If you checked out the last blog post, you know that we are going through a bunch of updates that you might not have heard about regarding the main tools that we use here in Springfield. This week we are looking at PowerPoint and how amazing that it is. I’m not blowing smoke at you. When you check out these updates or Top 5s you will be amazed! Presenter Coach Improvements I cannot tell you how much I love the…
I love fall, while fall means summer is wrapping up (which I don’t love) it means that all our favorite systems get some fancy updates! This will kick off a whole series of posts about the main tools we use and the updates they get. The first one of those systems that we will explore is Microsoft Word. Word has come a long way from when I was using it in high school. Every year updates come to Word but, as a teacher, I think this is the best year yet. We are going to look at my Top 6 new…
I know I ended last year with a quote from a Michelle Branch song, and it is only fitting that we start the year off with one too! This one happens to be from when she formed a band called “The Wreckers” with Jessica Harp. This band, for their time, was awesome and I still listen to the live album all the time. My, Oh My Look How the Time Flied For many of you the summer was a welcomed reprieve from the hard school year. You took solace in knowing that we have made…
We made it! The end is near, and we can all take a collective sigh of relief that we have done the best we could. I am reminded of a song by Michelle Branch called “Breathe”. A couple of lines from the song really resonated with me over this past year and a half. While I know the song is not about being a schoolteacher (I’m pretty sure the song is about unrequited love although you might feel that way about your school year) heck the song is almost 20 years old, but the phrasing of these words resonated with me. For…
Have you used templates before? Templates create layouts for documents for you to use with your students which can enrich the activities you are doing in the classroom. Using templates can save you loads of time. Templates can also be thought of like graphic organizers, many of them are designed for assignments and help deepen understanding of topics and units. You might be saying wait a second, “I thought graphic organizers are only for organizing a student’s thoughts”, and you’re right. The basic definition of templates means that they are reusable files…
Back in January of 2020 I wrote about this exceptional tool, Skype in the Classroom. Just a quick recap of that article: Skype in the Classroom is awesome! Skype boasts six ways that you can connect to the world: Virtual Field Trip Skype Collaborations Mystery Skype Guest Speakers Theme Collections/Lesson Plans Special Events Fast forward to December 2020 and this tool is changing. As Microsoft has continued to invest in Microsoft Teams and Flipgrid, they are discontinuing Skype in the Classroom during the summer of 2021. You might remember…
Have you ever thought “my students would love to talk to an author like Cressida Cowell, Jane Yolen, Jacqueline Woodson, Kathryn Erskine, D. J. MacHale, Richard Peck, or Jacqueline West?” They might also like to go the Redwood Forest, visit an animal rescue in the UK, talk to a sea turtle expert, visit the Coral Reefs, learn about the Geology of Yellowstone, hear from Dr. Jane Goodall, meet an expert from Australia in the Great Barrier Reef, visit Joshua Tree National Park, or meet a doctor from any…
If you haven’t heard, The Computer Science for All (CSforAll) project in Springfield, which began in the district last year, is moving full steam ahead. We’re in our second year of implementation now and it’s continuing to grow. As our world is changing, we want to make sure we are preparing our students for the future by strenghting thier problem solving and computational thinking skills. These skills are paramount for our students to be successful whether they are going to college…
Do you really know what SAMR is and what it looks like in your classroom? Continue reading to find out more information about the SAMR model!
Every year tools that we love get updates, especially during the Summer when teachers are on break. Adobe Spark is one of those tools. For a quick review, Adobe Spark is a tool that allows students and teachers to create and share impactful visual stories using three media types, Video, Page and Post. I’ve used it for my Favorite Quote Friday’s, which is now Motivational Mondays, which you can find on Instagram @beardedtechedguy or my website https://www.beardedtechedguy.com When you ask Adobe what each…