Ed Tech Blog
On the pages under the drop-down menu on this page you will find archives for blogs written by Bob Frye and by Holyoke High School teachers Mike Cotto and Heather Fuller.
To learn more or contact me about coaching Click HERE.
Link to original Dear Intrepid Instructors, “Learn like the Hare, adopt like the Tortoise” is a way to think about using Ed tech in your classroom. We were tasked with upending our practices and adopting new technologies without much benefit of either practice or reflective time. This newsletter served as a better “what’s what” than a “”How to”. But now, as we slowly return to a more familiar, but new paradigm, we have the opportunity to integrate what we have learned in the last year as well as continue to grow and reflect on our comfort in using technology in the classroom. In that vein, I would like to offer more traditional coaching service to teachers and paras. If you would like to schedule some 1:1 time to work on a particular challenge around using Ed tech; “How to…”, managing your LMS better, getting more comfortable with Nearpod, or adding gamification, I want to help. If you are interested, please submit this short Google Form and I’ll be in touch for scheduling. Like the Hare, lets learn what is out there to accomplish specific tasks, but, like the tortoise only adopt a few new platforms at a time. Every platform takes time, risk and repetition to become comfortable with for both your students and you, always give yourself, and them, grace to learn. Roles: Over the last year everyone had to be on deck to triage and respond to the very unusual circumstances of the pandemic and rapid shift to remote learning. As we shift gears to more in person learning we can afford to be more reflective and proactive and less reactive. While there is much overlap in our various roles it is helpful to think in terms of more defined lanes: Matt Kuzmeskas oversees the entire tech dept, he and his team of excellent technicians and building leads manage the hardware, network, platform accounts; login database, internet, and equipment. They can best resolve problems in those areas through Building Tech Leads or at [email protected] .The Ed tech coach’s role is primarily to think and communicate about tech pedagogy and options to help teachers integrate platforms into their classrooms to both lighten and increase the efficiency of their workload and to develop 21st Century skills in our students. Coming soon: One-stop shopping; Coach’s Website with access to archived Newsletters and links to platforms and Tech coach superstars! Tech Resource of the Week: Schoolytics. Ever wish you could have easy access to a list of all students missing assignments? Try this: FREE for teachers! It provides for you information about your students' progress in the class in simple graphical reports that are easy to share with students, parents or administrators. Hope Springs eternal !
0 Comments
Link to original
Dear Empowering Empaths, Two announcements: As more and more of us are fully vaccinated and returning to school in person, I want to offer some in-person coaching sessions. If you would like a thought partner or some personalized, non-evaluative feedback in: beginning to use a particular platform or two, ideas on how to integrate technology into your lessons or classroom, or refining your use of Ed tech, I am happy to schedule some recurring sessions with you. Next week I will distribute a Google form for sign-up. I am also in the process of launching a website with descriptions and instructions for various platforms, links to superstar Ed tech coaches, archived newsletters and tech pedagogy. If you have ideas for what else to include, I’d love to hear from you. Chrome Extension: The same Microsoft immersive reader that Nearpod uses is now available as an immersive reader extension for Chrome. It features syllable and line-by-line reading, color coding the parts of speech, a picture dictionary and a superior translation tool (three versions of Spanish) that can offer word by word with picture dictionary or whole document translation. It will work on any website and it can work on a PDF! Click the link above to add this extension, highlight text, right-click and click on "Help me read this".To use on a PDF, open the extension from the toolbar and open a PDF in Kami. It will also work in DocHub, but when you highlight the text it gets blurry. Unfortunately, it will not work in PDF preview mode or a plain downloaded PDF. Tech Tool of the Week: No Red Ink Is an adaptive writing tool for students. No red ink is offered free for the remainder of this year, so now is a good chance to check it out. It offers engaging prompts, with chunked skill development. Best of all, it begins to recognize individual student writing deficits and hones in on addressing those specific skills. Perfect for those that really want to give instant writing feedback to students, but don’t have the time to grade all those papers.Check out the video. Tech Resource of the Week: U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) offers lesson plans and complete classes on a variety of topics. Many of these are focused on conflict resolution and peacebuilding at the grassroots level within local communities. Learning these skills in the third-person can help students with their own emotional regulation in a non-confrontational atmosphere. Learn about USIP here. Professional Development opportunity: Related to USIP, the U.S. State Department is offering a free self-paced course for K-12 teachers in teaching conflict resolution: Problem solving ignites students’ critical thinking and creativity. Problem solving teaches students how to apply knowledge and skills to complex problems and it empowers students to make a difference in the world. Global competence equips students with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to be successful in today’s interconnected world. Through this course educators will be equipped with an understanding of what problem-driven learning is and how to apply it in their classrooms, whether that is in person or virtually. This introductory course is designed for an audience of busy professionals who are curious about problem-driven learning and motivated to engage their students with real challenges. Educators will explore how problem-driven learning can be applied across content areas and grade levels. One of the most challenging parts can be getting started. This course will provide practical ideas for connecting problem-driven learning to standards and resources to apply in your practice. This is a great course if you are ever thinking about a Fulbright application. Certificate and 4.5 hours of PD for your Teachpoint. For more info and registration: https://bit.ly/3rXuQey Ed Tech March madness has wrapped up with a new champion. In an extremely close vote, Quizziz beat out Nearpod as the best tech of 2021. In my view, Quizziz is a great tool for student engagement, but Nearpod offers a more complete interactive lesson. Hybrid teaching, iPad and Application questions and concerns: What specific challenges are you having with devices or equipment with the transition to hybrid classes? Please shoot me an email with any questions, concerns or tips you have! Hope all are tolerating your vaccinations well! |
AuthorRobert Frye is a retired 33 year veteran Of Holyoke Public Schools Archives
April 2021
Categories |