Mr. B EdTech Blog

Hello everyone, I am at the Illinois Computing Educator's Conference 2019 Today through Thursday. I will post a live feed of my notable conferences and experiences to Twitter throughout the day. Feel free to check it out Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Mr_B_Ed_Tech

https://www.techlearning.com/news/the-reason-for-rubrics Rubrics help students clearly understand the scope of the assignment and see how each facet of the assignment will be valued when it is assessed.  Rubrics can be an invaluable tool for both students and teachers to assess student knowledge. Take a look at these resources provided in the article above.

See the full list https://www.controlaltachieve.com/2019/01/google-music.html This is a follow up to another article, posted by the same blogger. You can find that post also linked in my blog. This time transition from Art to Music. These are engaging activities and great resources to use in Music or in other subjects that integrate music.

See the full article https://www.techlearning.com/news/innovative-educators-dont-recommend-screen-time-limits What recommendations should we be giving parents and youth when it comes to screen time?  In past limiting some types of screen time made sense. A time when the American Pediatric Association (AAP) made long-standing screen time limits recommendations. However, those were based on research around passive television viewing and violent video games. Since then the AAP has backtracked. This is a very informative article on the merits of limiting screen time. I am not a medical expert and have relied heavily on my own experiences and others' research to form my own opinion on the matter. However, whenever I engage in a debate on the merits of children's screen time, more often than not, people have told me that screen time with children should be limited.  "Kids spend too much time on their screens." "Its making them (kids) antisocial"...

See the full list here: https://www.controlaltachieve.com/2019/01/google-art.html I am always on the lookout for creative or non conventional uses Google's apps. This list shows some very creative uses for integrating Art activities into G suite.

This article is a great resource for exploring more about Blended Learning. This teaching style allows for much greater learning experiences and has been treading more and more in education. I myself am a proponent of blended learning and have been researching it for a while now. See the full article https://www.techlearning.com/news/blended-learning-and-the-keys-to-academic-achievement Research tells us that personalized, collaborative, and connected learning experiences enhance student engagement, in turn, driving student success. The best mix of instructional practices take into account the learners’ requirements, levels of understanding, competencies at stake, and the nature and location of the audience and resources available. 

See the full article: https://www.controlaltachieve.com/2019/01/primary-google.html Are you a Primary teacher looking for some activities to do in Google? Do you want to build a snowman? Seriously, this article has some very creative uses for Google's G Suite for use in primary grade levels. Some of my favorites include: Building a snowman Disguise a Turkey Red Fish, Blue Fish sorting My Pickup Has Hiccups Pixel Drawings with Google Sheets and many more on this list. Pixel Drawings with Google Sheets

Google is constantly updating, whether we want them to or not. :) A few of these updates have been geared toward google's G-Suite (Docs, Slides, Sheets...). Some of my favorite are listed below. See the article for more updates Google has made this past month. Assign unique colors to chart elements in Google Sheets Option to embed Google Drawings in Docs Google Classroom updates include drag-and-drop topics and items, and new look and themes See the full article here: https://www.controlaltachieve.com/2019/02/google-news-jan2019.html