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Ditch That Textbook offers technology for teachers that allows them to revolutionize their classrooms. With these educational technology tools, teachers can embrace classroom innovation & creativity.

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​EXAMPLES OF PADLET The link below gives different ways to use Padlet and new creative ideas for teachers. ​​…

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Ed Tech

There's a good chance you've done the "write on a sticky note and put it on the wall" activity - or have seen it happen before.
Padlet lets those sticky notes have images, links and videos AND be available with practically any Internet-ready device.
It used to be blocked by my school's Internet filter. This school year, the powers that be have allowed it through on student devices, opening up lots of possibilities in class!

Padlet is a great place for gathering ideas, sharing them and modifying them later. It's like a living, breathing webpage. Users can add links, YouTube videos, files and images to Padlet notes. They can move and arrange them. A link to a Padlet can be shared and Padlets can be embedded into webpages.

Here are 20 ways to use Padlet in class:

15. Collect videos to share in class

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20 useful ways to use Padlet in class now

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Padlet is a web app that lets users post notes on a digital wall. The uses for this site in the classroom are virtually endless!There's a good chance

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Thank you for sharing this incredibly valuable resource with so many aspiring digital pedagogues, Kirschty. So many insights from a huge career as a changemaker.🙏🏻

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Reposted from Jessica Pope

Outline of what digital pedagogy is and its importance in the classroom by Howell

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Move static content driven website repositories into authentic student reflection on learning and peer interaction

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The step from using a static website or emails as a mean to share announcements or calendar items to sharing the same type of items on a blogging platform is not far nor a steep step. My ultimate goal for using a classroom blog or student blogfolios though, is that of creating transformative teaching and learning opportunities, not to have a platform that substitutes a composition book or paper journal. To make the difference visible and clearer, I am looking through the lens of the SAMR model.

First, a Classroom Blog seen through the lens of SAMR
What about Student Blogs?
Substitution - technology acts as a direct substitute for the task

A student uses the blog as a tool to substitute a handwritten/typed and printed assignment. The student copies and pastes a Google Doc or other file from a word processing program into a blog post. The comments on the blog are closed or not being utilized. Students might upload a scanned image of an analog test score, worksheet or other analog artifact. Students might answer a prompt or question posed by teacher to the entire class. There is no added value to the learning process versus the analog task.

Augmentation - technology acts as a direct tool substitution with functional improvement

Students use their blog as a platform to publish assignments (research papers, essays, responses) for their teacher to see. The blog is a place to push out information, possibly for Student Led Conferences or a showcase/process portfolio. They insert or embed images, videos, presentations or audio to support their written text. They possibly insert hyperlinks to additional resources. Students tag and categorize their posts with searchable labels. The blog platform becomes a digital organization of students' online learning records, which is centralized, archived and searchable. Teachers use the comment section to give feedback to their students about their performance. Classmates read each other's papers and leave comments.

Modification - technology allows for significant task redesign

Students use hyperlinked writing as part of digital writing process to show and connect their thinking to topics, influences, relationships and process between previously published content and external resources. Students communicate beyond the written word, in multimedia and transmedia ways. It is evident in their work that they are writing with a global audience in mind and their work encourages conversation, invites multiple perspectives to add and influence their work. Students receive constructive feedback from peers as part of the writing process. Comments inform students' writing and original task of "paper" extends and "spills over" into the comment section, altering form of writing piece as well notion of "completion" of paper.Students are demonstrating writing skills for digital spaces, by observing digital citizenship, hyperlinked, networked, peer- connected and non- linear writing.

Redefinition - technology allows for the creation of new tasks previously inconceivable

The student blog becomes an embedded part of the process and a natural extension of communication and learning cycle by documenting evidence of learning, reflecting, sharing and receiving feedback in order to consider revision. Teachers and students actively and strategically disseminate and connect the blogs to a learning network for feedback and resources. The blog archives artifacts, reflections and connects learning over time. The blog becomes a natural extension beyond assigned academic work and is being used as a hub to document students' learning, demonstrating self-directed and self-motivated lifelong learning habits as they are organizing, building and maintaining their own online learning records, a growing academic digital footprint and develop their personal brand as well as personal learning networks.

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The step from using a static website or emails as a mean to share announcements or calendar items to sharing the same type of items on a blogging platform is not far nor a steep step.

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12 Must Watch TED Talks for Teachers ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

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12 Must Watch TED Talks for Teachers ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

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Must see Ted talks for aspiring digital pedagogues

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These 12 TED Talks include many of the greatest minds in marketing, advertising and branding. Each of these talks are carefully curated to apply to the entrepreneur as well as the experienced leader, regardless of the size of the team they manage. Once in awhile we will revisit these talks and find new insights and inspiration that apply to a challenge that we or one of our clients are facing. Feel free to leave a comment and suggest other TED Talks that have inspired you.

1 - Rory Sutherland: Life Lessons from an Ad Man
An insightful video about the realities of value and marketing, Rory Sutherland's talk shows us the difference between perception and reality and how intertwined the two are in the consumer's mind. All entrepreneurs should know a bit of marketing, especially when it comes to developing your own digital marketing strategy, and Sutherland's video is a good place to start to figure out how to give your product or service value and meaning.
2- Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

The Golden Circle - why, how, what - is Simon's Sinek's explanation for how truly great and innovative leaders inspire others. For Sinek, the core of every great company is the why - why are they doing what they are doing, what do they believe in? Using examples like Apple, the Wright Brothers, TiVo, and Dr. Martin Luther King, he breaks down how companies and the men who lead them inspire action.

3 - Dan Ariely: Are we in Control of our own Decisions?

Using easily recognizable visual illusions and harder to define cognitive illusions, Dan Ariely breaks down how decision making happens. He shows that the illusion of how an option is presented has great influence over how it is perceived and the decision that is ultimately made.

4 - Seth Godin: How to get your Ideas to Spread

Remarkable: worth making a remark about. Seth Godin's talk is all about being remarkable, because being safe gets you nowhere. Safe is risky, because the safe is easily ignored. But to be remarkable - a purple cow or a 55' lava lamp, well, that's something that will get people interested. So if you're looking for new consumers, take notes from Godin and create something that stands out and then market it to the people who really want it. And if you're giving those people the thing they really want, then they'll do the rest of the work for you.

5 - Malcolm Gladwell: Choice, Happiness, and Spaghetti Sauce

Consumers are not all created alike. That's the basis of the modern food industry. Walk into any coffee shop and you'll see 30+ ways to take your coffee. Similarly, in any grocery store, you'll find 30+ different types of spaghetti sauce. Malcolm Gladwell uses the food industry to explain that there is no universal right answer for all of humanity, it's only by celebrating and embracing the diversity of humans that we find happiness.

6 - Tim Harford: Trial, Error, and the God Complex

All throughout school, we are taught that there is one right answer to every question. But is there really? Tim Harford argues that those who think they know all the answers are suffering from God-Complex. Historically, the best solutions have always been those reached through trial and error, not those resulting from a formula or theoretical expert. So embrace the errors and the bumps in the road. They just mean you're one step closer to success.

7 - Steven Johnson: Where Good Ideas Come From

"Eureka!" is not a singular moment, at least, not according to Steven Johnson. Instead, looking at examples from old 17th century coffee houses to modern-day gps, Johnson argues that the "slow hunch" and "liquid network" are much more likely to be how new ideas come around. It takes time to work out an idea and get it to be functional, and it's very rarely an independent process.

8 - Cameron Herold: Let's Raise Kids to be Entrepreneurs

Education is not a one-size-fits-all. For Cameron Herold, children should be groomed in the direction of their strengths. And for him and his family, that's entrepreneurship. Instead of pushing children into a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all future, he argues that we should recognize the traits within our kids and push them towards entrepreneurship. Kids have the ability to learn about negotiation, about saving, about creativity and innovation. If we just took the time to cultivate these traits instead of squashing them to maintain the status quo, we might have a society full of new business leaders.

9 -Dan Cobley: What Physics Taught Me About Marketing

Newton's second law, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the scientific method and the second law of thermodynamics all come together. Dan Cobley used these principles and applied to the laws of branding.

10 - Jason Fried: Why Work Doesn't Happen at Work

Work doesn't work. At least that's what Jason Fried has discovered. When you're at work, you're fighting against all sorts of distractions and interruptions and trying to get something done. And work often has to be done in stages, and if those early stages are thrown off it's near impossible to get back on track. To get more work done at work, he suggests minimizing physical interaction - instituting no-talk thursdays and switching to I.M. systems instead of in-person conversations - as well as getting rid of meetings that would be better solved with two people talking for 2 minutes than 10 people talking for an hour.

11 - Daniel Pink: The Puzzle of Motivation

The carrot and the stick is the traditional motivation system that was a popular form of leadership and management for many years. But Dan Pink tells us that this system of reward actually doesn't yield the fastest or best solutions out of workers. Instead, he wants us to consider autonomy, mastery and purpose. Using examples like Google, Atlassian, and Wikipedia, Pink shows us that by getting rid of the reward and punishment system, we can increase productivity, worker engagement, and worker satisfaction.

12 - Richard St. John: 8 Secrets of Success

Richard St. John condenses 7 years and 500 interviews into this 3 minute video sharing the secrets of success.

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12 Must Watch TED Talks for Entrepreneurs

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These 12 TED Talks include many of the greatest minds in marketing, advertising and branding. Each of these talks are carefully curated to apply to the entrepreneur as well as the experienced leader, regardless of the size of the team they manage.

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Parts of a story – Teaching Plot Structure

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Parts of a story – Teaching Plot Structure

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As the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a plot! This particularly holds true in the classroom. After speaking with numerous elementary school teachers, I have found that everyone has their own preferred method to teach the same concept. All of the teachers I spoke with introduced their preferred plot diagram and asked students to complete a simple worksheet reinforcing their outline. With the power of Storyboard That, you and your students can take these charts to the next level.

For high school and middle school, see our article on plot diagram.

Parts of a Story Lesson Plan

Plot Definition

Plot is the main events of a story, devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence of events. Various genres or types of literature may contain different sequences, or use different terminology. This article is intended for elementary school teachers teaching the parts of a story to their students.

Most Common Parts of Plot

Introduction

The beginning of a work of literature; the setting and characters are introduced.

Problem

The "conflict" or "problem" is the primary obstacle that the main character must overcome.

Events

The sequence of events or attempts to overcome the problem.

Climax

The turning point of the story.

Resolution

How the problem was resolved.

Conclusion

The ending of the story, the lesson or moral learned.

Grade Level: K-5

Standards

Although this lesson covers multiple age ranges, below are Common Core State Standards for Grade 5. Please see your Common Core State Standards for the correct grade-appropriate strands.

ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

ELA-Literacy.RL.5.2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

ELA-Literacy.RL.5.3: Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).

Objectives

Students will be able to explain the parts of a story using details from the text.

Ways to Skin a Plot!

Parts of a Story - Grades K-2
BME: Beginning, Middle, End
For young readers and listeners graphing the parts of a story are simple with a "BME". In this scenario, students might be reading themselves, or being read to. With the direction of their instructor, they will fill out a three-column chart, aloud, as a class. Each column will contain details from the Beginning, Middle, and End of the story. This activity for young readers is excellent to help reinforce sequencing!

Students can easily learn, to summarize most stories with a systematic approach. The "B", or beginning, of the summary should stop after the problem is introduced. The "M", or middle, should stop after the climax. Finally, the "E", or end, should include and explain the resolution/conclusion, i.e., how the problem was solved.

Parts of a Story - Grades 3-5
Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then
In this five-step process, students are asked to recall specific aspects of the story they read. "Somebody" asks students to recall and describe the main character. "Wanted" requires students to evaluate what the character wanted to do, or was trying to achieve. The "But" is the conflict of the story. It is the inevitable problem the main character runs into, and must face and fix before getting what they want. For the "So", students tell the ways that the character attempted to solve the "But". It is important to note that sometimes the main character makes multiple attempts, failing on their first few tries. Finally, students get to the "Then" of the story. "Then" refers to the attempt to solve the problem that worked, this is also known as the resolution.

Parts of a Story - Grades 3-5
What's the S.T.O.R.Y?
Another similar five-step diagram is "S.T.O.R.Y." This is a great acronym to use in class to help students remember the sequence of events and parts of a story. It is very similar to "somebody, wanted, but, so, then". The acronym stands for:

Parts of a Story - Grades 3-5
Event Arch
The event arch is a plot diagram broken down into straightforward language that is perfect for primary school grades. Notice that the event arch and the plot diagram are very similar. The main difference is the terminology used, and the substitutions of "events" for "rising action". For primary grade levels the use of words like introduction, problem, climax, resolution, and conclusion. I have also seen some diagrams that overlay the S.T.O.R.Y acronym or "Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then" to their outline.

Whichever way works the best with your classroom is recommended; after all, there is more than one way to teach plot structure!

Add a Presentation

Have students attach their storyboard to a paper requiring an in-depth explanation of an element throughout the novel, or couple this assignment with a presentation. See our article on how to present a storyboard.

Find this Common Core aligned resource and more like it in our Elementary School, Middle School ELA, and High School ELA Categories!

*(This will start a 2-Week Free Trial - No Credit Card Needed)

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Parts of a Story Activities | Teaching Plot Structure

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As the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a plot! This particularly holds true in the classroom. After speaking with numerous elementary school teachers, I have found that everyone has their own preferred method to teach the same concept.

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Findings of the Gonski Report

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The @GonskiInstitute reveals digital media + technologies are a great distraction for Australian families. 9/10 parents think digital devices negatively distract them, 83% think their children are also negatively distracted
https://t.co/J12SljlTmA
#education #Educhat #edtech #Edu

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The @GonskiInstitute reveals digital media + technologies are a great distraction for Australian families. 9/10 parents think digital devices negatively distract them, 83% think their children are also negatively distracted
https://t.co/J12SljlTmA
#education #Educhat #edtech #Edu https://t.co/1K6WxPrUsa

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The @GonskiInstitute reveals digital media + technologies are a great distraction for Australian families. 9/10 parents think digital devices negatively distract them, 83% think their children are also negatively distractedhttps://t.co/J12SljlTmA#education #Educhat #edtech #Edu pic.twitter.com/1K6WxPrUsa
— The Evidence Institute (@AISNSWEvidence) May 3, 2021

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The @GonskiInstitute reveals digital media + technologies are a great distraction for Australian families. 9/10 parents think digital devices negatively distract them, 83% think their children are also negatively distracted
https://t.co/J12SljlTmA
#education #Educhat #edtech #Edu https://t.co/1K6WxPrUsa

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
The @GonskiInstitute reveals digital media + technologies are a great distraction for Australian families. 9/10 parents think digital devices negatively distract them, 83% think their children are also negatively distracted
https://t.co/J12SljlTmA
#education #Educhat #edtech #Edu https://t.co/1K6WxPrUsa

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
The @GonskiInstitute reveals digital media + technologies are a great distraction for Australian families. 9/10 parents think digital devices negatively distract them, 83% think their children are also negatively distracted
https://t.co/J12SljlTmA
#education #Educhat #edtech #Edu

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Storyboarder - the best and easiest way to storyboard

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Storyboarder - the best and easiest way to storyboard

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Many students are confronted by drawing their images on storyboards. Address this and much more with this powerful software.

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Storyboarder - The best and easiest way to storyboard.

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Storyboarder makes it easy to visualize a story as fast you can draw stick figures. Quickly draw to test if a story idea works. Create and show animatics to others. Express your story idea without mak

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We need STEAM, not STEM Education, to prepare our kids for the 4th Industrial Revolution 

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We need STEAM, not STEM Education, to prepare our kids for the 4th Industrial Revolution 

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from Glenda Hobdell

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We are at the beginning of a 4th industrial revolution and educators are faced with preparing a generation of students for many jobs that don't even exist yet. Since the term STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) was coined back in 2001, there has been growing interest in this learning philosophy to better prepare today's students for tomorrow's jobs. However, to adequately prepare the future workforce, another acronym is gaining popularity: STEAM, which adds arts to the mix.

We Need STEAM, Not STEM Education, To Prepare Our Kids For The 4th Industrial Revolution
Adobe Stock

What is STEM?
Since jobs in the real-world draw upon several disciplines at once, STEM does the same with science, technology, engineering, and math. Lessons integrate all these disciplines, so it's, therefore, more realistic to real-life applications than traditional philosophies of education that have the various subjects in silos.

If you think about the job duties of an architect who incorporates elements of science, technology, engineering, and math to complete their job responsibilities, you can see how educating children with an interdisciplinary approach is more applicable to what they will face after graduation.

STEM also prioritizes project- and inquiry-based learning. Every child needs to acquire problem-solving skills and technology literacy to be prepared for the 21st-century workplace. STEM integrates and applies math and science to create technologies and solutions to solve real-world problems by using an engineering design approach.

One of the largest challenges to STEM adoption is funding and resources. There must be investments made in the latest technology and how to use it as well as training educators about how to incorporate new technology into lesson plans. Additionally, education systems are very focused on assessments and grades rather than recognizing when activities foster creativity, innovation, and critical thinking skills.
What is STEAM?
Leonardo Da Vinci was on to something years ago when he stated, "Study the science of art. Study the art of science." More recently, students and academics at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) have spearheaded the concept of STEAM-which brings the elements of STEM together with arts to guide students' critical thinking, inquiry, and dialogue. Proponents of STEAM education recognize the importance of creativity and innovation in the future to solve our problems.

In fact, according to one study, nearly all Nobel laureates in the sciences practice some form of art as adults. When you compare these successful scientists with others, they are significantly more likely than other scientists to practice art in a variety of forms, from acting to singing, writing poetry to woodworking, and more. It's this science success and art connection that make STEAM proponents believe that by integrating arts to a child's education, it creates a person more ready to meet the ingenuity demands of our economy.

Students who receive a STEAM education engage in experiential learning, collaborate with others, and persist in problem-solving as they take thoughtful risks and work through the creative process. In fact, many employers, educators, and parents believe STEAM helps fill in a gap left by STEM of key skills/attributes children need to thrive.
Why do we need STEAM?
STEAM incorporates the benefits of STEM in and through the arts to give a more complete, well-rounded education. Although some feel this distinction is unnecessary because regular STEM incorporates creativity, leaders of the STEAM movement feel that the arts provides a critical missing piece to STEM education that then prepares students to not only understand science, technology, engineering, and math but know how to apply principles from each of these disciplines to creatively solve problems. Here's how educationalist Sir Ken Robinson discusses STEAM in his TedTalk.

While the STEAM movement is still relatively new, it's gaining "steam." In fact, the revered children's education program Sesame Street has added STEAM to its program. Problem-solvers in the future will have to look beyond what first feels like a limitation and approach challenges with inquiry, wonder, and innovation. These are skills that the arts exercise.

In order to create a successful STEAM program, it is essential that the arts are included in STEM in an authentic way. It's not about adding creativity to STEM, but rather to apply art in real-world situations. For example, if students had an assignment to create a product as a STEM project, incorporating arts in an authentic way would be to improve the appearance or design of the product using principles of industrial design.

Since we don't yet know what jobs will look like as we progress further into the 21 st century, it makes sense to educate our children with the skills and capacity to think outside the box with creative solutions. This is something a STEAM education can effectively prepare them to do.

You might also want to check out this video in which I discuss the 7 Key skills that will help anyone succeed during the 4th industrial revolution:

... Read More

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We Need STEAM, Not STEM Education, To Prepare Our Kids For The 4th Industrial Revolution

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In education, many people have heard about STEM, a philosophy of education that incorporates science, technology, engineering, and math. Fewer have heard about STEAM. The addition of A for arts is seen as a critical element to educate children for jobs in the 21st century.

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The Ultimate Guide  to Critical Thinking

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The Ultimate Guide  to Critical Thinking

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Moving learners beyond facts into critical thinking... a clear and concise 'tip sheet' from Wabisabi including questions to draw on in order to promote critical thinking

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SAMR: A poweful model for understanding good tech integration (Edutopia)

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SAMR: A poweful model for understanding good tech integration (Edutopia)

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Remember , it's not all about the tool... "Technology before pedagogy" (Cowling , M. 2019)

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Good technology integration isn't about using the fanciest tool, it's about being aware of the range of options and picking the right strategy-or strategies-for the lesson at hand.

The biggest obstacle to teaching online probably isn't the technology. Teachers seek out educational technology, in fact, because it "can have considerable positive impacts on student performance," according to a 2016 study -improving test scores and allowing teachers to assess student achievement more efficiently. The big problem is how to integrate it: Beyond the sheer number of tech tools available, the same researchers identified "inadequate professional development and training" as the primary obstacle to using technology productively in classrooms.

Understandably, the emergence of the coronavirus has dramatically accelerated the process of integrating edtech, as educators around the country race to get online as fast as they can. But as many of our teachers have noted, the current state of K-12 online learning is more like triage-a form of crisis management-and not at all like skillfully managed distance education.

What's missing from the conversation right now, which makes sense given the immediacy of the need, is a focus on the bigger question of what the highest quality technology integration actually looks like. That's an important conversation to have, because in a post-coronavirus world there's likely to be a greater emphasis on digital learning, even as we return to physical schools and take advantage of face-to-face opportunities.

A Hierarchy of Tech Uses

A powerful conceptual tool to think about technology integration-and edtech's best uses-is the SAMR model, developed in 2010 by education researcher Ruben Puentedura, who was the 1991 recipient of a Phi Beta Kappa teaching award.

The SAMR model lays out four tiers of online learning, presented roughly in order of their sophistication and transformative power: substitution, augmentation, modification, and r edefinition. When switching to an online format, teachers often focus on the first two levels, which involve replacing traditional materials with digital ones: converting lessons and worksheets into PDFs and posting them online, or recording lectures on video and making them available for asynchronous learning, for example.
Creative Commons
Those are important steps, especially when teaching online for the first time, but in classrooms where tech integration has moved to the mastery level, the last two levels of the SAMR model-modification and redefinition-should also be in the mix. Students in classes where this kind of mastery is embedded find more novel and immersive uses for technology. They are creators and publishers of their own work across multiple forms of media, for example, or they are inviting professionals to provide feedback on their work products, or participating in digital forums with other peers around the world.

It's tempting to think of SAMR as a mountain to be summited. But good technology integration isn't about living at the top of the SAMR model; it's about being aware of the range of options and picking the right strategy-or strategies-for the lesson at hand.

Here's a closer look at good classroom practices at each level in the model:

Substitution

"Substitution" means replacing traditional activities and materials-like in-class lectures or paper worksheets-with digital versions. There is no substantial change to the content, just the way that it is delivered.

The goal here is to keep things simple: there's no need to reinvent the wheel. Scan your lessons and worksheets, convert them into PDFs, and post them online using Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, or a similar file-sharing service. Think about the information you have on your walls, such as the classroom norms, the daily schedule, or vocabulary lists, and convert them into digital formats that students can easily reference.

It may also help to provide synchronous as well as asynchronous versions of your lectures. If you're holding class meetings over a videoconferencing service like Zoom or Skype, provide a recording for students who can't attend. You can also create your own instructional videos for students to view at their own pace.

Augmentation

This level involves incorporating interactive digital enhancements and elements like comments, hyperlinks, or multimedia. The content remains unchanged, but students can now take advantage of digital features to enhance the lesson.

For example, students can create digital portfolios to create multimedia presentations, giving them more options to demonstrate their understanding of a topic. And instead of handing out paper quizzes, you can gamify your quizzes with tools like Socrative and Kahoot.

Teachers can also create virtual bulletin boards-using an app like Padlet -where students can post questions, links, and pictures.

Modification

At this level, teachers can think about using a learning management system like Google Classroom, Moodle, Schoology, or Canvas to handle the logistical aspects of running a classroom, like tracking grades, messaging students, creating a calendar, and posting assignments.

Teaching online opens up new channels of communication, many of which can help students who have traditionally been marginalized. Research shows that girls may be less likely to speak up in class, for example, so they may benefit from backchannels -alternative conversations that can run alongside instruction-that encourage participation.

Zoom's text chat feature, meanwhile, gives students an opportunity to write their questions out, which can feel less intrusive if there are dozens of students participating in the call. Also, students who prefer to collect their thoughts may benefit from slower-paced, asynchronous discussions in an online forum or email threads.

Redefinition

Learning is fundamentally transformed at the "redefinition" level, enabling activities that were previously impossible in the classroom.

For example, virtual pen pals can connect students to other parts of the world, whether it's with other students or experts in a field. Virtual field trips enable students to visit locations like the Amazon rainforest, the Louvre, or the Egyptian pyramids. After reading a book in class, you can invite the author to chat about their work and answer questions.

Technology also provides an opportunity to bring authentic audiences into your virtual classroom, and can make publishers out of your students. Kids can write their own wikis or blogs for public consumption and feedback-and platforms like Quadblogging can connect distant classrooms together so students both write and respond. Students can tackle local problems-like investigating the water quality of a nearby river-and invite members of the community to assess their digital proposals.

Going Beyond SAMR

Finally, consider how technology can be used not just as a way to deliver content, but also to strengthen relationships with your students. For elementary school teacher John Thomas, Seesaw and Flipgrid allow him to share a daily greeting, which his students then respond to-or to each other-with a typed or voiced comment. It's a good way to provide some stability while they're isolated.

How can my lesson be improved using technology?

How can I engage and empower students through technology?

How can online learning more closely resemble authentic, real-world learning?

Remember, again, that SAMR is sometimes thought of as a mountain to summit, but it's really more like a toolbox. The goal isn't to use the most sophisticated tool, but to find the right one for the job. More importantly, however, it's a way to reflect on your technology integration by thinking about a few key questions:

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A Powerful Model for Understanding Good Tech Integration

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Good technology integration isn't about using the fanciest tool, it's about being aware of the range of options and picking the right strategy-or strategies-for the lesson at hand.