I found a super awesome Add-on for Google Docs this week! It’s called Story Speaker. The creators of this add-on wanted to utilize google’s voice recognition capabilities to create interactive stories within Google Docs that can then be played on your Google Home with no coding necessary!
I was so blessed to get to not only attend the #TCEA Conference in Austin, TX last week but also to present about running Twitter Chats alongside the #TXed leadership team. I was so impressed by the amazing educators who shared not only theory and tools but also real-life ideas for implementation. Here are 7 treasures I gained from TCEA:
The past few years we have enjoyed playing Super Bowl Squares with our staff. If you don’t know about this game, you can check out the full rules here and get some helpful templates. On our campus, we don’t sell the squares, instead, teachers earn them by completing tasks or being caught implementing a specific initiative. Here’s the basic overview of how we’ve adapted for our staff: Continue reading
GIFs are so much fun! I love using them in twitter chats, in PD I present, when sending an email, when texting, must I go on? Sometimes what can’t be said in words can easily be expressed in a GIF! These little movie clips can also be used in so many great ways with our students! Here is a collection of a few ideas for infusing GIFs into the classroom. Continue reading
The research shows, and we can all agree, that incorporating student collaboration into our lessons has numerous benefits including:
Why, then, do we not incorporate student collaboration strategies more often? Continue reading
One of the awesome teachers I have the privilege of working with at Ault, Nicole Donaldson @mrsdonaldson5th , who teaches 5th grade Language Arts, told me about a class meeting activity she recently had her students complete. Instead of standing in the front of the room and going over school rules again, she gave students the assignment to create a meme (you know, those hilarious pictures you see on the internet with white text at the top and bottom) which exemplifies or explains a school rule in table groups using one safe-for-school (but still fun) image she selected. While each table had the same grumpy cat face, they all selected different school expectations to reinforce for their classmates in this super fun, silly, and engaging assignment. Continue reading
Last week, I was preparing an introductory presentation for my school staff on Google Drawings. To give them choice in their learning and allow them to learn and find resources that appealed to their needs, I wanted to provide them with time during the class for some guided independent learning, but I wanted to use Google Drawings to teach them about Drawings in such a way that they could then turn around use the same template for a different lesson in their own classes. Here’s what I came up with (click to explore): Continue reading
Meredith Akers 