7 Technology Tools Every Educator Should Use–the Movie

Click for full list of resources

A month ago, I wrote an article about 7 technology tools that have made a big difference in my classroom:

• BigHugeLabs
• Jing
• Nanoogo
• Polldaddy
• Tagxedo
• Voki
• Xtranormal

I posted it on TeachHub and they turned it into a movie. Take a look:

7 Technology Tools Every Educator Should Use from KTA on Vimeo.

Subscribers: Your Special is Available

Every month, subscribers to Ask a Tech Teacher get a free/discounted resource to help their tech teaching.

This month:

I know–I’m late this month. It took this long to get the new website in order, but it’s there (Hint: You’ll love it. Lots more products and easier to check out). Here’s a thank you for your patience:

10% off Entire Website!

Tech Tip #43: Back Up Often

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q:  How often should I back up my current project? How about my whole hard drive?

A:  I teach my students to save early, save often when they’re working on a project. Deciding how often that is means determining how much you can tolerate losing should the computer crash. Ten minutes? Twenty? That sets ‘how often’ you hit Ctrl+S to save your work. After all, if the computer loses your work, you’re the one who has to start over.

As for the entire computer, once a week is good. Me, I save each project I’m working on and then save-as to a back-up location. I also have an always-on cloud backup that saves everything constantly on my hard drive.

I hate losing my work.

BTW, most people skip this full-blown back-up. Don’t! It’s easy, and if you’ve ever lost an important document, you’ll know that the end justifies the time spent.

Dear Otto: How Do I Teach Citations?

Do you have a tech question?

Dear Otto is an occasional column where I answer questions I get from readers about teaching tech. If you have a question, please complete the form below and I’ll answer it here. For your privacy, I use only first names.

Here’s a great question I got from Mary:

Based upon the Common Core expectations, how should we have students in grade 3-4 and 5-6 cite sources for research?

There is no easier way to teach citations than using an online citation creator:

• BibMe
• Citation Machine
• EasyBib
• WriteCite

Plug the information in on your SmartScreen to show students how it is done, and let the citation creator do the rest. Take time to explain the importance of each entry so students understand. This is fundamental to molding digital citizens out of the wild digital natives who enter your classroom. Help them understand the responsibilities that go hand-in-hand with the rights they acquire by accessing information on the internet.

Here’s an example using EasyBib:

10 Easter Sites For Your Students

Many Christians celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. The Easter date depends on the ecclesiastical approximation of the March equinox. This year, it’s March 31st. Here are some websites your students will love:

1. Easter color-me (for Kindergarten/first grade)
2. Easter Color Me to print or import to drawing program
3. Easter games
4. Easter games II
5. Easter games III
6. Easter games IV
7. Easter poems and songs (to play online)
8. Easter Puppies–video
9. Easter songs for kids
10. Easter Word hunt (Starfall)

13 Easy Spring Cleaning Steps for Your Computer

If you followed my suggestion over the New Year’s holiday, you cleaned your computer out then so this will go much faster for you than others. But, it’s again time for Spring Cleaning. Set aside a couple of hours. Grab a litre of soda (unless you live in New York), get a comfortable chair. Put on your problem-solving hat, and get started:

1. Make sure your firewall is working. Windows comes with a built-in one. Maybe Mac does too. Leave it active. It’s under Control Panel-Administrative Tools. Sometimes, they seem to turn off by themselves (I have no idea why). Check it to be sure it remains active.
2. Defrag your computer. To quote Windows, Fragmentation makes your hard disk do extra work that can slow down your computer. Removable storage devices such as USB flash drives can also become fragmented. Disk Defragmenter rearranges fragmented data so your disks and drives can work more efficiently. Run Disc Defrag by going to Control Panel-Administrative Tools–Advanced Tools.
3. Run Spybot or a similar antispyware program. Spybot is free, which is why I like it. I’ve had good luck with it. Download.com says this about Spybot: The program checks your system against a comprehensive database of adware and other system invaders. The Immunize feature blocks a plethora of uninvited Web-borne flotsam before it reaches your computer.
4. Keep your antivirus software active. If you’re paranoid like me, run an antivirus scan weekly to be sure nothing is missed.
5. Run Ad-aware once a week to keep malware and spyware off your computer. It has a stellar reputation and is still free to all (although there’s an upgrade that you can pay for).
6. Sort through your My Documents files and get rid of those you don’t need anymore. It’s intimidating, like a file cabinet that hasn’t been opened in months–or years. Do it, though. You may not need the hard drive space, but you don’t need the computer fingering through unnecessary files every time it searches.
7. Back up all of your files to an external drive or your cloud storage. If you have an automated system for that, skip this. If you don’t have one, consider getting Carbonite or similar. If you use Windows, try their ‘backup’ program. It’s easy to find: Click the Start Button and search ‘backup’.
8. Empty the trash folder. Don’t even look in it. If you haven’t missed a file by now, it won’t be in there.
9. Learn to use that program you’ve been promising you would. Evernote is a great example. Use it (and you won’t be sorry) or delete the email from your best friend exhorting you to. Move on.
10. Go through your programs and delete the ones you no longer use. Here’s what you do:
    • go to Control Panel>Programs and Feature

14 Factors to Consider for Tech Report Cards

It used to be simple to post grades. Add up test scores and see what the student earned. Very defensible. Everyone understood.

It’s not that way anymore. Here are the factors I consider when I’m posting grades:

• Does s/he remember skills from prior lessons as they complete current lessons?
• Does s/he show evidence of learning by using tech class knowledge in classroom or home?
• Does s/he participate in class discussions?
• Does s/he complete daily goals (a project, visit a website, watch a tutorial, etc.)?
• Does s/he save to their network folder?

Tech Tip #42: How to (Re)Set Your Homepage

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: My homepage got hijacked! I mean, it no longer opens to what it used to. How do I fix that?

A:  Go to the page you want as your homepage. Here’s what you do next:

• If you’re in Firefox, go to Tools–Options
• Click on General
• Click the button that says, Use Current
• Say OK

Dear Otto: How Can Students Keep Track of Passwords?

Do you have a tech question?

Dear Otto is an occasional column where I answer questions I get from readers about teaching tech. If you have a question, please complete the form below and I’ll answer it here. For your privacy, I use only first names.

Here’s a great question I got from Kaylene in Ohio:

How do you teach students to keep track of the many usernames and passwords they will need when using all of the great web 2.0 tools? I personally use an encrypted Excel file, but what do you suggest for students in K-8?

Hi Kaylene

Great question. Here’s what I do for K-5: I have a binder by each station in the computer lab with a template for recording UN and PW for all accounts. This isn’t private (anyone could look in the binders), but most accounts don’t require any degree of security. The process is to get students used to tracking log-ins, that they have a source to check when they need a log-in. I do ask that each UN and PW be different so they acclimate to that and figure out a logic to accomplishing that which works for them. For example, they might come up with a sentence where they use the first letter of each word as the PW with some combination of number/symbol appended to the front or back. We also use Password Bird to create them, but this is entirely random–harder to remember.

7 Websites That Ring in Spring

The temperatures are freezing on the East Coast. We had hail out here in Southern California. But, Spring is right around the corner and we as teachers must get ready for it. What better way than with Spring Websites. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Spring Garden–click to find flowers
2. Spring Science Webquest
3. Spring Games
4. Life Cycle I
5. Life Cycle II
6. Spring Word Search
7. Spring Word Scramble

Ramp up Your iPad Use

Too often, iPads end up like a babysitter–students love them, can get lost in their fun, but forget inquiry. My efriend, David over at Dakinane.com, and I got in a long conversation about that. Turns out, he’s put a lot of thought to that very question and has some innovative solutions. He wrote a wonderful article addressing those concerns and how to fix them, with a video that shows more details. Here’s the gyst of it, as well as a link back to the original:

Layering Apps on an iPad

I have just written an article for Interface Magazine about how to best use an iPad in the classroom.  I wrote the article in response to my own observations about how iPads are being used and also in response to a blog post  written by Tom Whitby, who did the Emporer’s New Clothes task of stating that a worksheet is still a worksheet, even when it is on an iPad.  This echoes my own observations with teachers who use an iPad in their classroom.  They tend to use this high tech device to deliver low level learning.  The trouble is to the casual observer, it looks great to see engaged students working enthusiastically on their shiny new iPads in a classroom, but what learning is happening? I have also been part of a conversation with Jacqui Murray who was sharing her thoughts on the best apps for a classroom.  I shared my thoughts on formative assessment and publishing, points which she agreed on.

When I work with teachers who are using iPads in their classroom, I get them to audit their apps and to ask so what? questions of the apps.  I need for them to know the learning and formative assessment potential of each of their apps.  If the apps is unjustified busy work, it is scrapped.  I then introduce this concept I have developed called layering, where the best features of one app are used to create content that can be enhanced in another app.  I get the teachers to base the learning intention outputs around the workflow of several apps.

You can see what I mean in the video below.  If you are struggling to get the best out of your iPad or are having trouble creating a sustainable blended elearning environment in your school, please contact me for a free initial consultation meeting.

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Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-8 technology for 15 years. She is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. She is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, presentation reviewer for CSTA, Cisco guest blogger, a monthly contributor to TeachHUB, columnist for Examiner.com, featured blogger for Technology in Education, and IMS tech expert. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

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Tech Tip #41: Repair Your Computer With System Restore

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: I don’t know what I did, but my computer doesn’t run right anymore. What can I do?

A:  With access to the internet, computer malfunctions have become more prevalent than ever. Sometimes you download a program–or your child mistakenly pushes a button that allows malware on your computer. Suddenly, through no fault of your own, things just aren’t working right anymore.

This is so common that Microsoft has a program called System Restore on every computer with Windows operating system. System Restore is a utility that allows users to restore their Windows configurations to a previous state. While System Restore is often associated with providing recovery when driver or software installations go awry, it can really shine when spyware or other malevolent software compromises user machines. In many situations, this handy utility can roll back afflicted machines to a completely uninfected state. Of course, System Restore can work only when it is turned on and cataloging system states, so make sure it’s enabled on all user machines.

24 St. Patrick’s Day Sites For Students

Getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day? Try these fun websites:

1. Coloring Pages–import into your drawing program and color
2. Color the shamrock
3. Color the Pot-o-gold
4. Color the leprechaun
5. Coloring–More coloring pages
6. Coloring–More coloring pages–pick one, let kids import into your drawing program (i.e., KidPix)
7. Games–St. Pat’s games and activities
8. Puzzle–St. Pat’s Puzzle
9. Puzzle–St. Pat’s puzzle II
10. Puzzle–St. Pat’s drag-and-drop puzzle
11. Puzzle–St. Pat’s slide puzzle
12. Puzzle–St. Pat’s slide puzzle II
13. Puzzle–St. Pat’s greeting–in a puzzle
14. Puzzle–Leprechaun jigsaw puzzle
15. Quiz–St. Patrick’s Day Quiz
16. St. Pat’s math
17. St. Patrick’s Day history–video
18. St. Pat’s Day songs–video
19. St. Pat’s Sudoku
20. Tic tac toe
21. Webquest for St. Patrick’s Day I
22. Webquests II
23. Webquest III
24. Wordsearch

Definition of ‘Teacher’

I got this from one of my Christian friends. Thought I’d share:

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said: 

‘Let me see if I’ve got this right. 

‘You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning. 

‘You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride. 

‘You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job. 

How to Teach Keyboarding? Ask Bernadette

What do your students need?

Bernadette Roche is the Director of Technology for an independent school in the Kansas City area. Her responsibilities include teaching students in grades preschool – 8th grade twice a week, 30-40 minutes per class. I recently had the opportunity to discuss her philosophy of keyboarding and student education with her. I think you’ll enjoy her thoughts:

Some of you have asked about standards that I use for keyboarding…..

My philosophy on keyboarding is that it actually starts the minute a kid uses a computer since it requires kids to look at the letters in a different order than what they are used to.  I divide keyboarding into informal and formal.  Informal keyboarding for my school starts in Preschool (age 3) when the kids start to learn to recognize the letters on the keyboard.  They continue with keyboard letter recognition through Prekindergarten and Kindergarten. We use Kid Keys software. 

In 1st grade, I implement two handed keyboarding.  This is also the first time that we regularly keyboard as part of our tech class – 5 to 10 minutes at the start of every class.  We talk about the dividing line on the keyboard, which letters are on which side, and then when kids keyboard, they are expected to use two hands, although which finger they use doesn’t matter to me.  My reminder to them is that if I come around with my “KC Chiefs chopper” (allusion to our city’s football team) I might “chop” off hands that are on the wrong side of the keyboard.  Still using Kid Keys software. 

Tech Tip #111: Quick Internet Fix

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: The internet website is quirky. Stuff I know should work doesn’t. Is there any quick way to fix that without having to reboot?

A: Refresh the webpage with the ‘reload current page’ tool. About half the time, that works.

Dear Otto: What Can I Use Besides PowerPoint?

Do you have a tech question?

Dear Otto is an occasional column where I answer questions I get from readers about teaching tech. If you have a question, please complete the form below and I’ll answer it here. For your privacy, I use only first names.

Here’s a great question I got from Kellie:

I want to teach my younger students how to make a slide show with photographs.  It needs to be free!  I have already taught them how to add photos to PowerPoint, but I want something a little more fun and flashy.  I have seen mixed reviews about SmileBox. All tips are appreciated.

The first one that comes to mind is Animoto. It will take pictures as well as music and creates a beautiful–albeit quick–presentation. Here’s my review of it. Then there’s Photostory–software, but a free download. That allows for longer slideshow-type presentations that also include sound. We use it with Windows 7 despite what the website says.

Here are a few others that might work for your purposes:

5 Favorite Websites for K-5

One of the biggest problems I face as a technology teacher is the wealth of information out there for teachers, parents, students. I try to stay on top of it (as you who subscribe to my Weekend Websites know), but there is so much more than I can cover with one-a-week.

So, this week, I’m giving you 5. You will love these. I find myself sharing them with colleagues in answer to their tech ed needs so decided it was time to share them with you also:

BrainPop Game Up

BrainPop offers a great group of games for science, math, social studies, and health–all easy to maneuver, age-appropriate and fun learning. The gamification of education is alive and well at BrainPop

Fly Across America

This is a gorgeous eight-minute tour across America via biplane. It took my classes by storm.

Knowmia

Filled with Free video tutorials and interactive materials for your students. This is a website and an app with tutorials, over 10,000 lessons, ‘knowledge maps’ for chemistry and biology, even a how-to for creating video lessons.

Read Across America Day

Many people in the United States, particularly students, parents and teachers, join forces on Read Across America Day, annually held on March 2. This nationwide observance coincides with the birthday of Dr Seuss.

Here are some great reading websites for students K-5:

• Aesop Fables—no ads
• Aesop’s Fables
• Audio stories
• Childhood Stories
• Classic Fairy Tales
• Comic Creator
• Edutainment games and stories
• Fables—Aesop—nicely done
• Fables–beautiful
• Fairy Tales and Fables
• Get Writing—write your own story
• Interactive storybook collection
• Listen/read–Free non-fic audio books
• Magic Keys–stories for youngers

How to Pick iPad Apps for your Classroom

You’ve heard the chatter. IPads have become the go-to literacy tool for authentic learning in the K-8 classroom, the one that says ‘Our program is cutting edge, up-to-date, inquiry-driven‘. Students want to use them, want to share and collaborate on them, and will follow almost any rules if it means they get that tablet in their hands.

The problem with the iPad as with the internet is: TMI–too much information. There are tens of thousands of apps, each proclaiming itself to be the solution to all classroom problems, each promising to be the practical strategy for learning math or science or state capitals or whatever their buzz word happens to be.

How do teachers sort truth from marketing?

You evaluate the apps. It won’t take long to realize that the best share similar characteristics. They encourage organic conversation, scaffold learning, are student-centered, and inspire risk-taking on the part of  student users. What’s that look like when it plays out on an iPad? According to the Texas Computer Education Association, apps should:

Tech Tip #110: Sound Doesn’t Work?

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: Headphones are so difficult. There’s always someone who can’t get theirs to work. I’ve tried the usual solutions, and still, we have problems. I know the sound works. What else can I do?

A: Another solution to the no-sound problem is to switch where headphones are plugged in. Sometimes, the front port on a CPU degrades and doesn’t work well anymore. Pick your reason–little kids jiggling jacks, overuse, leprechauns. The reason doesn’t matter. What matters is students can’t hear what’s going on.

Switch headphones to a different jack. In my case, since I always use the front jack so students can independently plug them in, I switch to the rear jack. Problem’s over.

Humor that Inspires–for Teachers! Part I

Some great quotes to start your week with a touch of humor:

1. “Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.” – H. G. Wells (1866-1946)
2. “Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.” – Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
3. “Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.” – Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)
4. “Don’t be so humble – you are not that great.” – Golda Meir (1898-1978) to a visiting diplomat
5. “His ignorance is encyclopedic” – Abba Eban (1915-2002)
6. “If a man does his best, what else is there?” – General George S. Patton (1885-1945)
7. “I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better.” – A. J. Liebling (1904-1963)
8. “People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid.” – Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
9. “Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.” – Saint Augustine (354-430)
10. “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” – Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
11. “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” – Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
12. “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” – Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
13. “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” – Galileo Galilei
14. “The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” – Emile Zola (1840-1902)
15. “This book fills a much-needed gap.” – Moses Hadas (1900-1966) in a review

Weekend Website #121: Class Badges

Every week, I share a website that inspired, excited, and/or informed my classes. Here’s one on a popular trend in education–awarding badges:

How to Teach 3rd Graders About Digital Citizenship

Big Idea

It is important to be a good digital citizen

Time Required

8 lessons, 45 minutes per lesson

Essential Questions

• What should you do if you meet a cyberbully?
• How is ‘netiquette’ the same/different than etiquette?
• Why is it wrong to ‘plagiarize’ intellectual property?
• Why is an avatar a good idea?
• Is the internet a safe neighborhood?

Assessment Strategies

• Observation—students use the skills learned
• Completion of projects
• Transfer—evidence of student learning in classes/life
• Emailed quiz
• Track topics covered with graphic organizer at the end of 6-8^th Grade unit
  • Receipt of certificate in Welcome to the Web unit
  • Option: certificate in Common Sense’s Digital Passport  covering:
    • Multi-tasking with cell phones is a bad idea
    • Online messaging?
    • Cyberbullying
    • Effective searches
    • Digital laws with personal creative pieces.
• Option: Play Carnegie Cadets covering the internet, email, cyber threats, cybercrimes, chat rooms, instant messaging, netiquette, cyberbullying, online data, searching the internet, copyrights/plagiarism, cell phones, and online reputation.

More Information:

7 Common Core Ways to Assess Knowledge

This is always challenging, isn’t it? Finding evidence that students have learned what you taught, that they can apply their knowledge to complex problems. How do you do this? Rubrics? Group projects? Posters? None sound worthy of the Common Core educational environ–and too often, students have figured out how to deliver within these guidelines while on auto-pilot.

Where can we find authentic assessments that are measurable yet student-centered, promote risk-taking by student and teacher alike, inquiry-driven and encourage students to take responsibility for his/her own learning? How do we assess a lesson plan in a manner that insures students have learned what they need to apply to life, to new circumstances they will face when they don’t have a teacher at their elbow to nudge them the right direction?

Here are some of my favorite approaches:

Anecdotally

I observe their actions, their work, the way they are learning the skills I’m teaching. Are they engaged, making their best effort? Do they remember skills taught in prior weeks and apply them? Do they self-assess and make corrections as needed?

Transfer of knowledge

Tech Tip #112: Five Second Back-up

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: I’m paranoid of losing lesson plans, report card comments, and other school work. I back up, but is that enough?

A: Truth, I am the most paranoid person I know about technology. I have an external hard drive for back up, Carbonite in the cloud, a 128-gig flash drive for my ‘important’ stuff (which turns out to be everything), and still I worry.

Here’s what else I do: Every time I work on a document I just can’t afford to lose (again, that’s pretty much everything), I email it to myself. If you’re using MS Office, that’s a snap. Other programs–just drag and drop the file into the email message. I set up a file on my email program called ‘Backups’. I store the email in there and it waits until I’m tearing my hair out. I’ve never had to go there, but it feels good knowing it’s available.

One Million Hits–Wow

Photo credit: Miss Piggy

I have to pause a moment to thank all of you for that amazing number. Who would have thought three-and-a-half years ago when I started Ask a Tech Teacher, I’d reach 1,000,000 hits.

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Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-8 technology for 15 years. She is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, presentation reviewer for CSTA, Cisco guest blogger, a monthly contributor to TeachHUB, columnist for Examiner.com, featured blogger for Technology in Education, and IMS tech expert. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

Weekend Website #119: 5 Great Website to Teach Letters

Helping munchkins learn their letters is one of the most frustrating–and rewarding–tasks in Kindergarten. Te ability to decode words leads to the vastness of the universe available through reading. If you’ve every met someone who can’t read, you know first hand the pain and embarrassment that dogs them every day in a world where literacy is expected not exceptional.

Anything to make this process fun is a good thing. Here’s a great list of websites that do just that. Students can see the letters, trace them on the screen with their fingers, play games with them, and suddenly find A to Z as comfortable as their favorite teddy bear.

• Find the letter–easy, medium, hard
• Find the letter
• Bembo’s Zoo
• Starfall Letters
• Click the Square

What are You Doing for Valentine’s Day?

Thursday’s are my busiest days at school. I barely get a lunch break–the 5 free minutes between classes I must use for the restroom. Eat or pee? Hmmm…. Not really a choice.

So by the time I get home this Thursday, I’ll be exhausted, not interested in fighting the holiday lovers for a place at the Restaurant Table. My husband of 29 years and I will eat in, chat, catch up, and likely go to bed early (although maybe Elementary is new on the Telly).

But, I realize most of you would like a bit more so I have a few ideas for you.

First, go to my post last Friday and you’ll find 20 Great Valentine Websites for your students. If you already finished these, read on:

• Here’s Valentine history, according to Wikipedia. Who knew it all started with Geoffrey Chaucer?
• Three great Valentine love poems from new efriend, Chris Wood. You can also drop by St. Valentine’s Day website for an entire list of heart-jerkers
• Are you looking for pithy, concise Valentine sayings? Try Creating Really Awesome Free Things. Be forewarned: They belong on candy hearts. These are a bit longer, but still saccharin.
• You not a serious, mushy sort of lover? Click here for quotes with a sense of humor.

Free Lesson Plans–Visit My TeachersPayTeachers Store

Looking for something to spice up your classroom? Here are a variety of projects you can download for free. Just visit my TeacherPayTeachers store, click download, and they’re yours. If you enjoy them, please add a few stars to the recommendation list:

A Colonization Brochure in Publisher

A Publisher trifold on American colonies (or any
other topic you’re covering in your classroom). Includes step-by-step directions, standards addressed, time required, prior knowledge expected, vocabulary used, higher-order thinking skills addressed, samples, reproducibles, grading rubrics, and more.

His Words in Our Words

Students interpret the words of Dr Martin Luther King in their own words in a visual organizer. Great project that gets students thinking about impact of words on history. Common Core aligned

Tech Tip #40: Where Did Windows Explorer Go?

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: I have Windows 7 and I can’t find Explorer anymore. Where did it go?

A:  Right click on the start button and select ‘Explore’.

DOS is a lot harder to find. Type ‘command prompt’ into the search field and it’ll pop up.

I still miss DOS…

New Literacies Enable Smarter Researching

In my last post, we talked about “digital citizens”, the modern student who lives in two worlds. One he can touch with his hands, the other only with his mind. It’s this latter one that has revolutionized education, provided opportunities for students to talk to experts on astronomy, walk through the ancient ruins of Stonehenge, and dissect a frog without touching a scalpel. This world is scintillating, but challenging, demanding students be risk-takers and inquirers.

Inquiry and education

That last—inquiry—has changed the K-12 classroom from what many experienced just a decade ago, for students cannot be inquirers without being risk-takers. They take responsibility for their own learning by following practical strategies for uncovering information despite the billions (literally) of places to look. Consider this: If you Google ‘space’, you get over 4 billion hits. That much information is worthless. Digital citizens develop practical strategies for refining this list to a specific need.

Digital citizens also differentiate instruction so it works for themselves, not change their learning style to fit what the teacher delivers. They hear the big ideas, grasp the essential questions, and then develop a plan that delivers it in their own unique and personal way.

20 Valentine Sites For Your Students

Here are some fun Valentine sites to fill those few minutes betwixt and between lessons, projects, bathroom breaks, lunch, and everything else:

1. Valentine Sudoku
2. Valentine mouse skills
3. Line up the hearts
4. Dress up the heart
5. Valentine unscramble
6. Valentine typing
7. Valentine puppy jigsaw
8. Valentine drag-and-drop
9. Valentine match
10. Valentine tic-tac-toe
11. Valentine projects from Winter Wonderland
12. Write in a heart
13. More heart writing
14. ‘I love you’ in languages Afrikaans to Zulu
15. Valentine’s Day apps
16. Valentine Day games and stories
17. Valentine coloring book
18. Valentine Day poem generator
19. Valentine rebuses
20. Valentine rebus game

Do you have any I missed?

How the Internet Neighborhood is Like Any Other Community

Education has changed. Teachers no longer lecture from a dais with student learning contained within the schoolhouse walls. Thanks to the pervasiveness of easy-to-use and free web-based tools, 93 percent of teachers have one or more computers in the classroom with internet access (National Center for Education Statistics–2009). Global home Internet users with fixed Internet access is expected to grow from 1.7 billion in 2011 to 2.3 billion by 2016 (VNI-SA Research)—that’s almost one-third of the world’s population.

Because of these changes, educators have come to expect students to participate actively in the learning process and transfer their knowledge from the classroom to life.  For example, when preparing a class project, a fifth grader will do the research using the internet, collaborate with classmates on Google Apps, write the report with a web-based tool (i.e., Google Drive), share it with the world using digital tools (i.e., Animoto or Glogster), and then use those learned skills in other classes.

Students have become digital citizens. The question is: How do we as educators teach them to thrive in the digital world?

Dear Otto: When will the 7/8 Technology Curriculum Textbooks be out?

Do you have a tech question?

Dear Otto is an occasional column where I answer questions I get from readers about teaching tech. If you have a question, please complete the form below and I’ll answer it here. For your privacy, I use only first names.

Here’s a great question I got from Rusty:

When will the Tech Curriculum textbooks for 7th and 8th grades be available?

Great question, so I checked with the folks at Structured Learning. Their estimate:

• 7th Grade: out in July
• 8th Grade: out in late summer/early fall

Tech Tip #39: My Computer Won’t Turn Off

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q:  I’m pushing the power button on my laptop (or desktop, but more commonly this happens with laptops), but it won’t turn off. What do I do?

A:  Push the power button and hold it in for a count of ten. That’ll work. If not (there’s always that one that breaks all the rules), hold it for a count of twenty.

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Projects aligned with CCSS

Every month, subscribers to Ask a Tech Teacher get a discounted resource to help their tech teaching.

This month:

THE KEY TO ALIGNING YOUR K-5 CLASS WITH COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS:

30 Projects that integrate technology into core lesson plans

Why do I need this book?

The Key to Aligning Your K-5 Class with Common Core State Standards is for classroom teachers, technology integration specialists and lab professionals, as a resource for aligning your technology program with the Common Core State Standards now implemented in forty-six states. You will find it a foundational tool for scaffolding technology into the areas of math, language, reading, writing, speaking and listening as is required in CCSS. Overall, they are authentic approaches to student-centered learning, asking the student to be a risk-taker in his/her educational goals and the teacher to act as guide. The essential questions are open-ended and conversations organic and inquiry-driven, ultimately asking students to take responsibility for the process of their own learning.

Weekend Website #118: Scale of the Universe

Wondering what’s out there, past our Earthly bounds? Here’s a great website to answer that question.

5 Favorite iPad Apps

In my last Friday 5, I provided extensive insight into how I pick apps for my classroom. I was mega-thorough because selecting the programs that will fuel a multitude of K-8 subjects is an important responsibility. Some readers felt my steps were too complicated (a sentiment I don’t disagree with as I slog through them on a regular basis). How could any teacher have time for all those steps when hundreds of apps are required?

Here’s the abbreviated list:

• Does the app support classroom discussion
• Is the app intuitive to the age it’s intended to serve
• Are there minimal/no ads

If you are satisfied with the answers to these three questions, test it on students. If they come back to use it a second and third time, if they tell their friends about it, if they ask their parents to download it at home, you have a good app. Here are five that passed this abbreviated review process with top scores:

11 Resources to Blend Technology and Special Needs

My first take on ‘special needs’ is: Don’t all students have special needs? Aren’t we beyond the cookie cutter education that lines students up and feeds them from the same trough?

Yes and yes, but for the purposes of this article, I’m going to reign my pen in and discuss what we traditionally consider ‘special needs’ and technology’s affect on those students who function outside of the normal bell curve of pedagogic expectations.

Technology is the great equalizer between standard education and the 1:1 approach required by students with special circumstances. It’s an embarrassment to our profession that  learning disabilities such as dyscalculia, autism, ADHD are chronically under-served when the tools that can seamlessly supply personal attention–the iPads and netbooks and apps and software and widgets that can be the key to unlocking physical, mental, and psychological potential–if only they were used. With nominal training and the technology, teachers can differentiate instruction to serve students with a wide range of abilities and needs. Best practices include oral tools like Siri for those who have difficulty writing, audio tools to make teacher directions more available to the hearing-challenged, art programs that allow students to communicate ideas as their brains see them, widgets that facilitate sharing thoughts via other media than text (think art and music and poetry), translation programs that make material accessible quickly and easily to non-native speakers, and the differentiated instruction available through sites such as Khan Academy.