Author: idtga

Cultivating a Strong Staff Culture

buildings side by side standing together
Photo by Jonas Off on Unsplash

“In a school or district, as in any organization, the leader is responsible for setting the tone, and one way leaders can nourish organizational harmony is to consider three spaces” – Eric Saibel

Eric Saibel contends that district leaders can build strong relationships among educators by focusing on three factors: the physical space, the interpersonal space, and the historical space.

“Only by balancing these three spaces will leaders cultivate the influence that permeates an entire organizational culture, and only by attending to these critical human needs will leaders experience the deep happiness that keeps them engaged and attentive for the long haul.” – Eric Saibel

Read more details about Eric Saibel’s thoughts on how to organize these spaces here.

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

TIMETOAST: A Timeline Maker

timetoast timeline image items on timeline
“Record the past, map the future” – Timetoast

Why Timetoast?

Timetoast can be used by teachers to share information and used by students to showcase their research. It has two types of timeline entries: either a single point in time called an “event” or a range of time called a “timespan.” For each entry, you can add more in-depth text that is accessed with a click. You can also embed pictures and links.

Timelines are great for historical events, but students could also use them to chart processes, like the life cycle of a butterfly. Teachers could use a timeline to layout a unit of study or to provide a list of important dates for students to remember throughout the year.

How to use Timetoast?

This video from Erin Paysen is a great place to start:

Examples of Timetoast:

A History of the US Banking System
The Life of Alexander Hamilton

See more in the Timetoast Public Gallery

What does it cost?

The free version will be adequate for most educators, but if you would like an online classroom to organize student work and the ability for students to collaborate on a timeline in real time, consider their subscription offerings here.

plan options for time toast

Resources for Timetoast

Timelines: A Timeless Teaching Tool
Using Timelines in the Classroom: Helping Students Make Connections
Lesson Ideas for Using Timelines in the Classroom

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

PDF Candy: Free Online PDF Editor

pdf candy home screen

Why PDF Candy?

PDF Candy is an absolutely free online and offline tool for working with PDF files. You can use it to convert files to and from PDF, as well as do things such as merging multiple PDF’s into one, cropping a PDF, compressing the file size of a PDF, etc. All tools are provided at no cost and are ads-free.

You can upload files from your computer, Dropbox, or GoogleDrive simply by dragging and dropping them. After using a tool to manipulate a PDF file, you are provided with a list of other options that you can quickly jump to.

pdf candy list of editing options

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

Powtoon: Captivate…Engage…Explain

Why Powtoon?

Powtoon allows you and your students to quickly make high-quality videos. They have ready-made templates with “drag and drop” customization. The process is as simple as making a PowerPoint. There is a wide range of styles to choose from, including animated, whiteboard, infographic, and live action.

How to use Powtoon?

This video from Jen Jonson is a great place to start:

Examples of Powtoon

Check out more in the Powtoon User Gallery

What does it cost?

The free version of Powtoon may be adequate for many educators. However, there are benefits to purchasing a subscription. Click here for more details.

Resources for Powtoon

Powtoon Tutorials
5 Ways to Use Powtoon in the Classroom
11 Ways to Use Powtoon in the Classroom

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

Microsoft’s Immersive Reader

What is the Immersive Reader?

The immersive reader is a full-screen reading experience to increase the readability of content. It was designed to support students with dyslexia and dysgraphia in the classroom, but it can help anyone who wants to increase their fluency or needs help decoding more complex texts.

How Does it Work?

When in Word Online, select View and then Immersive Reader. A new screen will launch. You can press the play button at the bottom to have the text read aloud to you. You can also select individual words to be pronounced in English or in the translation of your choice. You can change the text size, spacing, font, and background color to make the content more readable.

You also have the ability to color code and/or label words to indicate their part of speech. This can help readers decode more complex texts.

You can also narrow the focus of your reading experience by highlighting sets of one, three, or five lines.

You can activate the picture dictionary.

You can translate into other languages. There is even a whole page translation option.

Currently, the immersive reader is supported in Word Online, OneNote, Outlook, and PowerPoint. You can also use Office Lens to scan a printed text and place it in OneNote?—?then the  program can use text recognition to launch the immersive reader. There is also an extension you can download to use the tool offline.

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

Glogster: Multimedia Posters w/ 3D

“Express ideas with ease by combining images, graphics, audio, video and text on one digital canvas.” – Glogster

What is a Glog?

Why Glogster?

Students and teachers can use Glogster to present information in an engaging, multi-dimensional way. It’s a digital poster where visuals, audio, and video can all be integrated into one display. A glog is also a free-form canvas where the user can select and zoom into content at their own self-guided pace. 

Upgrading to the paid version gets you more media choices and a closed classroom environment where teachers can post assignments and monitor student work. Click here for more information on pricing.

How to use Glogster?

Here is a getting started tutorial from Jen Johnson:

Example of a Glog

Click the link to interact with this Glog:
https://edu.glogster.com/glog/alexander-graham-bell-inventor-of-the-telephone/30g1qord5ia?=glogpedia-source

Click the link to interact with this Glog:
https://edu.glogster.com/glog/biome/374r115g6qe?=glogpedia-source

Click Here for more examples

Resources for Glogster

40+ Ways to Innovative Teaching Using Glogster EDU
Resources for Teaching with Glogster
Glogster for Visual Literacy

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

VOKI: Speaking Avatars for Education

Why Voki?

Students can use Voki to create talking avatars that they can customize and easily share with a URL. Audio can be created through text-to-voice, their own voice recording, or an uploaded audio file. The free version does not even require a student account.

Upgrading to the paid version gets you more avatar choices and a closed classroom environment where teachers can post assignments and monitor student work. You can also upgrade to Voki Hangouts, which mirrors an online social network experience while giving teachers full control. Click here for more information on pricing.

How to use Voki?

Here is a tutorial from Dr. Sharon Mistretta on how to use Voki:

Examples of Voki in the Classroom

Teachers can use Voki avatars to create engaging lessons that address multiple learning styles. For example, students can access instructional material with written text and a talking avatar reciting the information for more auditory learners.

Voki is a powerful presentation tool for students to creatively share their learning. The avatars are customizable, so students can practice the design process for a given task. For example, students could create an avatar for a character from Greek mythology, using their research to inform their design. Then they could write the script for the avatar to tell a story about one of their adventures.

Resources for Voki

Collection of tweets from teachers showing how they used Voki
Blog featuring ideas for how to integrate Voki into your teaching
Free Lessons that use Voki
5 Innovative Ways to Use Voki in the Classroom

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

Using Growth Mindset Vocabulary

Chart Source: Hacking Assessment

“The traditional grading language is passive and judgmental and subconsciously by using this language, we are putting the focus on the wrong things.” – Starr Sackstein

When discussing student progress, it’s important to focus on the level of mastery, rather than a fixed point, such as a grade. Making small tweaks in how we discuss student work is the first step towards larger shifts in assessment practices. Starr Sackstein shares more thoughts in her blog post Shifting the Grading Mindset Starts With Our Words.

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

Mystery Doug: Weekly Videos that Inspire Students to ask Questions


“There are mysteries all around us. Have fun, and stay curious!” –Doug

Why Mystery Doug?

Mystery Doug’s videos are geared towards elementary students, ages 5-10, to spark their curiosity and teach them how to be critical thinkers and problem solvers. The goal of each video is to nurture children’s curiosity by explaining how we know things, not just what we know.

The weekly videos are created based on questions submitted by kids, and at the conclusion of each video, viewers get to vote on which question will be answered next. Some recent questions were:

  • Why do we have eyebrows?
  • How old is the Earth?
  • Who invented pizza?
  • How do flowers bloom?
  • How are diamonds made?
  • Why can’t airplanes fly to space?

How to Use Mystery Doug

Teachers can use these videos during morning meeting, snack time, transitions, warm-ups, or even as rewards. Parents could use them with their children for enrichment.

Resources

Doug also has a full science curriculum that is definitely worth checking out.

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt