21st Century Skills: It’s More Than Just Technology


“Given the growing ubiquity of [technology] in schools, as well as the increasing numbers of educators advocating for their use, it can seem as though education may have reached a tipping point when it comes to improving students’ 21st-century skills. According to the Partnership for 21st Century skills, these can be categorized as the 4Cs: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration.” — Beth Holland

Beth goes on to share that she has started to worry about the growing presence of what she calls the Fake Cs.

Source: EdWeek

12 of Google Photos’ Most Amazing Features


“Google Photos has grown into an awesome service. From automatically backing up your phone’s pictures to letting you easily share your photos, there’s a lot to love for anyone who works with photos. Whether you want to make a mini stop-motion animation or just make a slideshow of related pictures, Photos can help. Select the Animation button under the Assistant tab, and you can choose from 2–50 photos to add. Once you’re satisfied, click Create and you’ll have a neat little GIF ready to share.” — Ben Stegner

Read Full Article.

10 Examples of Innovative Formative Assessment


“Innovative formative assessment strategies are part of the heart of any modern classroom. They provide crucial information about what students understand and what they don’t. These ungraded assessments are also valuable guides for students. It can help them enhance their performance. Teachers can use them to determine if further instruction is necessary.

“Using innovative formative assessment consistently and effectively removes the surprises from getting final grades. When integrated into teaching and learning on an ongoing basis, students can constantly improve and excel. Formative assessment is “assessment as learning”. In other words, the feedback is used to improve the learning.” — Lee Watanabe Crockett 

Click here to view the ten examples.

Image Source: sparkaction.org

Hundreds of Things to Ask Your Google Home


“Google Home now has more than 200 third-party skills, also known as conversation actions. If you’re just getting started, or you want to really see what your virtual assistant can do, check out” this list from PC Mag. — Sascha Segan, PC Mag

Fostering Writing and Collaboration with Google Docs

Teaching ChannelHigh school English teacher, Sarah Brown Wessling, shares strategies for promoting collaborative writing inside and outside of the classroom. Wessling highlights that such lessons also promote digital etiquette, provide opportunities for teachers to provide rich feedback, and provide teachers with insights into the individual student’s or the collaborative group’s writing process.

Talking with Children’s Author S.A. Bodeen

Talking Ed. with S.A. Boodeen

Episode 009 (View entire series)

S.A. Bodeen is the author of the acclaimed [young adult] novels The Compound, The Gardener, The Raft, and The Fallout. She is also the author of the Shipwreck Island series for middle grade readers” and she has books scheduled for publication in the next few months. “Raised on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, an experience which inspired her to write Elizabeti’s Doll, her first award-winning picture book” (Source).

I enjoyed visiting with Stephanie (She said that’s what her friends call her.) and especially appreciated this advice she offered to young authors.

S.A. Bodeen's Advice for Young Authors

The following is the video from the interview. In it, she discusses her background, highlights some of her books, provides additional advice to young authors, and discusses ways that she would enjoy connecting with you and your students.

Further Investigation

S.A. Bodeen’s Official Website, Facebook, and Twitter

Complete Bibliography

Author Pages at Amazon and GoodReads