about Imagine Forest on their blog . One caveat: kids under 12 need an account under an adult. ( Read here for the specifics.) Don’t let that scare you away. Contact me and we can discuss the best way to set it up for you and your students!

Workbench is an innovative one-stop shop for teachers to find and share projects that support STEAM curricula. It is a project-based learning platform where students can complete STEAM tasks in class or individually, using everything from basic art supplies and recyclable materials to innovative technologies such as Sphero & Makey Makey. Resources are free for teachers to access. If you’re interested in STEAM or the Maker movement, Workbench is a great place to start!

Here is an app that fits two needs: STEAM challenges AND quick, time fillers! The Instant Challenge app by Destination Imagination gives ideas for fun group activities that must be solved within a short period of time. Students can use their imagination, teamwork skills and a few everyday materials, to be as innovative as possible. Click here to download Instant Challenge Shaker on your Apple device. For Android devices, click here .

Image credit: here If you use any of the Google apps with your students, you will want to check out this resource ! It is a collection of ready-made templates for you to use in your lessons. It is even divided by grade level! I particularly like the newspaper templates on the front page. Check out this resource today!

FREE Skills Practice with Studyladder.com Are you looking for a way for students to practice skills but short on budget?  Studyladder.com provides educational resources across many subjects, not just math and literacy, and for ages 3-12+. Studyladder is free for teachers. Studyladder will work on any device that has internet access, including mobile devices. (For the record, they claim that over 90% of their activities work on iPads and other mobile devices.) If you’re thinking you’d like to try Studyladder.com, I’d love to help you get started!

TeacherLed.com is a website full of teaching and learning resources. All are compatible with desktop and mobile devices and no subscriptions or log-ins are needed. Here are some of my favorites: Letter Reveal : Scratch off one box at a time as students guess which letter is underneath. Virtual Dice : Roll 1, 2 or 3 die at a time to work on subitizing or addition. Hundreds Chart : I especially like this hundreds chart because you can “roll” it forward or backward to reveal negative numbers or numbers past 100. Magnetic Numbers : I like that the “flip cards” reveal random numbers. For example, for the image above you could work on mentally adding 45 and 30. Then you can click either the 4 or 5 in 45 and work on counting by decades from a different number. There are many more interactive activities for both math and language arts. You can check out their resources here as well as a collection of all their resources here .