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Keep finding my tribe!

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Continue compiling. Share during Lead contact time or through newsletter.

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Keep creating. Try to get outside the comfort zone even though creation is not where I live.

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Try another conference. Work on Hive during August.

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Try as many of these at least once this year. See what will work or what can be fit to work with the population. If it can't work for me, highlight it in the newsletter.

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Use your phone’s camera to identify emojis in the real world. Can you find all the emojis before time expires?

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If you're having trouble accessing a Google product, there's a chance we're currently experiencing a temporary problem. You can check for outages and downtime on the G Suite Status Dashboard.

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If you're having trouble accessing a Google product, there's a chance we're currently experiencing a temporary problem. You can check for outages and downtime on the G Suite Status Dashboard.

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Breaking news for and and about Black America: original stories, diverse opinions, current events and their impact on Black lives.

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Labster empowers educators to reimagine their science courses with immersive online simulations. Request a demo to discover how Labster engages students, trains lab skills, and accelerates learning.

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Newseum ED is provided as a free educational resource and contains copyrighted material. Registration is required for full access. Signing up is simple and free.

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Pear Deck is on a mission to help teachers create powerful learning moments for every student, every day - using the tools you already know and love.

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Sway: Create and share interactive reports, presentations, personal stories, and more.

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Sway is an easy-to-use digital storytelling app for creating interactive reports, presentations, personal stories and more. Its built-in design engine helps you create professional designs in minutes. With Sway, your images, text, videos, and other multimedia all flow together in a way that enhances your story.

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Seeing AI app helps people with vision impairment convert visual info into audio. Download for free in English, Dutch, German, French, Japanese, and Spanish.

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Koji is the world’s most powerful Link in Bio, with hundreds of free apps to customize and monetize.

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Arts & Culture Expeditions - Google Arts & Culture

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Go on a virtual field trip with Google Arts & Culture

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Deck.Toys - Learning Paths for Lesson Adventures

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Just drag-and-drop your teaching content to build paths and activities for your students.

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Sketchnotes are a good way of visualizing complex or large amounts of information. They are also good ways to share the information quickly with others.

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Use Real People
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Open Author helps you build and publish Open Educational Resources for you and for the benefit of educators and learners everywhere.

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OER Commons is a dynamic digital library and network. Explore open education resources and join our network of educators dedicated to curriculum improvement.

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The Hate U Give ThingLink for Pathfinder Project

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The Hate U Give ThingLink for Pathfinder Project

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TeachingBooks.net | Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My... by Racheal Wente

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Forgot about Lewis Lattimer, but the message is the same

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Forgot about Lewis Lattimer, but the message is the same

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Edison was not trying to invent the light bulb, he was trying to help the world see in the dark.- Rabbi Michael Cohen- The Tech Rabbi

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“We can’t change who we serve, but we can change how we serve them.” @katiemartinedu #iste18

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@globalearner on the importance of teaching kids to be good researchers

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A Framework for Professional Learning with G Suite

I have delivered hundreds of hours of professional learning over the last ten years or so, and a vast portion of those sessions have focused on using Google tools in the classroom. I've learned a lot of lessons as a Google trainer, A LOT! So to help other trainers, I put together a framework for Google PD that I hope others will benefit from. I'm sharing the order that I teach G Suite apps as well as sharing free resources and tips along the way.

Of course, every teacher/trainer is different, with a different personality and different strengths and weaknesses; and every group of participants varies as well.

I presented a lot of these ideas last summer at ISTE 2017. Feel free to peruse the slides from my presentation, which contains much more than I can cover in one blog post.

The Shake Up Learning Google PD Framework

(Start from the bottom and work your way up.)

This framework starts from the ground up! This is not a framework that I use for 1-hour presentations, but for more extended workshops or boot camps. Even with experienced users, there is always something new to learn, and I find this order works best for me.
➡ Get the Google Cheat Sheets eBook
If you don't already have the Google Cheat Sheets eBook that I created, be sure you subscribe to claim your copy. It's a great companion and resource for Google training.

The Foundation: Adult Learning Strategies

The foundation for all professional learning should revolve around adult learning best practices and good andragogy. According to Google dictionary, andragogy is defined as, "the method and practice of teaching adult learners; adult education." It's the other, "gogy," that we don't hear as much as pedagogy, but is a critical piece of the pie. If you are in a position of trainer or professional developer, you should spend some exploring adult learning strategies. Here are a few tips:

Respect their time: start and finish on time!

Don't assume they are doing things wrong in their classrooms.

Modeling! Put the teacher in the seat of a student.

Build relationships.

Listen to their needs.

Be open to questions and ideas from participants.

Encourage collaboration and connections within the group.

Demonstrate a lesson.

Make it personal.

Differentiate whenever possible.

Empower teachers to share what they are doing in their classrooms during the session.

Model the Strategies You Want to See in Classrooms

Nothing gets my goat like sitting in a whole group staff development session that is TELLING me that I need to be doing small group instruction in my classroom. The strategies should be demonstrated and modeled for the audience. Try incorporating some of these ideas in your sessions:

Model giving voice and choice to the participants.

Model blended learning.

Model differentiation.

Model facilitation, not just presentation.

Model collaboration strategies.

Model creation projects.

Model EVERYTHING!

Teaching G Suite Apps

#1 - Always Start with Google Chrome

When teaching G Suite, especially for beginning users, I always start with Google Chrome. I consider Google Chrome the learning environment for all things Google. And every time I have ever started with any other application, I have regretted it. Google Chrome skills will set them up for success in using the other applications within G Suite.

Here are some Google Chrome resources for you:

- Google Chrome Word Sneak: Tonight Show game for pre-assessment. Super fun!

- G Suite Training Chrome Extension: This is a great extension to help teachers and students learn G Suite apps as they go. It's on-demand tutorials built into the applications, and it's FREE!
- Google Chrome App & Extension Database for Teachers and Students
#2 - Google Docs or Slides

After Chrome, I usually move into Docs or Slides. Most of the time I use Google Docs because even the lowest skill levels are typically familiar with some kind of word processor and will have skills that transfer.
"Get to Know You" Activities with Docs
- (See example below.) Use a table in Docs to give them dedicated real estate on the page where each participant gets their own row. Number the rows and assign numbers if you need to. Tables give it some structure, so they don't get frustrated. But, they need to experience the chaos of collaboration in a Doc. Teachers will behave very similar to their students! They will type on top of each other and delete each other-all great experiences to better understand application in the classroom

- Allow the rest of the document to be used as a sandbox and/or collaborative notes.

- As you demonstrate each step in skill, have them try in the document. (How to/Now do)

- Also, check out my blog post, Collaborative Note Taking with Google Docs.
"Get to Know You" Activities with Slides
- I use Alice Keeler's first-week activity very often. It's a great way to combine a get to know you activity with some Google Slides skills.

- Each participant gets a slide, giving them their own real estate and playground.

- They get to see how Google Slides can be used for much more than just presentations.

- Show two or three ways to spice up the slides, let them work. (How to/Now do)

- Show two or three more features, let them work.

- For more advanced users, try Internet Pop Quiz: Teacher Edition

#3 - Google Forms & Sheets - A Perfect Marriage!

Google Forms has to be one of the easiest applications in G Suite, and such a great tool for teachers! It's easy to get buy-in for Forms, but Sheets is usually one of the applications that participants know the least. So the natural connection for Forms to Sheets makes an excellent introduction and you can easily transition to Sheets features, tips, and tricks.

- Start with Google Forms.

- Model the creation of a form.

- Have participants fill it out to give you data.

- Show responses and create a Google Sheet.

- Transition to teaching Google Sheets

#4 - Google Drive & In-Depth Sharing Explanation

I find that users don't typically grasp the point of Google Drive until they have begun to use the other applications. Once they have a grasp of G Suite and some of the core applications, then I move into teaching Google Drive. After going through Docs, Slides, Forms, and Sheets, they will at least have some files to work with as you demonstrate organization, features, and explain cloud computing.

I walk users through navigation and features. Once I get to the sharing options, this is where I really go in-depth with all of the options for sharing. For new users, this would just be too confusing in the beginning. They need to have seen some sharing modeled before this point, and this is where you build and expand that knowledge.

G Suite for Education has six different ways to share, so it gets complicated quickly! I created this guide to help trainers and users better understand what sharing is all about.
➡ Get the Guide to Google Drive Sharing FREE eBook
#5 - Sprinkle in the Other G Suite Applications that Meet Your Needs

Depending on my group, initiatives at the school or district, and individual needs, I will then sprinkle in the other applications like Google Classroom, Google Sites, Google Keep, Google Drawings, etc. Building additional skills from here is usually much easier once they have the foundational skills of G Suite.

The other applications share similar features and help you manage files, increase productivity, and will allow participants to make connections and strengthen their skills.

Ready to Become a Google Certified Trainer?

Do you want to travel and help other teachers learn how to use G Suite in their classroom? Do you want to get your foot in the door as a consultant, trainer, or present at national conferences? Want to make a little extra cash in summer training teachers?

The VIP trainer course opens twice yearly (May and December) and will re-open for enrollment on November 10, 2017 , and close on November 27, 2017.

This is the e-course you have been waiting for-the course to help you on your journey to becoming a Google for Education Certified Trainer!

Becoming a Google Certified Trainer was one of the best decisions I ever made, and it transformed my learning and my career! This self-paced, e-course includes EVERYTHING you need to know to pass the Trainer Skills Assessment AND complete the application requirements, including:

- 30+ Video Lessons (including the archive)
- Private Google+ Community
- The Ultimate Google Certified Trainer Planner and Check List
- VIP BONUSES!
- Tips & Tricks
- and much more!

Visit BecomeAGoogleTrainer.com for all of the details and to enroll ( VIP will NOT open until November 10th!)

*Please note: This course does NOT prepare you for Google Certified Educator Level 1 and 2.

© Shake Up Learning 2018. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kasey Bell and Shake Up Learning with appropriate and specific direction to the original content on ShakeUpLearning.com. See: Copyright Policy.

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How to Design Google PD That Works! | Shake Up Learning

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I have delivered hundreds of hours of professional learning over the last ten years or so, and a vast portion of those sessions have focused on using Google tools in the classroom. I've learned a lot of lessons as a Google trainer, A LOT!

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World Innovation Summit for Education Films

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World Innovation Summit for Education Films

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Several documentaries about education and the purpose and effect. Varying length from a few minutes to nearly an hour. Enlightening!

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Graham Brown-Martin is the founder of Learning Without Frontiers (LWF), a global think tank that brought together renowned educators, technologists and creatives to share provocative and challenging ideas about the future of learning. He left LWF in 2013 to pursue new programmes and ideas to transform the way we learn, teach and live.

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Screencasting Podcast with assessment ideas and other podcasts: PBL, Ed Tech, Leadership, Assessment, etc.

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023: Screencasting Lessons & Assessments w/ LeAnn Knudsen by Transforming Learning by CBD

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023: Screencasting Lessons & Assessments w/ LeAnn Knudsen by Transforming Learning by CBD

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LeAnn Knudsen teaches a split class of 4th and 5th grade students at Moon Elementary. In an effort to cope with not only a plethora of student needs, LeAnn also must teach two different curriculums simultaneously. Her solution: screencasting. Listen to LeAnn talk about how this tool and her strategies have transformed her instruction and her students' learning.

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Chrome Extensions

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One of my favorite things about the Google Chrome browser is the ability to add extensions to improve productivity while surfing the web or putting together lessons, activities, etc. These little programs range from ad blockers and shortcuts to websites, to URL shorteners and memory savers, and so much more. If there is something that you think should be easier to do within the Chrome browser, odds are, the Chrome Web Store probably has something to address your wants and needs.

Over the course of several years of using Google Chrome, I have amassed quite the collection of Chrome extensions. Some of these extensions are ones that I absolutely use every day, such as AdBlock Plus, Pin Tab, and Reopen Closed Tab. There are also extensions that I don't use very often, so I turn them off most of the time to save on memory and prevent the browser from bogging down, such as Cite This For Me and Google Tone. To control my extensions, I use an extension (I know, right?) called Extensity to easily toggle extensions on and off.

While I could drone on and on about all of the Chrome extensions I have connected to my account, there isn't time and it's really not necessary. However, the following are five Chrome extensions that I think are a must-have for your everyday productivity.

OneTab: We all get into that situation where we have numerous tabs open in the browser. Sometimes you're not even viewing a certain tab, but it's still open for when you need to see it, such as your email. OneTab helps you to organize tabs and cut down on memory Chrome uses to run when so many tabs are open. When clicking on the OneTab extension, it collapses all open tabs into a single tab with a list of URLs. You can reopen tabs from the list one at a time, or you can restore all tabs with a single click. OneTab allows you to name a set of websites and lock them so they open in a single tab every time you open Chrome. You can also export a list of websites as the extension creates a unique URL of your list so it can be shared, perfect for sending students a list of websites for viewing during a lesson.

I have two sets of websites saved in OneTab that I use on a regular basis. One set that I titled Most Used is links to my email, Google Drive, Google Keep, and Google Calendar. Another set of tabs that I have saved links to my master's coursework, with my school email, school Google Drive, and student portal. I also have the options to create other lists when I need them.

Sir Links-A-Lot: One of the reasons why Google Drive and each of the Google productivity apps are so great is because you have the ability to share files with others. Sometimes, you want to give people a copy of a file and give them editing rights, but you don't want them to edit your copy, so you use the file's URL to change it from "edit" to copy", forcing recipients to make a copy of it when they click on the link, which also takes out the "File - Make a Copy" step. Sir Links-A-Lot makes this process quicker and easier but allowing you to simply click on the extension and create the force copy link. However, Sir Links-A-Lots does more! It allows users to not only create a force copy link, but also a preview link so recipients can see the document, a template link, and a .pdf link. Once you have selected which of the four options you want to use, it allows you to copy the link to the clipboard, shorten the URL and copy it, and open the item in a new tab.

One thing that it does not do is change your shared settings. You must still open up the setting and change them so people can access the force copy, template, etc. The easiest way to that is to change the setting within the Docs, Slides, Sheets, or Drawings file to "anyone with the link can view." If that is too much work for you, there is a Chrome extension called Alice Keeler's AnyoneCanView that will change the settings of a file in one click to anyone with the link can view (I guess this makes it six extensions you must have... bonus freebie for you!).

log posts in a wake that I called Pro Dev. You can see what I have thus far at Wakelet: Wakelet is the program that I never knew I needed. Wakelet allows users to curate content from the web into stories that are easier to organize and share. After creating a Wakelet account, install the Wakelet extension and anytime you find something online that you think is worth saving and/or sharing, click on the extension and save it into a new collection or "wake". You can save images, articles, and my favorite, tweets and Facebook posts. Want others to contribute to a collection? You can do that too! I have already started to curate some great b http://wke.lt/w/s/6XTp9.

Microsoft Office Online: I have been using G Suite for Education apps for several years now. For the most part, I don't open Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, etc. unless I absolutely have to, and even then, because Google allows you to download Docs into Word format, Sheets into Excel format, Slides into PowerPoint format, and any file into a .pdf, I haven't had much use for Office tools in the past few years. There are a handful of things that Office tools can do that Google can't. For example, tables are much easier to work within a Word document than a Docs file, and PowerPoint is more robust in a few ways than Slides, but it's not enough to stop me from using Google.

I recently started a master's program where I am required to submit my work in Office files and the student portal isn't 100% compatible with Chrome OS on my Chromebook, which I use about 75% of the time over my PC. I wanted a way to be able to still use my Chromebook and work with Office files. Microsoft offers the ability to use Office and OneDrive online and it syncs with the hard drive on my PC, saving any work that I do in Office and OneDrive online. As nice as this is, there are a lot of steps and clicks to get to a file or open a new file when I want to get to work. The Microsoft Office Online Chrome extension eliminates the multiple clicks and allows you to create a new Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. right from the extension. You can also open OneDrive with a single click and a list of recent files will also appear from the extension. If you have a file on your computer that isn't in OneDrive, you can upload it into Office online and open it in the browser with a click from the extension as well. Don't have Microsoft Office installed on your computer? Don't worry, you don't need to have Office installed since it all works within the Chrome browser.

Save to Keep: In my opinion, one of the most underutilized and underrated Google applications is Google Keep. I wrote a post about Google Keep a few months back, touting the abilities and potential of this great tool. While Keep is great for making lists, saving images, bookmarking websites, and so much more, it can be even better using the Save to Keep Chrome extension. By clicking on the extension or right clicking on a website, you can not only save the link, but you can add notes about the page without having to navigate to a new tab, opening Keep, creating a note, copying the link, so on and so forth. With one click, you can do it all!

Found an image that you want to hold onto? Right-click on the image, click on the Google Keep extension option from the list and select Save Image. From there, you can write notes, mark up the image, etc. within Keep. Use the Keep notepad options in Google Docs, Slides, and Drawings to directly import notes and images that you save using the extension, saving you clicks, time, and based on my previous post, your sanity!

Like I stated previously, I could go on and on about various extensions that I use regularly. I am always on the lookout for new ones as well. What are some of your favorite Chrome extensions? Share your thoughts on how they make your professional and personal life easier! And if you happen to be at ISTE18 in Chicago, for the record, I am really jealous of you and I look forward to seeing the learning that is happening on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc. Oh, and the pictures of the amazing food of the Midwest that I miss so much sometimes!

Until next time...

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One of my favorite things about the Google Chrome browser is the ability to add extensions to improve productivity while surfing the web or putting together lessons, activities, etc. These little programs range from ad blockers and shortcuts to websites, to URL shorteners and memory savers, and so much more.

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Time to Read: Making Independent Reading a Priority

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Time to Read: Making Independent Reading a Priority

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Blogpost from Reading by Example

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Regie Routman is a great champion of reading. The kind of reading that is guided by a person's curiosity, joy, and desire to fall deep into story. Pleasure reading. Real reading.

As a long-time educator and a self-proclaimed book nerd, like Regie, I believe that educators must support and encourage real reading. That is is our job to help our students become lifelong connoisseurs of text. It's a big deal. I mean, the research is in, folks who read tend to be more empathetic and as teachers we know, maybe better than anyone else, that we need more empathy in the world.

One of the many topics in Literacy Essentials that resonated with me was called, "Make Independant Reading a First Priority" (p. 204). Here Regie shares a tweet she once wrote, "Make daily indep[endent] reading #1 priority & work backwards from there. Use think aloud, guided read, shared read to support that end" (p. 204).

Regie believes that independent reading in schools must be more than just an ad-hoc, when-you're-finished-with-your-work, kind of thing. Truly, she cautions, it needs to be even more than just a dedicated time slot for independent reading. Regie explains, that for maximum impact, schools must value massive quantities of free reading and students must be taught to choose just-right books ( books they can and want to read) and to self-monitor for comprehension. Further, she advises, a teacher should be teaching during free reading time, working with students one-on-one to help them learn reading skills and strategies and to help choose, discuss, and enjoy texts.

I am the principal of St. Croix Falls and Dresser Elementary Schools in rural Wisconsin. We serve a wonderful community that includes increasing number of students who live in poverty. Despite that fact, we consistently are marked as "Exceeding Expectations" on the state report card and have literacy scores that place us in the top 5% of schools in the state. Perhaps, most important, there is no gap between our students of poverty and their more affluent peers. We are all good readers and writers.

Over the last several years I've had many schools reach out to ask how we are so successful. I always say the same thing, "We let kids read. A lot."

In our schools every student enjoys a minimum of 30 minutes of free reading time each day. Most days, students have closer to an hour. Right away, beginning in kindergarten, we offer students books, books, books and time to read them. We teach students to pick books that fit their interests and that are within a level that is accessible to them (yes, we level our books , no, it doesn't limit our readers or kill their love of reading.)

I believe our emphasis on helping students learn to and love to read in massive quantities is why my school is one of the happiest and most successful schools I have ever had the pleasure of working in. And, that's what I tell folks who ask "how we do it." But, guess what? They don't always believe me. They are often incredulous and profess they don't have enough time in the day to offer that much independent reading time. They need that time to "teach" kids to read.

If I had a magic wand, I would wave it over the hearts and minds of educators everywhere so they could see that there is a simple way to help their students to be better readers, to love reading, and to grow and learn academically and in their social-emotional lives. All they need to do is give kids time and let them read. Anthologies, lesson sets, interventions, strategy instruction, guided groups, phonics, word study, and all of the other best laid plans of reading teachers will not work if they are not grounded in opportunities for real reading.
Let. Students. Read.
My school is successful in large part because our students read. They read a lot. But that tends to drop off as kids enter middle and high school. Of course, that's not just in my neck of the woods, it happens in school districts all over the nation. A recent Edutopia article cited the following statistic from a study on the reading lives of school-aged children, " 53 percent of 9-year-olds were daily readers, but only 17 percent of 17-year-olds were." "Why? In large part, I think, because as our children move through the grades they have less and less dedicated reading time scheduled into their day. They read in content classes and in a literature course or two, but they do not have time for choice-based pleasure reading. That's a problem. Again, if we want kids to read, we have to give them time to read.

In the spirit of Regies plea for schools to make "Make daily indep[endent] reading #1 priority," I offer the tried and true suggestions below.
Suggestions:

Create a vision statement or set of guiding beliefs about literacy in your school or classroom . Below is a graphic that shows the philosophies that underpin literacy instruction at my school. Note: The three mentioned documents are (1), (2), and (3).

1. Allow students time to read in school every day and in every grade . A good friend, who is a high school English teacher recently told me that for the first time this year, she allowed students to self-select a novel to read in class. She raved about a boy who told her, "This was the first book I finished since elementary school!" Imagine if her school could find a way to adjust the schedule so that every student had 20 minutes for independent reading every day!

2. Let go of programs and buy books. In an article I wrote for Educational Leadership , I detail the path my school took to move from good to great. One thing we do was buy a new program. Instead, we used what we had to help us build a culture that celebrated reading with a focus on time for choice reading. To support this effort, we spent time and money developing quality classroom libraries. Building classroom libraries can be done on the cheap by requesting donations (I often remind parents and others that I welcome their gently used books and placed a tote in the school lobby for donations), thrift shopping and garage sales, and inexpensive booksellers ( First Book Marketplace and Scholastic Book Clubs are good starts.)

3. Teach students to set and meet their own literacy goals . Helping students see themselves as capable readers who have autonomy over their own reading lives is a gift. Readers at my school set quarterly goals, read about how, . It has been truly amazing to watch students continually raise their own bars, meet loft goals, and enjoy the sense of pride and accomplishment that comes with it.

4. Build a school culture that supports literacy as a natural part of daily life . Strategies we've used include encouraging volunteers to read with students and share their own reading lives ( School Library Journal: Reading Friends ), helping students to "Binge Read" ( EdTech Digest: Next Read ), getting free books into the community ( School Library Journal: Free Bookstore Turbocharges Reading ), using social media to create a community of readers ( CUE Blog: I Saw it On Facebook, Focusing School Communities on Literacy with Social Media ), hosting author visits (Edutopia: Virtual Author Visits), and harnessing the power of social learning to help students view reading as a normal life thing, not just a school thing ( Edutopia: Building a Community of Passionate Readers Outside of School .)

I read Literacy Essentials soon after it was published and wrote a rave review of it for . I truly think that all educators would benefit from reading parts of Regie's book if not the whole thing. My own copy is already dogeared and marked up and has a special place near my desk for quick reference. It is a part of my personal reading life to be sure.

Regie's call for a focus on independent reading in schools fuels my passion for helping my students learn to and love to read. I hope that it does that for you too.

Author: RitaPlatt

Rita Platt (@ritRita Plattaplatt) is a Nationally Board Certified teacher. Her experience includes teaching learners of all levels from kindergarten to graduate student. She currently is a principal in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, teaches graduate courses for the Professional Development Institute, and writes for MiddleWeb. View all posts by RitaPlatt

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Time to Read: Making Independent Reading a Priority

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Regie Routman is a great champion of reading. The kind of reading that is guided by a person's curiosity, joy, and desire to fall deep into story. Pleasure reading. Real reading. As a long-time educator and a self-proclaimed book nerd, like Regie, I believe that educators must support and encourage real reading.

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Collaborative Blog for Literacy Leaders

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A imple online GIF maker and toolset for basic animated GIF editing.

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A girl positive website with many free resources and frequent give aways.

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Sorry about the interruption, but we just need to do a quick check to make sure that you’re a human being. To do so, simply fill out the CAPTCHA below and you’ll be on our website in no time!

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Inspiring Blog of David Guerin--Lots of ideas

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The @DavidGeurin Blog provides ideas and inspiration for busy educators who are committed to growth and learning.

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Blog of Shanon McClintock Miller- Updated Frequently with Scores of Links and Resources and Reviews

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As we go back to school this fall, we are all looking for ideas, tips and resources on how to kick off the year in special, exciting and memorable ways. For this webinar, we have brought together a few of our favorite librarians and educators to celebrate just that! Shannon McClintock Miller and Brianna Cua welcome Blake Hopper, Amanda Hunt and Andrea Trudeau to the August StickTogether webinar as they share ideas, tips and resources for kicking off an awesome new year. You will hear how librarians, teachers and administrators can support reading, learning, creating and collaborating in so many wonderful and impactful ways this school year. Three attendees will WIN a Standard Size Sticker Poster Kit, Puzzle Face™, or a Virtual Stickerboard™ - Basic Plan. We can't wait to see you at the webinar as we kick off our year together in the StickTogether webinar series. Hosts: Shannon McClintock Miller, Future Ready Librarian Spokesperson, District Teacher Librarian Innovation Director, Van Meter Community School (IA), (@shannonmmiller) Brianna Cua, Director of Digital Marketing and Community at StickTogether, (@briannamcua) Guests: Blake Hopper Former School librarian, current assistant principal H.Y. Livesay Middle School, (@travelingguybrarian @travguybrarian) Amanda Hunt, Middle School Librarian and Secondary Lead Librarian, New Braunfels, TX, (@thenextgenlibrarian all over social media) Andrea Trudeau, Library Information Specialist, Alan B. Shepard Middle School in Deerfield District 109 (IL), (Twitter/X: @Andrea_Trudeau & Threads: @Andrea_Trudeau1)

We hope to see you there, friends. It will be so much fun!

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A library and education blog and place to be heard through creating, technology, connecting, reading, collaborating and noise.

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Fantastic Guide to Daily Book Talks

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One of the pillars of our reading community is the daily book talk. While I used to do them once in a while, I was spurred on by the wisdom of Penny Kittle to do one every single day, which I have now fully embraced for the past few years.

So in the last few years, I have done a book talk almost every single day right after we finish our independent reading. It takes less than two minutes and is fairly simple. I used to plan them out much more but realized that it added another level of work to my already jam-packed day and that it didn't seem to make a difference to the students whether I did a pre-scripted one or one that was more spur of the moment. So this is what our book talks look like now.
Preparation:

1. Pick the text you will book talk - note this can be a chapter book, audiobook, a collection of short stories or whatever you feel like blessing as Linda Gambrell reminds us.

2. I like to book talk a variety of new books I have read as well as older books that haven't been discovered yet. One place I look to for inspiration is what my students have recommended in the past.

3. Decide your angle: Are you book talking it because you read it and it was amazing? Because you abandoned it and need someone to prove you wrong? Because you added it to the library but haven't read it?

4. Prepare your visual. I like to project the cover of the book so that students can easily write down the tile. I also put any genres abbreviations on the slide and whether or not is a more mature book.

5. Have the physical book ready to hold up and hand to someone or place on a designated book talk shelf or display.

During the book talk:

Keep it short and sweet. I tend to say a few sentences about the book and why I liked it/abandoned it/purchased it and then read either the first page, the inside flap or the back cover. I love these teasers as they are already made for us.

Have the book ready to hand out. The only time I break this recommendation is when I just finished a book and I want to book talk it to all of my classes. Then I try to find extra copies beforehand, such as from our school library.

Students should have their to-be-read list out which is located either in their readers' notebook or using the Goodreads app. This is a routine expectation we start with the very first week.

Pointers:

Start to transfer ownership of the book talks to students fairly early on, you should not be the only one book talking a book. I love using the 30-second book talk idea to help students become more comfortable with the format and also ensure that everyone participates.

If I am the one doing the book talk there is only one given, if it is students, then there can be up to three depending on their length. Again, this is short and sweet, not the actual teaching point of the class.

If many students want to book talk their book, consider making it the teaching point and dedicate a lesson time for it or have them do a speech about their favorite book.

Keep an anchor chart or some sort of visual of which books you have book talked, not only does it provide a reminder to students about the books shared, but it also allows you to ensure that you are providing inclusive book talks that do not just fall under one genre, cultural heritage or some other category.

Place book talked book the same place so that students know where to find them. We have a book tree that serves as everyone's place to recommend books so that is where they go.

Check to see if there are book trailers available. I still think the book trailer for The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen has convinced more students to read the book than I ever have, and I love that book.

I have loved doing daily book talks and also getting them from students and I now see them as a vital component of any thriving reading community. When we book talk a book it is the invitation into a relationship with that book for all of our students, what a powerful teaching tool that is.

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One of the pillars of our reading community is the daily book talk. While I used to do them once in a while, I was spurred on by the wisdom of Penny Kittle to do one every single day, which I have...

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Introduction to the SAMR model of integration

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What Is Successful Technology Integration?

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What Is Successful Technology Integration?

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What Is Successful Technology Integration?

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Well-integrated use of technology resources by thoroughly trained teachers makes twenty-first-century learning possible. From our Technology Integration Professional Development Guide.

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Iowa Core Universal Constructs for 21st Century Success

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Iowa Core Universal Constructs for 21st Century Success

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Universal Constructs: Essential for 21st Century Success | Iowa Core

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The universal constructs were identified following an analysis of the competencies and habits of mind needed for future successes in careers, college and citizenry.

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Explore the ISTE Standards, the definitive standards for learning and teaching with technology.

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LiveBinder with 1000+ resources from ISTE 18

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Our collection of the amazing resources from #NOTATISTE18 and #ISTE2018 hashtags. Please tweet @pgeorge or @livebinders if you see anything that we missed! Enjoy!

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Google For Education Launches Updates

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Education

Director, Google for Education

Published Jun 25, 2018

6/26/18 Update: Don't forget to check out our deep dives into the exciting Classroom and Chromebook news we shared this week.

On the first day of ISTE, Google for Education gives to you: 12 updates to help teachers save time and spark creativity in their students. By releasing educators of time-consuming tasks, these new features and tools will enhance teachers' ability to organize courses, increase collaboration with students, and unleash creativity in the classroom. Stay tuned for a deeper look at some of these announcements throughout this week.

1. Locked mode in Quizzes in Google Forms
To keep students focused and distraction-free during tests and quizzes, we're launching locked mode in Google Forms this fall. Available on managed Chromebooks, locked mode prevents students from navigating away from the Quiz until they submit their answers. Teachers will be able to enable locked mode with a simple checkbox, giving them full control over assessments.

2. Now Classroom works like you do
We're improving Classroom to give teachers more control over how they organize everything from assignments to class rosters. It's the same Classroom that educators know, with new pages designed to help teachers and students find what they need faster than ever.

This fall, we're introducing the Classwork page, which lets teachers organize assignments and questions by grouping them into modules and units. Teachers will be able to create and manage assignments and questions from the Classwork page. This gives class content its own space in Classroom, and allows the Stream to be used for class conversation.

We're also introducing a People page to give teachers a unified place to manage students, co-teachers and guardians, and a new Settings page where teachers can add a class description, change the course code, and control overall Classroom settings.

3. Create Quizzes from Classroom
Soon, teachers will be able to create and assign a Forms Quiz directly from Classroom-saving educators time and streamlining the assignment process. Quizzes lets teachers create questions, grade by question or by student, auto grade checkbox and multiple choice grid questions, and include feedback to answers for a personalized learning experience. And teachers can import grades from Quizzes right back into Classroom.

4. Chromebooks, now in tablet form
The Acer Chromebook Tab 10, the first tablet running the same reliable operating system as Chromebooks, is now available. Teachers told us they wanted the same speed, ease of use, manageability, shareability, security and affordability that they're used to with Chromebooks-but in a lightweight, durable tablet. With built-in stylus, cameras on both sides, ultra-fast USB-C charging, a wide array of apps, Expeditions VR, and Expeditions AR this fall, the Acer Chromebook Tab 10 brings learning to life.

5. The Chromebook stylus by STAEDTLER
We've partnered with STAEDTLER to create a stylus that's useful for both teachers and students-and doesn't break the bank. This stylus requires no pairing or charging, and is designed with affordability in mind. Using the stylus, educators can give visual feedback in Classroom, as well as assign PDF worksheets that students can annotate by hand. The STAEDTLER Noris digital for Chromebook works with a wide array of apps and will be available later this summer.

6. Get your class jamming with Jamboard
Jamboard, the interactive whiteboard, is coming to the classroom with new educational pricing and the free companion app. The app works with or without a Jamboard unit, and runs on all touch and mobile devices, including convertible Chromebooks supporting Android Apps and the Acer Chromebook Tab 10.

7. Learning with virtual reality
Students and educators have been daydreaming about making their own virtual reality experiences, and now that's possible with Tour Creator. This new VR tool lets anyone easily create virtual reality tours using footage from 360° cameras or the huge library of existing Street View content and view their tours on Poly. You can customize your tour using templates, ambient audio, and narration support to help teacher and students craft the perfect tour. And because Tour Creator is a web-based application, anyone can use it to create VR experiences-no prior knowledge or experience necessary.

8. Making math with Google Earth
Ever wonder how far your hometown is from the North Pole? Or if the Forbidden City is bigger than the Palace of Versailles? Starting today, educators can make their math lesson a bit more fun by asking students to measure distances between cities or the area of historical sites-right in Google Earth. The new Measure Tool is now available on Chrome today, on Android this week and coming soon to iOS. We're also adding new teacher-authored stories to Google Earth, like Buildings Inspired by Nature, Modern Human Migration and Blue Gold. Our Lakes. Our Lives., to help students understand the wider world around them.

9. Introducing the Teacher Center
Just in time to check off professional development from summertime bucket lists, we're unveiling our new Teacher Center. Formerly called the Training Center, this updated hub is a one-stop-shop for training materials, resources, certifications and communities of educators. Teachers can search Google's library of resources to find exactly what they need, when they need it.

10. CS First curriculum updates
For teachers looking for new Computer Science (CS) curriculum for the upcoming school year, our CS First curriculum is completely free and now aligned with ISTE and CSTA standards. Video lessons guide students in grades 4-8 through engaging activities where they both learn and practice basic computer science principles across themes such as art, music and fashion. Teachers don't need to have any CS education or experience to teach CS First, as the curriculum includes lesson plans and supporting materials that are free and available to anyone.

11. New lessons in Applied Digital Skills
Applied Digital Skills is a free, project-based curriculum that includes video lessons designed to teach students the digital skills they'll need for the future. We've added brand new units for middle and high school students that teach practical skills like how to research colleges or create a resume in Google Docs. The full curriculum includes several modular lessons that are flexible enough to use in just one class period, or across an entire semester, and can now be assigned directly from Classroom.

12. Be Internet Awesome: Program updates and two new languages
Be Internet Awesome helps kids learn how to be safe, confident explorers of the online world. Based on a ton of helpful feedback we've received from educators, we're excited to share expansions to our educator curriculum, an updated Interland game that better reinforces our lessons, and new resources for educators and parents, including interactive slides built with Pear Deck. Be Internet Awesome is also now available in two new languages-Spanish and Portuguese-across the U.S. and Latin America.

We hope these updates help educators cultivate an engaging, learning-driven classroom and help unleash creativity in their students. If you're at ISTE this week, visit us at booth #1602 to learn more, say hello to our team and test out our latest tools. You can also follow along all week for updates on Twitter and Facebook.

We look forward to collaborating with you to make the 2018-2019 school year the best one yet! Until then, we wish you a happy, well-deserved summer break.

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Live from ISTE: 12 Google for Education launches to save time for creativity

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Education Director, Google for Education Published Jun 25, 2018 6/26/18 Update: Don't forget to check out our deep dives into the exciting Classroom and Chromebook news we shared this week. On the first day of ISTE, Google for Education gives to you: 12 updates to help teachers save time and spark creativity in their students.

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All jobs of the future will require computer literacy skills, so it's increasingly important that good computer science education is an urgent priority. A new report offers state by state progress and nine essential policy principals to ensure success for school systems.

As both augmented and virtual reality become more accessible on ordinary devices, more educators are exploring the potential of these tools.

Developing an agile mindset will empower students to take ownership of their learning while developing social-emotional and critical thinking skills. Follow this framework to get started with your students.

Increasingly, flatscreen televisions, large computer monitors and interactive panels have been making their appearance in classrooms, along with the laptops and tablets that teachers and students use to project their work or lesson plans for the entire class to see.

These giant...

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All jobs of the future will require computer literacy skills, so it's increasingly important that good computer science education is an urgent priority. A new report offers state by state progress and nine essential policy principals to ensure success for school systems. As both augmented and virtual reality become more accessible on ordinary devices, more educators are exploring the potential of these tools.

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How Relationships Can Improve Graduation Rates and Much More

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Teachers scanned the lists attentively, periodically cross-referencing information with colleagues. "Delaney is allergic to red food dye" says one teacher. "And she also has a pond she swims in," adds another teacher, smiling. While it was only a month and a half into the new school year, some kids had check marks next to all categories-but others seemed more loosely tethered to the school, recognizable only by name and face, their lives outside school a mystery.

"This practice is the foundation of our middle school," Duvall told the teachers, reminding them of research showing that students who don't form meaningful connections at school may be at risk for behavior problems, dropping out, and even committing suicide. "Every student needs to belong and connect to at least one teacher or one adult in this building every day."

This simple exercise has become standard at Cold Springs, located on the rural outskirts of Reno-an area where wild horses sometimes roam the roads and the first dentist's office opened just a year ago. The activity pushes staff to look beyond their lessons to reflect on how well they actually know their students, driving them to build real connections that can make a difference in a child's future. The practice is also the entry point for a larger focus on social and emotional learning (SEL) at the middle school and more broadly within the 64,000-student Washoe County district.

A District Approach

After a decade of high school graduation rates that hovered around 55 percent, Washoe school leaders realized they needed to do something different to put their kids on the path to colleges and careers.

"Two big reasons students leave school are that they have no meaningful connection to an adult in the building, and no one knows their name or how to pronounce it," said Trish Shaffer, the district's SEL coordinator. "This SEL work isn't just feel-good: We know through research that relationships and connections keep kids in school."

Inspired by data showing that social and emotional skills like perseverance and empathy can improve academic and overall student success, Washoe County launched a district-wide SEL program in 2012, adopting a mission statement of "Every Child, by Name and Face, to Graduation." The goal was to have 90 percent of students graduating by the year 2020, or "90 by '20," a phrase that has become a mantra around the district.

Leveraging a grant and supportive partnership with the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)-a nonprofit organization that supports SEL programs in nine other districts in the nation-Washoe has worked to improve school climate and culture, parent engagement, and student voice in all 98 schools in the district.

An annual Student Climate Survey gauges how students feel about their school, for example, while Parent University nights train caretakers in how to use social and emotional practices like growth mindset and resilience in their homes. Administrators track students' absences, suspensions, and truancy, assigning each student a risk level for dropping out and then identifying what SEL measures could help them before it's too late.

In the five years since adopting the SEL-oriented approach, Washoe schools have seen higher rates of attendance and scores on state reading and math tests, and fewer disciplinary infractions and suspensions among students with higher social and emotional skills. Graduation rates have gone up 18 percentage points across the district.

Into the Classroom

For many teachers in Washoe County, the seemingly simple practice of combing through rosters can be a needed wake-up call, representing the first step toward integrating SEL practices more deeply in their classrooms, according to Shaffer, Duvall, and other Washoe administrators.

At Cold Springs in particular, it's helped teachers to recognize that it's not always the students they were already concerned about that need extra support.

Fifth-grade teacher Stephanie Horne realized during the library session that one of the students she didn't know anything about was actually one of her best students-a girl who always finished her work and never asked for help.

Once teachers perceive these gaps in their knowledge of students, they're directed to look for ways to get to know the students better based on the district's three signature SEL classroom practices: welcome rituals and routines, more engaging or interactive teaching methods, and end-of-class reflections.

Horne, for example, has taken steps to close the distance with her high achiever since the library session. She calls on the girl more and has started conversations about the toys or stickers the girl brings to class-anything to make a personal connection. Horne also created a role-reversal math game that integrates SEL with academics, giving her reserved student, and the rest of the class, a chance to move from the periphery and talk in front of the room.

Fifth-grade teacher Kaly Krentz, on the other hand, now holds a Feel-Good Family Circle every Friday morning to promote a sense of community and belonging. Students write anonymous compliments about their peers on Post-its and put them in a box, and Krentz reads them aloud. Compliments serve to make each student feel known and appreciated within the group, and also help Krentz learn more about the students herself.

And seventh-grade science teacher Chris Ewald has found that integrating SEL practices can be as simple as a greeting. Ewald has his students line up outside his door and greets each one individually, often with a fist bump or a high five, and what he calls an ice breaker-a simple question like, "What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?"

"I want to find out what their interests are, and that kind of opens the door. Then that moves to, 'What challenges are you currently facing?'" Ewald said. "We are developing trust and loyalty, and then students are no longer a piece of data, but a real human being."

Room to Grow

Before adopting the SEL strategy, Duvall says, it was more difficult for staff to get to know students and their families because their rural community is so spread out and unconnected-even, at times, antisocial. She estimates that up to half of Cold Springs students could be at the federal poverty level even though state Department of Education data puts the number at 42 percent, because some families are too proud to ask for help or don't want to share their private information with the government.

But today, Cold Springs is seeing signs of progress: Students are attending school more and having more success in class, especially students who previously had difficulty in school or come from more challenging circumstances at home.

There's also been a whole-school culture shift that's gone beyond improved student-teacher relationships. Administrative staff, cafeteria workers, custodians, and volunteers are becoming more engaged and connected with students, too.

Donna Selyn, known at Cold Springs as "Grandma Donna," for example, originally volunteered to assist teachers and office staff during the school day, but now much of her work involves the students. Often during breakfast and lunch, Grandma Donna can be found in the cafeteria helping kids with homework, settling disputes, and giving out hugs.

And four days a week, the Cold Springs Student Leadership Team, a group of 30 eighth graders, hosts games for younger students to get to know them individually and help them learn SEL skills like cooperation and communication. Eighth grader and Student Leadership Team member Moises Aguilar said that he feels responsible to set a good example of how to be a team member, while Katie Lawrence said she tries to remember not to "talk to them like a teacher, [but to] talk to them like a friend."

There's still work to do, says Duvall, pointing to the need to improve test scores and the results of last year's Student Climate Survey, in which 18 percent of Cold Springs students reported that they believed an adult at school wouldn't notice if they were absent, and 40 percent said that teachers didn't understand their problems. Likewise, the district has to make some gains to hit "90 by '20," but school leaders say they "are on the right path" to get there in two years.

For teachers, it's often less about the numbers and more about the budding one-to-one connections they're forming with students.

Librarian Joshua Kolbet says he got to know his student aide when the shy, lanky eighth grader was just a fifth grader struggling to get along with both peers and teachers. Over the last four years, Kolbet has helped the student through challenges with bullying and learning to identify and acknowledge others' emotions-and his own.

Now, when Kolbet hosts SEL activities in the library, that same student openly shares his social challenges with others who are struggling.

"He talks about how he feels awkward around others, but how he still puts himself out there and finds those that have commonalities," Kolbet said. "It has been exciting to see him grow, and I know the relationships he developed within the school will help him be successful in high school next year."

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Teachers scanned the lists attentively, periodically cross-referencing information with colleagues. "Delaney is allergic to red food dye" says one teacher. "And she also has a pond she swims in," adds another teacher, smiling.

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Effort Beats Talent Usually

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Should you change direction and find something you're naturally good at, and seek success there instead? Not necessarily, say researchers and psychologists. Studies have disproved the idea that we all are born with equal abilities and that talent doesn't matter--clearly it does. Physical attributes matter too: If you're five feet tall, your future as an NBA All-Star may not be assured.

But, at least in most disciplines, hard work matters more, and doing the right kind of hard work matters most.

1. A hard worker with no innate ability beats a talented lazybones.

At least that's the conclusion that industrial-organizational psychologist Piers Steel came to when he reviewed a study that measured cognitive ability (innate talent and intelligence) against "domain knowledge" (i.e. study) in completing a challenging task. If two people work equally hard to perfect their performance at something, then the one with more innate talent will likely prevail, he explains. But when someone with innate talent but no discipline for hard work competes against someone without innate talent who works very hard, the hard worker will usually do better.

That's good news, he adds, because frankly there just aren't that many hard workers in the world. You're most likely to compete against people who lack talent but have drive, or people who have talent but don't work that hard. If you're willing to put in the work, you are very likely to get very good at whatever you're trying to do, at least as good as most anybody else. That's true even if you have no innate talent. And it's true even if your first efforts are very, very bad.

2. Not all hard work is equally useful.

A few years ago, Malcolm Gladwell made a lot of news with the " 10,000 Hour Rule." Based on research by Anders Ericsson on promising violin students, Gladwell claimed that anyone could achieve mastery of anything with 10,000 hours of practice. Soon after, Gladwell's 10,000 Hour Rule was debunked by Ericsson himself, who claimed that Gladwell got a lot of significant details wrong, and that in any case the violin students had not achieved mastery so much as very great promise.

More important, Ericsson said, was how the students practiced, and that's the important lesson here. There's just doing something for 10,000 hours. And then there's actively working to improve, breaking down the skill you want into building blocks that you can master, pushing yourself beyond your current abilities, and getting feedback on what you're doing well and what you could do better. That kind of work is all part of " deliberate practice," and it's the only kind of work that will make you very, very good at anything. It's the work you should do if you want high achievement in your chosen profession or activity.

The difference between simply putting in the hours and deliberate practice became starkly clear to me years ago when I was teaching a college-level creative writing course. One student, obviously very bright and ambitious, asked me what she needed to do to get an A in my class. I told her she needed to write a 20- to 25-page portfolio of work to present at the end of the term, and to attend and participate in class. I had chosen those criteria deliberately because I didn't want to grade people on the quality of their writing (which is partly a matter of individual taste anyhow). I wanted to grade them on their willingness to work and improve. The reason they would be graded on their work at the end of the term was to allow them to learn and revise and improve their work throughout the semester.

Then came the end of the term, and this bright young woman handed in her portfolio. Instead of one or several completed, polished works, she had simply written beginnings. A whole bunch of beginnings. She'd get a few pages in and, just when she would have had to start working at telling a story, or developing a character, or giving the reader a reason to stick with her piece, she would simply trail off and move on to the next beginning. She hadn't worked or revised and she hadn't learned much of anything.

I agonized over that student (decades later, I still feel torn) because she did exactly what I asked her to do. But she had followed the letter and not the spirit of those instructions, and to give her an A would be to disrespect other students who had worked hard to improve their writing. So I gave her a lesser grade.

What that student did compared with what the others who pushed themselves harder did is the exact difference between deliberate practice and just putting in the hours. If you can do both--challenge yourself with deliberate practice and put in the hours it takes to truly improve--then you can attain high achievement at just about anything you choose to do.

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When It Comes to Achievement, There's Good News and Bad News

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Should you change direction and find something you're naturally good at, and seek success there instead? Not necessarily, say researchers and psychologists. Studies have disproved the idea that we all are born with equal abilities and that talent doesn't matter--clearly it does.

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Nicholas Ferroni discusses a differentiated approach to standardized testing.

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Beyond SAMR Ladders & Pools: A Framework for Teaching & Learning

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Beyond SAMR Ladders & Pools: A Framework for Teaching & Learning

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Lessons from Minnetonka not to pigeonhole with SAMR and Why We Need to Take the SAMR Model Forward

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You'd be hard pressed to find an educational technology leader unfamiliar with the SAMR scale. The concept of differing levels of technology integration with stages of use in education is not new. Over the past few decades, we've had various acronyms like ACOT, RAT, TPACK and more. With SAMR, we've seen analogies like ladders, coffee, pools, and wheels. One of the limitations with each of these is they really just focus on technology, sometimes pigeon holing a technology tool or app into a specific level, when instead the focus needs to be much more broad. For example, even though a green screen end product might look great, students might simply be at the basic level of learning. And looking beyond technology, what about the four C's, authentic real world learning or global learning?

Four years ago in Minnetonka Public Schools we stopped referencing technology scales and acronyms and developed our own framework for teaching and learning. We found great benefit from reflecting on all areas of teaching and learning, too. Now conversations about technology not only include the levels of complexity, but also to what extent students are thinking critically, communicating, what they are creating, if their experiences were authentic, personalized, collaborative, and global. It all fits together as part of the conversation and bigger picture of instructional best practices.

Each of these other areas of instruction and learning have their own levels and stages, too. For example, you can say that your students are collaborating, but is it at the basic level of talking with a neighbor about their answer to a problem or a higher level of collaborative skills involved in negotiating and resolving decisions about what information is most important for a group presentation? Because of this, we developed a larger framework for instruction overall. There are eight dimensions on our framework, and each has its own levels of complexity (similar to SAMR levels).

The Framework shows "how often modest adjustments to lesson design and learning environments can significantly elevate students' opportunities to learn. It provides educators with a launching point for planning meaningful, engaging instruction for learners who already live in a complex information society in which the nature of work is rapidly changing. Teachers can create places of learning that engage students at high levels and lead to deeper understandings by intentionally planning learning experiences with these strands in mind." Framework Overview document

To develop this comprehensive framework Sara coordinated the work and efforts of teacher and administrator teams who worked to identify and compose the definitions and levels for each level of complexity on the Framework, as well as write an overview document and create guides of about 10-15 pages that detail each of the Framework's eight dimensions. (View the ). Sara also scripted an draft guide for Authentic & Real World Learning overview video that we showed our staff during back to school workshops a few years ago:

Our Framework now guides our curriculum writing with dimensions and levels being identified in our UbD units. It also is the focus of our staff development, including technology. Our instructional technology coaches meet with teachers and do trainings focusing on strands of the Framework. Teachers meet in roundtables to discuss how they are designing instruction around different dimensions of the Framework and how technology integrates with these other areas. They also discuss the progress they are making on their technology goal for the year which is tied in with another Framework dimension. These goals are shared with the instructional technology coaches and their building principals.

The Minnetonka Framework for Teaching and Learning has helped us move beyond SAMR ladders and pools to designing student experiences for meaning, engagement, and deeper learning. In fact, our teachers haven't even heard of SAMR. Come discover a way to design and implement a roadmap for teaching and learning alignment and move beyond simply focusing on technology implementation toward successfully creating more meaningful, deeper and engaging learning experiences for students. If you'll be at ISTE in a few weeks, please join me on Tuesday, June 26 from 4:15-5:15pm .

Learn more about M innetonka Schools and Technology Integration:

Innovation in Minnetonka

Minnetonka Teaching and Learning Framework

Minnetonka Language Chinese and Spanish Immersion Program

Minnetonka Research: An In Depth, Highly Advanced High School Research Program

Tonka Online High School Starting Year Five with 40+ Courses & 1200+ Students

Why Teach Coding? Same Reasons to Teach Writing Even When Not All Students Will Be Writers

Minnetonka Top 100+ Ideas for 1:1 Integration in 5th grade, English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and World Language

Minnetonka Schools: Innovation is Now Our Strategic Plan

An Easy Way to Weekly Inform Teachers & Parents of Great Technology Integration

Immersive Technology Accelerates Learning in Science

Pear Deck in Minnetonka Classrooms- Engaging, Interactive Lessons with Realtime Feedback

Quizlet Live: Collaborative Team Quizzes Loved by Teachers & Students

Immersive Technology Accelerates Learning in World Language Classes

40+ Elementary iPad Integration Examples

Harnessing the Power of Technology in Physical Education

A New Twist on a Band Playing Test: Solo Trios with GarageBand

Six Years with Schoology: Setting Expectations for the Future

Tonka Teacher Talks at ETT San Diego iPad Summit 2015

Free iBook about Minnetonka's 1:1 iPad Apple Distinguished Program: Four+ Years Transforming Learning

Grade 11 Students Create Amazing Graphic Novels with iPads, Book Creator & Notability

Students Explain Everything and Increase Test Scores

Mt. Rushmore 2- Beyond Four Presidents

App Smashed Presidential Rock Bands as Alternative Assessments in US History

One Year Later, Green Screens Are Everywhere in Minnetonka Schools

Minnetonka Students Create Green Screen Videos with Do Ink

Math: An Overlooked Subject in Non-Tablet 1:1 Programs

Students Learn to Visualize a Process: A Valuable Life Skill for Everyone

Technology Speed Dating Professional Development

My Christmas Ed Tech Moonshot Wish: A Marriage Between Apple & Google

Bigger, Better, Faster: New iPads Coming for Year Six in Minnetonka's 1:1 Program; First Devices Cost $0.38/school day

School's (Almost) Out, So Keep Your iPad for the Summer

More Than an Hour of Code: Tonka Coding & Computer Science Programs Now in Year Three

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Beyond SAMR Ladders & Pools: A Framework for Teaching & Learning-- ISTE June 26, 2018

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You'd be hard pressed to find an educational technology leader unfamiliar with the SAMR scale. The concept of differing levels of technology integration with stages of use in education is not new. Over the past few decades, we've had various acronyms like ACOT, RAT, TPACK and more.

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Simon Sinek TED Talk

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Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

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Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership -- starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers ...

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identity day connecting with students fair

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George Couros's List: Identity Day - Some posts and work regarding the identity day that was held at Forest Green School in Stony Plain, Alberta in June 2010.

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George Couros discusses "The Innovator's Mindset", what it is, and how to develop a culture of innovation.

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Developing "The Innovator's Mindset"; The Connection Between Innovation and Being an Artist