Mr. B EdTech Blog

It seems paradoxical, but the most boring classrooms tend to be the ones that are full of technology – and little else. The worst ones I’ve been into are those in which 30 or more computers are crammed into rows, allowing no room for note-taking, let alone collaboration -- despite plenty of evidence indicating that kids learn better by working with others, at least some of the time anyway. https://www.ictineducation.org/home-page/8-elements-of-a-stimulating-computing-classroom

Book Creator is open-ended, creative and cross curriculum. Create your own teaching resources or have your students take the reigns. Combine text, images, audio and video to create: Interactive stories Digital portfolios Research journals Poetry books Science reports Instruction manuals ‘About me’ books Comic adventures Take a look at the link below for information on how this has been released for Chromebooks. https://bookcreator.com/2017/02/book-creator-coming-web/

A flipped classroom approach to using video for igniting student discussion and engagement. Available on iOS, Android, Chromebook, and all major browsers. If you have not used this resource before, feel free to check it out here:  https://info.flipgrid.com/

GoGuardian recently released this video featuring a school district that compared chromebooks with laptops and iPads. In a short, but to the point statement, the speaker explains why Chromebooks are the preferred device based on his experience.

Having great content is important when delivering a professional learning opportunity but it is not enough. What is also important is to ensure opportunities are well organized and leave participants feeling they got exactly what they came for. http://www.techlearning.com/blogentry/12223

A backchannel is a space where students can post questions, respond to prompts and participate in a discussion without raising their hand. You might set up a backchannel for students using the free tool Today’s Meet or have older students set up a Twitter account and tweet using a shared hashtag for a virtual class discussion. If you haven’t used backchannels before you may want to check out this post for a quick overview. So what does this have to do with BrainPOP? BrainPOP is a favorite resource for helping students dive into a range of topics. Read more on the link below. http://www.techlearning.com/blogentry/12230

One of my biggest challenges at the beginning of the year, as a teacher was trying to learn students' names as quickly as I can. This is quite challenging for me as I can barely remember the names of my own family members at times. This article below offers 2 great tools and resources to help teachers learn their students names. This is an essential skill for teachers to have for making a personal connection with their students. http://teacherrebootcamp.com/2017/08/10/nameactivities/