The Teachers' Tech Lounge Exploring the wise use of tech to increase student achievement 

Based on a comprehensive arts curriculum, the PBS KIDS series, PINKALICIOUS & PETERRIFIC®, can inspire children to think and express themselves creatively. Integrating the arts into children’s everyday and school experiences has been shown to have a positive effect on academic outcomes, as well as in developing children’s social and emotional skills. Using video excerpts from the series, the lesson plans and take-home activities in the PINKALICIOUS & PETERRIFIC® Collection help teachers, students, and families explore four key areas of arts education: dance, drama, music, and visual arts.

For more about PINKALICIOUS & PETERRIFIC®, visit the series website.

If you are teaching this year with Microsoft Teams, you absolutely have to take a look at Mike Tholfsen’s YouTube Channel with short, extremely informative, classroom ready ideas.  Mike is famous for being a OneNote guru, and now he is lending his expertise with all the Microsoft 365 programs.

Mike Tholfsen – YouTube

Want to make your classroom more accessible?  Check out these built in features to the Microsoft Office 365 Suite.

Microsoft Accessibility Resources: https://www.microsoft.com/enable/default.aspx 

• Types of Assistive Technology Products https://www.microsoft.com/enable/at/types.aspx 
• Accessibility in Education https://www.microsoft.com/enable/education/default.aspx 

What is it?

Girls Go CyberStart is a fun and interactive series of digital challenges designed to introduce you to the field of cybersecurity. More than 6,600 high school girls played Girls Go CyberStart in 2018 and loved it! Best of all? You will compete in three stages for the chance to win cash prizes for you and your school as well as scholarships to help pay for college.

No prior experience is required as the program gradually builds your knowledge base, introducing you to exciting topics like cryptography, web vulnerabilities, Python, Linux and forensics. Teamwork, persistence and determination are key. Whether you already know a bit about coding, or have never considered a career in technology, you’ll enjoy Girls Go CyberStart!

So what are you waiting for? Grab your friends and sign up for the chance to win great prizes for you and your school!

Enter the free Mission US, a suite of games aimed at grades 5-9 that interactively address the critical events in United States history. These are taught in a choose-your-own-adventure approach that encourages students to dig deeply into history, evaluating cause and effect, and making choices that they can support with evidence. Creators of these games wanted to help students relate to the events and people by being part of the action.

Game topics include:

• Crown or Colony
• Flight to Freedom
• A Cheyenne Odyssey
• City of Immigrants
• Up from the Devastation of the Dust Bowl
• Japanese incarceration (coming)
• Civil Rights Movement (coming)

Mission US gameplay is web-based, on PCs, Macs, and Chromebooks, and even some iPads. It works best on Chrome, not so well on IE (but does work on Edge). Each mission includes an Educator Guide with lesson plans, questions, and suggestions to support struggling students as well as ideas for how to easily integrate the games into the curriculum and class time. Some of the most popular integrations are how to research, critical thinking, consequences of choice, perspective-taking, literacy, cause and effect, and writing skills (for those who use the writing prompts, reflections, and review questions).

Games take a couple of class sessions but this depends upon how many of the available resources are included with the gameplay. In my experience, everyone loved these lessons.

Your students will have fun with this web site creating trading cards for figures in history, characters in book studies, etc.

The Trading Card tool gives students an alternative way to demonstrate their literacy knowledge and skill when writing about popular culture texts or real world examples. This interactive allows students to create their own trading card about a real or fictional person, place, object, event, or abstract concept.

These cards are can be used with any type of book students are reading or subjects that they are studying, and make for an excellent prewriting exercise for students who are writing narrative stories and need to consider characters, setting, and plot. Specific prompts guide student through the various types of cards, expanding students’ thinking from the basic information and description of the topic to making personal connections to the subject.

The save capability gives students a way to work on a draft of their card and come back to it to rework and revise as necessary, and to save their finished product to share with friends and family. Images can be uploaded into the card to give the finished product a complete and polished look.

Cards can be bundled into a single, small collection (8 card maximum) so that students have a way of sort and grouping similar topics in one file. As an example, we have provided a collection of cards about Shakespeare. Feel free to download the .rwt file (right click the link and pick Save As) and upload it into the Trading Card interactive to see how collections can be used in your classroom!

NewseumED has resources geared to teaching students about women in history.  Check it out by clicking here.

SENSING STEAM: 30+ AWESOME SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, ART AND MATH ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS

This is the mega monster of STEAM posts.  It’s a list of some of the coolest science, technology, engineering, art and math projects from some of the most creative bloggers out there.  Plus, all of the projects help feed the senses while kids play and learn.  Get ready to have some fun!

CK-12 Online Math and Science Textbooks  call Flexbooks.  They also have study groups for students, simulations, and adaptive practice.  You search by state, grade level, and science strand to find content.

10 THINGS FIRST YEAR TEACHERS NEED VETERAN TEACHERS TO KNOW is especially relevant as we head back to school.  We often think of advice for new teachers but this is a twist in that it addresses how veteran teachers interact and support the newbies.

Math Snacks is a site with educational animations, mini-games, and interactive tools that help middle-school learners better understand math concepts.  There are catchy instructional videos along with lesson plans and resources.

Nearpod is a FREE tool that works on any device and allows teachers to guide students through presentations and activities both synchronously as well as asynchronously.  The EdTech Teacher blog has a helpful post with tips and suggestions for using Nearpod in your classroom.

WatchKnowLearn is a great place to find free educational videos for your classroom.  To make this a reality, they invite teachers, instructors and educators to suggest videos for inclusion into the directory, and then to review, approve, and assign those videos into appropriate categories using a wiki framework and philosophy. The videos are the highest quality found on the Internet, cover all major educational topics from elementary to secondary schools (or age range 1 – 18), and are Kid Safe because they are vetted by teachers.

I bought my husband the Amazon Alexa for Father’s Day and we have been surprised by how much we use and appreciate this “new member of the family.” Turns out there are also some great classroom ideas for this voice activated computer.  Check out this blog post by “The Daring Librarian” Gwineth Jones on using Alexa in the library – “There’s an Echo in my Library.”

Here is a list of several sites to help those new to Windows 10.

How to Customize the Windows 10 Start Menu

Activate God Mode in Windows 10 for Quick Access to Windows Commands

5 secrets to make you fall in love with Windows 10

Three Windows 10 Start menu tweaks that subtly improve your experience

Windows 10 Gets Boot Camp Support

The Dark Side of Windows 10: Set a Theme & Change Colors

Apple now supports Windows 10 installations on the Mac

How to Cure Windows 10 Worst Headaches

20 must-know keyboard shortcuts for Windows 10

Discovery Education has put together a great list of SOS Teaching Strategies that is free content for teachers.  Some of these are creative and not the same old “ticket out the door.”

5 Good Google Tools for Social Studies Teachers – And How to Use Them is a blog post on the Free Technology for Teachers web site.  I especially liked the Google Scholars and Google Newspaper Archives.

Founded in 2006, the Global Oneness Project offers free multicultural stories and accompanying lesson plans for high school and college classrooms. Our award-winning collection of films, photo essays, and articles explore cultural, social, and environmental issues with a humanistic lens. Aligned to National and Common Core Standards, our curriculum content contains an interdisciplinary approach to learning and facilitates the development of active, critical thinking. Each month, we release a new story and accompanying lesson plan. All of our content and resources are available for free with no ads or subscriptions.

Seterra is a challenging educational geography game with more than 100 different exercises. Learn about countries, capitals, oceans, flags and cities in Africa, Europe, South America, North America, Asia and Australia, using outline map exercises! Seterra has been around since 1998, is translated into 26 different languages and has been loved by people all around the world.

FieldTripZoom provides you with an online service that allows you to search, order, schedule and connect to hundreds of live interactive programs. These programs provide your students with unique learning experiences that align with your courses and drive home the in-class materials.

Museums, zoos and historical sites are some of the best sources of educational content specific to the curriculum. Whether it’s history, the arts, anthropology or other subject matter areas, these institutions can bring a new level of understanding to the material.

Additionally, the integrated software-based video conferencing allows you to easily connect to the programs directly from your classroom. If you’re ready to bring the world to your classroom, don’t delay and take a virtual field trip today .

AppoLearning works with teachers and education experts to find the best educational apps, videos and websites for all PreK-12th grade subjects, topics, and Common Core Standards.

• Search thousands of expert-vetted apps, videos, websites, and more
• Upload files and collect resourcesinto your own collections. Keep them private or share them with the world!
• Browse public collections created by our community of teachers, educational professionals, and enthusiasts

Zoom In is a free, Web-based platform that helps students build literacy and historical thinking skills through “deep dives” into primary and secondary sources.

Zoom In’s online learning environment features 18 content-rich U.S. history units that supplement your regular instruction and help you use technology to support students’ mastery of both content and skills required by the new, higher standards

Looking for great educators to follow on Twitter – check out these folks at Loudon County Schools in TN.

@JasonWVance (Jason Vance Director of Schools)

@mikelgarren (Mike Garren Asst. Director)

@JenMaloneTN (Jennifer Malone Technology/Middle School Supervisor)

@MariaWarrenTN (Maria Warren Elem Supervisor)

@The_ScottMac (Scott MacKintosh Federal Programs, PK, Safety, Spec Areas)

@amburnmelanie (Melanie Amburn SPED Dir)

@HaunMelissa (Melissa Haun Math Coach)

@bethdutton5 (Beth Dutton ELA Coach)

@HayleyABL (Hayley Lynn SPED Coach)

@LoudonCo_Tech (LoCo Tech Dept.)

@LoudonCountyPD (LoCo Professional Development)

@SES_scouts (Steekee Elem)

@feezellm (Marvin Feezell PES Principal)

@PhillyWarriors (PES)

@FranklinT8902 (Tracy Franklin SES Principal)

@tinkerLC (Matt Tinker NMS Principal)

@christieamburn (Christie Amburn FLMS Principal)

@hatenite (Chad Loveday Tech)

@northmiddlestar (North Middle School)

@jtouton83 (Jarrod Touton Tech)

@EatonElementary (Eaton Elem)

@talleyashley (Ashley Talley Eaton Prin)

@kathy_winsor (HP Principal)

@ksdorothyintn (Cheri Parrish LHS Prin)