Tech Talk
March 2017 Learning Technologies News
Code.org PD
Saturday, Mar 4, 2017, 09:00 AM
Burleson High School, Elk Drive, Burleson, TX, United States
Chronicling America: A Mapped & Searchable Archive of American Newspapers
Applications for Education
The U.S. News Map has a neat playback feature that you can use to see the frequency with which a term or topic appeared in newspapers between 1836 and 1925. That playback feature could be a nice way to show students developments in technology. For example, search the term "telephone" and you'll see peaks and valleys in the frequency with which articles were written about telephones.
H/T to Google Maps Mania and Larry Ferlazzo.
Source: Byrne, Richard. "Free Technology for Teachers." Free Technology for Teachers. Blogger, 30 Mar. 2016. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
A dry March and a wet May? Fill barns and bays with corn and hay.
Some other March-related lore includes:
As it rains in March so it rains in June.
Real Data Connections: Let's Graph the Weather
Use Google Sheets to enter your data and create a chart or graph. Not sure how to do this? Check out the Google Sheets Resources on Google Sheets - Tutorial 02 - Insert a Chart or Image available in the BISDLearnTech resource page playlist.
Five Ways to Use Padlet With Students
WAYS TO USE PADLET WITH STUDENTS:
Padlet as a simple blogging platform:Padlet walls can be arranged in free-form, grid, or stream layouts. Creating a Padlet page in the stream format could be a good way to create a simple, collaborative blog for students. You could create the page, select "stream" format, and make the page accessible for students to write short posts on. Their posts could include images and videos. If you want to, you can password protect your Padlet pages and moderate messages before they appear on your Padlet page.
Padlet Mini as a bookmarking tool:
Padlet Mini is a Chrome extension that you can use to bookmark websites. When you click the Padlet Mini extension in your browser you will be presented with the option to save to one of your existing walls or create a new Padlet wall. Click here for a video on using Padlet Mini.
Padlet as a KWL chart:
Padlet can be used to create a KWL chart that students can contribute to anonymously (or not anonymously if you want them to sign-in). Create a wall, make it public, and ask students to share what they know and what they want to know about a topic. If you allow anonymous posting you might get contributions from shy students who might not otherwise speak-up in class. Of course, if you allow anonymous commenting you should have a conversation with your students about what an appropriate comment looks like. (You could also turn on moderation and approve all notes before they appear). Padlet works well when projected on an interactive whiteboard.
Padlet for group research and discussion:
A few years ago I showed my special education students a short (18 minutes) video about cultural changes that took place in the US during the 1920's. After the video we discussed what they saw. Then I had students search online for other examples of cultural change in the 1920's. When they found examples they put them onto a Wallwisher (Padlet's previous name) wall that I projected onto a wall in my classroom. The wall started with just text being added to the wall and quickly progressed to YouTube videos being added to the wall. Once every student had added a video to the wall we stopped, watched the videos, and discussed them.
Padlet as a showcase of your students’ work:
If your students are creating digital portfolios, creating slideshows, or producing videos you could use Padlet to display all of your students’ best work on one page. Create the wall, call it something like “my best work this year,” and have your students post links to their works.
Source: Byrne, Richard. "Free Technology for Teachers." Free Technology for Teachers. Blogger, 30 Mar. 2016. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
Spring Ahead With the Vernal Equinox
Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle!
Author Study: Eric Carle
Insects & Spiders - OH MY!
Check out the science, literature and writing resources on The Caterpillar Exchange where educators go to share ideas of how to use Eric Carle books in the classroom.
Math and Eric Carle... WHAT?!?!?
Seuss & Social Studies
Read Across America Day
Use Seuss's Style for Mastery
Learning Technologies
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