National Geographic Educator Certification

The National Geographic Educator Certification presents ideas, methodologies, and resources for teachers to share the work of National Geographic and scientists in the field and bring that to the classroom.  This "course" is broken into 3 parts and takes 20 hours to complete over the span of 3 months.

Phase 1 - Through the online coursework, you learn more about the resources and ideas that National Geographic has to support K-12 education.  It also speaks to the belief system of National Geographic and what they believe science and social studies education could look like in 2018.

Phase 2 - With the assistance of a mentor, develop and implement two lessons that apply the skills from Phase 1, and reflect with the community on how it went.

Phase 3 - Develop a capstone project that shares your journey through the process.

Since working through this training, I have learned about a few resources, such as the ones listed below:

• National Geographic Explorers - have students research and learn about scientists in the field and the work that they are doing which is supported by National Geographic
• Fieldwork Map that shows where and what research is funded by National Geographic
• GeoBee Geography competition
• Explorer Classroom connects your classroom with a National Geographic Explorer in the field

If you are interested in any of these ideas and want help getting them under way for your classroom or you want to know more about the National Geographic Educator Certification, please let me know!

Unconferencing

A conference is defined as, "a meeting of two or more person to discuss matters of a common concern." So what, then, would an "unconference" be?

If you have ever attended a professional conference, you would know there is usually the same structure at all of them: keynote speaker, breakout sessions, common meals, vendor sponsors, and closing. An unconference throws away the formality and invites the best parts of the conference to remain - networking and sharing ideas.

EdCamps are becoming more and more popular throughout the United States for this reason. People who attend learn that there are three principles that drive the event:


1. It's free and open to everyone

2. It's participant-driven because the topics are determined that day based on what the participants want to discuss

3. Emphasizes conversations and experience over presentations and experts

4. Vote with your feet; if a session doesn't work for you, go to a different one, no questions asked


The edcamp format can be used by anyone, anywhere. Official events sponsored by the website will be in PA on the following upcoming dates:


Sat, 09/15/2018 - 09:00 .    Edcamp Carlisle      Carlisle Pennsylvania, United States

Sat, 09/22/2018 - 09:00      EdCamp Adams      New Oxford Pennsylvania, United States

Sat, 10/27/2018 - 08:30 .    IHM Edcamp           Immaculata Pennsylvania, United States

If you are interested in taking advantage of such a training, please let me know so we can make it happen!  They are great for obtaining some more Act 48 hours as well.

Digital Presentation Tools

Storytelling, multimedia and digital presentation is just one way that technology can be meaningfully integrated into instruction.  Technology becomes powerful when students are doing the creating.  This blog post will be a refresher on some great digital tools for presentation creation.  Some of them may be new to you, so check them out!

Tool	Video Tutorial	Example
Adobe Spark	Tutorial	Santorini
Flipgrid	Overview	Green Screens at Drexel
Sutori	General Walkthrough	Great Books of 2018
Prezi	Prezi Basics	Hun Sen
Google Slides	2018 Overview	Seesaw
PowToon	Powtoon Tricks	Easy ESL Games (made with PowToon)

All of these have single sign-on with Google, so use your Google account to test them!

Literacy in focus

Welcome back, Warrior Run!  

I hope you had a restful, if not rather rainy, summer break.  New adventures, new ideas, and new friends are on the horizon for the 2018-2019 school year.

As we focus on our goals for the year, I wanted to share some resources related to literacy in all its forms.  As the availability of technology becomes greater and greater, I hope these resources will be useful to your classroom.


Epic! - I first learned about this ebook resource while taking the iPads in Education course from Eduspire.  There is also a wonderful iPad app.  In place of a library card from your local library, this can help supplement and provide a variety of reading material for kids.

Smithsonian TweenTribune - This website provides the same non-fiction news article at 3 different levels.  Differentiate for your kids and their needs while still exposing them to the same topic - hurricanes in Hawaii, AR trips to Scotland, pirates in Denmark.



Free Rice - At any level, have kids build vocabulary while playing a game and giving to the less fortunate.  Free Rice tests their vocabulary knowledge and for each right answer, gives ten grains of rice to the World Hunger Program.  Would be helpful to SAT scores, too!


The Most Dangerous Writing App - This website would be great for building fluency.  You set a timer and have to keep typing for that amount of time.  If you stop typing for more than 3 seconds, it deletes everything.  The bar across the top shows their progress.  It turns red if you stop typing too long as a warning.

Enjoy your long weekend and stay dry!

Edtech Certs

You already know we are hosting a Google Boot Camp this summer, but what you may not realize is that GoogleEDU is not the only edtech company that has certification programs to prove your skill with incorporating technology successfully into your classroom. Here is a list of great edtech certifications which make a useful option if you are still considering how to use your flex time.

Google Level 1 Certified Educator

Google Level 2 Certified Educator

Apple Teacher

Flipgrid Certified Educator

Common Sense Educator

National Geographic Certified Educator

Raspberry Pi Certified Educator

Schoology Champion

SMART Digital Educator

Not all of them are created equal. Some have tests and some have tasks. Some are free and some have an associated cost. Figure out what is best for your classroom and give it a try!

Five More Add-Ons for Google Docs

Inspired by Theresa's post from last week, and Greg's post from March, here are five more add-ons for Google Docs. Just like add-ons do in G-Forms, they allow you to extend the use of Docs and make it work hard for you.

Scroll to the bottom to learn how to get and use add-ons in Google Docs.

Easy Accents

Allows you to easily insert accents for different languages from a sidebar in your Doc.

MathType

Allows you to type and hand write notations for mathematics and chemistry.

Doc To Form

Allows you to quickly and easily create a form text in a Doc.  Teachers can turn a paper test into an online test with just a few clicks.

HelloFax

I know it's 2018, but some people still like faxes.  This add-on allows you to add a fax number and cover page to a Doc.  Click send, and the add-on sends the fax!  You even get an email when it arrives.

DocuTube

Users can embed videos in Google Slideshows, but not Docs.  But with this add-on, now you can!  Add videos to Google Docs that you share with your students, so that students no longer need to leave the doc to watch a helpful video.

How to GET add-ons in Google Docs

In Google Docs, click Add-ons > Get add-ons, then look for the add-on you want.  Once you find it, click the blue button to add.

  

How to USE add-ons in Google Docs

In Google Docs, click Add-ons > the add-on you want to use.

What add-ons do you use??  Let us know what else is out there in the comments.

Best Add-Ons for Google Forms

Many of us are using Google Forms to create quizzes, send surveys, gather input, and collect data. With the use of add-ons, you can extend the use of forms and make it work harder for you. Here are some useful add-ons and how you might use them.

QR Code Maker - Do you want your students to fill out a form but you don’t have a quick way to send them the link? You can use QR code maker to have it create a link to the form that they can scan with an iPad or chromebook and it will open the form directly on the page. You could use this to hang the survey in a location for parents or students, put it on an assignment page or parent information sheet that is sent home to gather contact info, or put it on your website.

Form Limiter - This add-on allows you to turn off a form from accepting responses. You can choose the condition that stops it from collecting responses to be after a certain date or after it has received so many submissions. It can be used to accept data until a week after the initial request for example, or when the first 10 spots are taken.

Choice Eliminator - if you have a form with multiple choice, checkbox, or list question, this option will eliminate that as an option once someone else selects it. For example, you have a list of possible project topics that students A, B and C need to choose. If students A and B choose their topics, student C will only see the remaining options and be able to choose from those. Other ways to use this are to choose meeting dates and times, tasks for completion, or sign-ups for events.

With these add-ons, Google forms can be used beyond just giving a survey. If you need help getting started or troubleshooting an issue, please reach out!