Tech Salad

As our 1:1 program has expanded upward from the elementary grades, our district has been proactive in creating an environment where digital tools and digital mindsets will  be commonplace when the expansion reaches the higher grades. To fill in the … Continue reading →

I know I have not blogged in a while. We have been exceedingly busy deploying iPads to all our 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students. Tomorrow we get to visit our one cohort of 3rd graders at Goochland Elementary. … Continue reading →

Teachers are getting an early start and populating their Schoology courses with activities and resources for students. I’ve been getting questions about accessing last year’s classes. Here is a video showing where archived courses can be found. If you need … Continue reading →

This morning I learned some very interesting facts about cochlear implants, about what they do and what they don’t do, from a segment on NPR’s Morning Edition. We have students with cochlear implants in our schools, and I doubt too … Continue reading →

Of course all your hard work will help you next year! If you have uploaded content to Schoology that you plan on using again next year, all you have to do is save it to your Resources folders. If you … Continue reading →

“Why do we need to know this?” There it is. Every teacher’s favorite question right after “Will this be on the test?” It is always fun to find real-life applications of concepts for which I probably asked the same question. … Continue reading →

I love Wikipedia. I argue with anyone who says it is bad, and I’ve even created a document to help teachers use Wikipedia effectively with their students. There is something special about this giant collective work and the community that … Continue reading →

Last Friday and today, Ms. Kass and I took the students in her Science classes outside to do a little exploration of our environment. In a scavenger hunt type activity, we made a list of concepts the kids have studied … Continue reading →

Mr. Summitt’s students have been learning about mitosis and they have put together really nice animations using their iPads. I have edited four of my favorite animations turned in through Schoology into a single movie. Watch these cells divide and … Continue reading →

Yesterday I walked into Mr. Rooke’s room to do something menial and simple. I walked away awed and inspired, and with a sense that we really are making a difference in our schools. Mr. Rooke, our very deserving Teacher Of … Continue reading →

This week we celebrate Earth Day, and our 6th grade students have spent the past few weeks learning about wildlife and water quality on the James River. Last Friday I joined the last group to participate in a field trip … Continue reading →

“What did you do today?” “My friends and I blew up pigs with TNT. We called it a barbecue.” “That’s not very nice…” “We also started building a gothic cathedral in our village. It has flying buttresses but we don’t … Continue reading →

Last week was Spring Break and on Tuesday I made a very conscious decision to disconnect and have a very slow dinner with my children. I knew I’d be missing a couple of Twitter chats, so I went looking through … Continue reading →

I have a really fun job. I provide professional development and training to teachers, often embedded in the classroom teaching model lessons, co-teaching, or just stopping by to help everyone troubleshoot. I also help teachers in one-to-one appointments during the … Continue reading →

Ms. Thomas’s students have been reading the play based on the Diary of Anne Frank. To better understand why the Frank family was hiding, students researched other events recognized as genocides. Each student taught the class the causes, events, and … Continue reading →

I am always interested in research that gives me real information about opinions I have formed based on anecdotal evidence. For example, I read an article in The New Yorker yesterday about the nature of online reading. I had blogged … Continue reading →

Many of our teachers have been reporting that they are unable to send messages using the Mail app in Snow Leopard. Here is a video showing what needs to be fixed. If you need any additional help, please let me … Continue reading →

A few weeks ago I interviewed Ms. Kass and Ms. Krickovic to highlight what was going on in their classrooms. Both teachers told me about projects that let students publish their work based on research using Schoology as a platform … Continue reading →

Ms. Kass and her students are making books about plant and animal cells on their iPads. They are using SketchBook and Book Creator to gather everything they are learning through labs and research. The books are going to be great … Continue reading →

For the past few minutes, I have been flipping through a copy of Exploring the Internet published in 1999. Surprisingly, I have found the Amazon link. The book is a very interesting stroll down memory lane. Do you remember Archie … Continue reading →

For a few weeks now, I’ve been getting complaints about the Schoology logo on the GCPS homepage linking to the “wrong” Schoology website. The link is not wrong. We linked to the non-Goochland Schooloyg page on purpose. When parents log … Continue reading →

“Well, of course you can do that in (fill any subject). Math is different.” “I can’t use that tool if it does not have a built-in equation editor.” “I don’t have time for that. My students need to practice solving … Continue reading →

At the end of the month, Teacher Dashboard will transition to a new and improved version of itself. You can switch to the new version now, or wait until the change is automatic. Here are the most important changes to … Continue reading →

When I tweet, I feel like I’m talking to myself and my words will simply come back to me in perpetuity as Timehop entries. Yesterday, my name was mentioned in a tweet and I got notifications about it all afternoon. … Continue reading →

When a tool just works the way it should and students see their growth, we should share the story. I’m very happy to see Ms. Bay and her students embracing better writing with good digital scaffolding.  

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In previous posts I have written about Teacher Dashboard, Google Apps, and how to share documents with students. Here is one more way that lets you share a link to a document in Schoology (or anywhere else) bypassing the Smart … Continue reading →

It is funny how sometimes we have to go far away to hear what people nearby are saying. While I was in Ireland last month, I was sitting in a presentation and the following quote was on a slide: Providing … Continue reading →

At the end of January I had the good fortune to attend the MiTE conference in Galway, Ireland. I’ve been trying to figure out how to synthesize everything I saw and heard into a coherent blog post. It is hard … Continue reading →

While we hope to be a 1:1 district in the future, at this point in time, we have lots of devices that are shared. When students create a video or audio file, the easiest way for teachers to collect these … Continue reading →

What do you do when high school students don’t check their email? Use Schoology messages instead. From any of your classes’ Members section, you can send a private message to your students. The students can send a message back, too, … Continue reading →

School learning is a relatively new development in the history of the world. For hundreds of thousands of years, nobody went to school, and the world did not end. Everything progressed slowly, but I’m sure they will say the same … Continue reading →

Schoology makes it very easy for teachers to assign differentiated work to students in ways that don’t make anyone feel singled out. Students can be assigned to pre-determined groups, or materials can be made visible only to specified students within … Continue reading →

This morning I returned from VSTE and hit the ground running. When I stepped into Ms. Kass’s room to say hello, she showed me the projects the students were developing on their iPads. A few minutes later, I stopped by … Continue reading →

Yes, I’ve borrowed the TED tagline, sort of. Why not? When you have a good idea, share it. Apple has put together a small collection of books perfect for our teachers in the iPad 1:1 program who might be looking … Continue reading →

Today and tomorrow I am working with Ms. Thomas and Ms. Samuel, 8th grade Language Arts teachers, helping them kick off their research unit. We are using Schoology, Google, and Wikipedia. Yes, yes, I know. Google is making us stupid … Continue reading →

Last year around this time, I worked with Ms. Kass on a project in which students used Google SketchUp to create a zoo enclosure for an endangered species. The enclosure had to incorporate elements involving basic needs, comfort, health, and … Continue reading →

I watched a really amazing video over the weekend. Peter Dahmen is a paper engineer who makes incredibly complex pop-up cards. The first time I watched, I was not listening to what Mr. Dahmen was saying. I was too distracted … Continue reading →

True or false: When I give my students work, they all finish at the same time. Yes, keeping kids on task is one of the most difficult issues faced by teachers. Schoology has a tool that can help. When you … Continue reading →

If I go back to the classroom as a teacher, I know there are lots of things I would do differently today than eight years ago. Yes, technology has changed, and I have learned quite a bit about instructional design. … Continue reading →

Dear students, teachers, and staff, Thank you so much for inviting me to speak at your school. I had a super fun time talking about bugs and other tiny things with all of you. You were all so attentive and … Continue reading →

If your students are using iPads, the easiest way for them to submit work is through Schoology. In a previous post, I shared a video on how to turn in Google Drive documents through Schoology. In this video, I share … Continue reading →

Today I helped Mr. Hecker with a bit of a computer glitch. He started telling me how much he likes Schoology, so I decided to make it a formal chat. Here’s the video.  

This year we are trying a new way to meet our teachers’ needs. In the past, all teachers were expected to attend at least one two-hour technology class after school, or a longer class over the summer. But, two hours … Continue reading →

It is easy for educators to sit in a faculty meeting or professional development session seemingly paying attention and nodding along to what they hear while secretly vowing to wait until this new fad passes by. Deeper Learning, however, deserves … Continue reading →

I don’t have much time to comb through Twitter to find good stuff these days, but a tweet by @intrepidteacher caught my eye while I stood by the microwave at lunch.   @mywriteabout is a twitter account full of really … Continue reading →

How can you tell who added a calendar event in Schoology? You can change the color of each calendar for each of your classes to make them easier to tell apart. Watch this video to learn how.  

Here is another tutorial for teachers and students using Schoology and Google Drive. When teachers create an assignment, students can turn in Google Drive documents very easily. Watch the video that includes all steps. But, why use Schoology if we … Continue reading →

Whenever I walk into a classroom where students are using computers during the first few minutes of class, I can bet my stash of good chocolate that at least a handful of kids will be logged into PowerSchool. This is … Continue reading →

Schoology courses are very flexible. Teachers can change settings to fit their needs. Sometimes teachers will want students to post updates, and sometimes they won’t. Here’s a video showing you how to make that happen.