Feel free to download a full-sized version of this poster for use in your school.
Maker Education: A Quick Introduction
Journey from a Makerspace to a Maker District
Building the Future: Tinkering and Playful Learning
The Maker Movement in K-12 Education: A Guide to Emerging Research
Invent to LearnThe Maker Movement in K-12 Education: A Guide to Emerging Research
The human voice is one of the most powerful sounds in the world. It can start wars, and it can say, “I love you.” Yet, many people do not feel as though others listen to them. In his TEDtalk (video below), sound expert, Julian Treasure, shares tips and useful vocal exercises to help you speak in ways that will cause people to want to listen to you.
He highlights 7 habits that should be avoided in the ways we speak and in the things we discuss (See image above or download full-sized version.).
Treasure shares 4 cornerstones on which to stand, to make your speech powerful and to promote change in the world. They are based on the acronym HAIL.
HAIL – to greet or acclaim enthusiastically
Honest – be clear and straight
Authenticity – be your self
Integrity – be your word
Love – wish them well
Treasure concludes by sharing tips on how to speak with empathy, and he offers his vision for a sonorous world of listening and understanding.
The Global EdTech Academy is offering “free, universal access to an entire suite of live and recorded EdTech resources, Master Class sessions, and Office Hours” (source). The EdTech sessions include tons of webinars from education’s most popular voices such as Matt Miller, Ken Shelton, Holly Clark, Micheal Cohen (the Tech Rabbi), and more. The sessions are both live and recorded so that you can either join the collective group or watch on your own time. The master classes are taught by experts in products of Microsoft, and the office hours are there for you if you need immediate assistance or support. While the sessions are geared toward Microsoft products they actually focus more on ideas and strategies that will both inspire you and equip you to apply your learning no matter the platform you use. The best part of this endeavor is that all of this is absolutely free. Click here to access the Global EdTech Academy and have fun learning.
References:
Image source, Global EdTech Academy
All other sourced information is hyperlinked as applicable above.
@hollandkaylah
In our current virtual learning environment, educators are feeling the need to ensure students are learning by filling their day with back to back activities. Taking breaks prevents the brain from becoming overloaded and gives time for information to process (source). This idea is not new to the education world but it might be helpful in the virtual education world. The suggestions below will help create an environment that honors brain breaks in our virtual learning environment (source).
References:
Image source, Edutopia
All other sourced information is hyperlinked as applicable above.
@hollandkaylah
Google for Education has announced the creation of a program to help support parents and educators teaching from home. The current global pandemic has caused schools around the world to close for in person instruction and almost instantly create lessons to be delivered virtually. Google’s Teach from Home program includes training materials for educators, schools, and parents including collaborating with educators, students, and families virtually, keeping students engaged, providing accessibility in lessons, managing virtual classrooms and much more. Teach from Home also provides weekly webinars, peer communities, and regular office hours to offer instant support for educators and families. Click here to access Google’s Teach from Home program.
References:
Image source, Google’s Teach from Home
All other sourced information is hyperlinked as applicable above.
@hollandkaylah
This week we’re investigating maker education, tinkering, and coding in our educational technology courses. Translating all the hands-on experiences from our face-to-face class meetings into the online learning environment has been a fun challenge. Thankfully, we actually began preparing this module for the online environment in Summer 2019, so it has been a work in progress. A special thanks to colleague and EdTech Team member, Melissa Marshall, for helping develop the module.
I thought I’d share some of the resources that I put together. Perhaps these will give families ideas to spice up their days of quarantine. Please share your ideas and recommended resources in the comments, so that our preservice and in-service teachers can learn from you, too.
Browse through this slideshow to view examples that might spark inspiration for your next maker or tinkering project.
Feel free to bookmark, save, or print the following document.
What:
Professional development, conferences, meetings, workshops, etc often get a bad rap for being boring and in-effective. I truly believe that professional development given correctly can drastically change a teacher’s career. I know that I have personally been positively effected by dynamic professional development workshops where passionate teachers shared their ideas, tips, and tricks to being a more effective educator. Matt Miller from Ditch That Textbook put together 27 tips to delivering powerful professional development. I have provided a few of these tips below but the entire list can be seen by clicking here.
Next Steps
Interested in learning more? Check out the websites below for great information.
References:
All sourced information is hyperlinked as applicable above.
TLDR (too long didn’t read):
Professional development, conferences, meetings, workshops, etc often get a bad rap for being boring and in-effective. I truly believe that professional development given correctly can drastically change a teacher’s career. I know that I have personally been positively effected by dynamic professional development workshops where passionate teachers shared their ideas, tips, and tricks to being a more effective educator. Matt Miller from Ditch That Textbook put together 27 tips to delivering powerful professional development. I have provided a few of these tips above but the entire list can be seen by clicking here.
@hollandkaylah
Bartlett City Schools has announced plans and dates for the Techcellence Conference in March. The conference is open to all educators in our area.
The conference takes place Saturday, March 23rd from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Bon Lin Middle School (3862 N. Germantown Rd, 38133).
Cost: Free
Educators currently practicing in the field present innovative lessons, strategies, and ideas to peers who seek to enhance the use of technology in their classroom. There will be 45-minute sessions during which educators will present innovative lessons, strategies, and ideas.
To register as an attendant and/or presenter, visit the links below. All participants, including presenters, must register using the registration link. This is open to all educators in our area, for free!
https://tinyurl.com/Techcellence19
Here’s another post about micro-credentials that I enjoyed reading. Here are a few highlights.
“Badges, certifications, skill identifiers–you’ve probably seen micro-credentials in one digital form or another. But how do we know whether they actually matter in the real world?” How can we “get micro-credentials to the point where they’re valued as evidence of what adults have learned and can do.”
Here are a few of their suggestions.
I recommend reading the full post as it tackles many of the tougher issues around micro-credentialing.
Source: EdSurge
“…Using technology in the classroom – and using it effectively – might require some slight adjustments on the part of the teacher to sustain the effort, creative problem-solving, and innovation required to actually improve learning through the use of technology. This occurs at the belief level–what teachers believe about technology, education, and their own abilities to manage technology.
“Looking at the characteristics of teachers that effectively use technology in the classroom, then, can be useful to create an “edtech” mindset–one that believes in purpose, adaptation, change, and meaningful planning.” — TeachThought
Click here to view the infographic of these seven characteristics.
