GWAEA Digital Learning Update
to ensure success for all learners - April 2019
Episodes 60- Social Media & Screen Time
In this episode, Mindy and Jonathan are joined by Marisa Dahl from Heartland AEA to talk about screen time and the use of social media by both kids and adults. Are there any good solutions? Links for everything we talk about in the show can be found at: dlgwaea.org/podcast/60
You can follow Jonathan (@jonathanwylie) and Mindy (@TeamCairney) on Twitter, and see all the tweets from the Grant Wood AEA Digital Learning Team at @DLGWAEA. You can also email us with questions or ideas, podcast@gwaea.org. If you enjoy the show please share it with your friends and colleagues and/or leave us a review on your podcast app of choice.
THANK YOU for listening. We really couldn't (or wouldn't) do this without the support of listeners like you!
April Challenge: Makey Makey Arcade
Revive Caine's Arcade with a Makey Makey for April's Makerspace Challenge! Check out our Maker School this month - Anamosa High School - as they use the Makey Makey to create an arcade for the school lobby. They took well-loved games and remixed them in Scratch, then made it come alive with the Makey Makey!
A big thanks to Reed Smith for inviting us in to be a part of this fun makerspace opportunity with Think, Make, Innovate!
There are so many different ways you could complete this challenge and we've shared some ideas with our lesson plan--check it out! We want to see how you interpret this idea!
Join our Maker Community by sending us your photos or videos through social media and tag @dlgwaea or #havefunmaking OR send an email to makerspace@gwaea.org and we will post them on in our Online Maker Community on www.dlgwaea.org.
Makey Makey Invention Literacy Workshop for Educators
You will need to bring your own laptop (with a USB port) to this workshop. The only cost of the workshop is a $20 fee which will cover the cost of a Makey Makey that you can take home with you.
Monday, April 8th 2019 at 8:30am-3:30pm
4401 6th Street Southwest, Cedar Rapids, IA
DLGWAEA 4Cs Summer Camp
DEADLINE TO REGISTER IS APRIL 30, 2019!
Join us on June 11-13 for our DLGWAEA 4Cs Summer Camp. It's designed for educators who want to redefine their classrooms with a meaningful integration of collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.
Come and learn how digital learning can leverage the 4Cs to evolve your classroom practices. Participants will engage in hands-on learning and application, while also reflecting and setting goals for implementation. Space is limited, so sign up today to reserve your place!
Grant Wood AEA is excited to welcome back Craig Badura as our closing keynote. The session will focus on the importance of fostering creativity, communication, collaboration and critical thinking to help give students the skills they need to thrive. Craig Badura is the K-12 technology coach at Aurora Public Schools in Nebraska. He is passionate about making technology ubiquitous in the classroom. He loves his family, coaching golf, teaching and technology! Follow Craig on Twitter @mrbadura and on Instagram @mrbadura.
The cost for the 4Cs Summer Camp is $125 for 2.5 days of learning & lunch is included. Participants taking this class can opt for one hour of recertification credit (for an additional cost).
March Toward Effective Instructional Practices with Technology
During the month of March Gina Rogers & Mindy Cairney looked at Hattie's work in a series of blog posts.
Have you ever wondered what really makes a difference in student learning? Over a decade ago John Hattie released Visible Learning, as an attempt to get at educational efficacy. Hattie looked at factors from student home life to teacher preparation programs and developed an effect size for each of these factors. The effect size can be calculated as such:
The meta-analysis showed that the average effect size was .4, so, thus, anything with an effect size of over .4 is considered to be positively contributing to student growth in the zone of desired effects - the “hinge point”.
But how do these instructional practices translate to a tech-rich classroom environment? This month we will be exploring high effect size instructional strategies and how to incorporate technology into those high effect size instructional strategies. The strategies that we will be featuring this month include:
- March 4th: Questioning (.68 effect size)
- March 11th: Jigsaw Method (1.2 effect size)
- March 18th: Reciprocal Teaching (.74 effect size)
- March 25th: Concept Mapping (.64 effect size)
GWAEA is excited to welcome John Hattie and Peter Dewitt on October 16, 2019. More information including how you can get registered can be found here.
April is National Poetry Month!
Join millions of others in celebrating the largest literary celebration! The mission of National Poetry Month is to celebrate poets, increase awareness of poetry, encourage reading and enjoyment of poetry in schools, and to provide resources for teachers.
The GWAEA Media Center has a collection of resources for you to use throughout the month. Check out some recommended by Dianna Geers, GWAEA Teacher Librarian like
Poets.org, MackinVIA Ebook collection has hundreds of poetry ebooks as well as novels written in verse, Makerspace Poetry and more!
DLGWAEA @ Iowa 1:1 Institute
An Invitation to Join the Computer Science Teachers Association
The Iowa CSTA (Computer Science Teachers Association) Chapter invites anyone in the computer science education community to join the Computer Science Teachers Association and the Iowa chapter of the organization. We are in our second year of record and are working at building a community of computer science educators in Iowa. Come join us and together let’s build the computer science community. Join in and connect with others. Don’t teach in isolation. Join the newest, fastest growing educational community in Iowa.
Main CSTA Page https://www.csteachers.org/
Iowa CSTA Page https://www.csteachers.org/members/group.aspx?id=201382
Section for Membership
https://www.csteachers.org/page/cstaplus
There are two kinds of membership:
CSTA PLUS - $50 a year
CSTA BASIC - Free, gives you access to most of the membership benefits
Be sure to then go under the COMMUNITY tab. Next select CSTA CHAPTERS Then CSTA Regional Chapters. Click on Iowa Chapter. Click on JOIN and you will become a member of our chapter.
Save the Dates for 2018-2019
Building Bridges AT Conference - April 16, 2019
ITEC Student Technology Fair - April 30, 2019
ISTE - June 23-26, 2019
ITEC - October 13-15, 2019
About Us
Email: digitallearning@gwaea.org
Website: http://www.dlgwaea.org
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA, United States
Phone: 319-399-6700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dlgwaea
Twitter: @DLGWAEA