Tech Tuesday

This video is from Mark Dickson at the Digital Learning Consultant YouTube Channel. 

Mark described the content of this video about Chat GPT for teachers this way: 

"In this Advanced ChatGPT Guide for Teachers, we'll be focusing on how to engineer better prompts using prompt stacking to drill down more specific results with the ChatGPT model. You will learn how to use prompt stacking to train the model to understand and respond to more complex and specific prompts, resulting in more accurate and relevant responses. Whether you're a seasoned veteran or new to using AI in the classroom, this guide will provide you with the tools you need to take your teaching to the next level." 

Here are some time stamps in order to quickly find some great ideas:

1:26 Curriculum

2:07 Lesson Plans

3:08 Vocabulary

3:50 Resources

4:37 How to Teach

5:50 Worksheets

6:25 Reading Check

6:27 Explain Grammar

6:46 Examples

7:02 Assignments

7:37 Cloze Test

8:06 Rubric

8:43 Activities

9:10 Posters

9:35 Questions

9:42 Prompts

10:03 IEP Goals

10:26 Quizzes

10:58 Templates

11:32 Report Comments 

This blog article from teacher Amanda Werner focuses on 7 ways that Chat GPT and other A.I. like it might have a positive influence on how we teach writing ... for the better. 

Article Link

Should A.I. be Stopped?

This article is from Vicki Davis' Cool Cat Teacher Blog. 

She explores some very thought provoking questions around the conundrums which inevitably arise when a transfomative and disruptive technology such as artificial intelligence begins to impact the world in which we all live. 

Article Link

The Country Music Association (CMA) and Discovery Education are partnering to immerse students, educators, and families in the instrumental STEAM skills and dynamic career paths that make up the Country Music industry. 

Cloud Audio Recorder is a fun, simple and easy to use audio & voice recorder.

This audio recorder is a free recorder that can capture any sound, voice made by your computer microphone. You can save the recorded audio to the mp3, wav format.

Supports HTML5, Flash recorder. You can also save the audio file to your computer or Google Drive directly. Supports Chrome, Firefox, IE10+, Safari...

Note: No recording time limit. You can record more than 20 minutes. But, It may not work depending on the computer memory

Listenwise has thousands of 3-6 minute current events podcasts for grades 2-12 students.  

Teachers can use Listenwise current events podcats for free.

This article provides an overview of what is included with a free teacher account and how to listen to the stories / podcasts with students. 

PBS has a huge variety of video resources on every imaginable subject, all of which are easy to share in your classroom. Each video includes suggested grade levels and support materials to help you make the most of it with your students. 

The kid-friendly news articles on DOGOnews make it easy to assign reading for current events discussions. Each article is marked with reading/interest-level guidelines and offers lesson plan ideas. It’s free to assign articles for reading paid plans provide discussion questions and quizzes as well. 

According to ISTE, Digital Citizenship remains the number one topic for educators when it comes to helping our students learn to positively navigate a complex world in which they have pervasive access to technology, the web, social media, and other tools. 

The DigCitCommit movement was born out of a shift to focus on the opportunities of the digital world rather than the dangers. DigCitCommit breaks down digital citizenship into five focus areas: 

Inclusive: Open to multiple viewpoints and being respectful in digital interactions.

Informed: Evaluating the accuracy, perspectif and validity of digital media and social posts.

Engaged: Using technology for civic engagement, problem solving and being a force for good.

Balanced: Prioritizing time and activities online and off to promote mental and physical health. 

Alert: Being aware of online actions and their consequences and knowing how to be safe and ensuring others are safe online.

This Instagram profile has been curated by teacher and includes some amazing book recommendations if you are looking to bring in titles that explore the timely and timeless concepts around diversity.  

Tim Needles, art teacher at Smithtown High School East, shares tips for how to bring digital drawing into a wide range of subjects. It’s fun, engaging and doesn’t require special skills. His focus is on how to infuse art into STEM education. 

Though this video's context is remote learning, the tools and techniques can support the use of digital drawing as a learning support in any educational setting. 

The Google for Education YouTube channel is the go to location for finding information about new features in Google tools for education. Subscribe to the channel and watch for their regular update videos and also their great EDU in 90 series. 

Many of our WCPS teachers have been using Google classroom in order to support learning with their students. 

Eric Curtis has put together a tremendous blog article and video about what to do to clean up that Google Classroom at the end of the school year. 

Matt Miller of the Ditch that Textbook Blog has compiled a neat list of ideas of how students and teachers can use Google tools in some fun and engaging ways at this (and any) time of the school year. 

This is fun activity that gets students to reflect on their year and leave some fun and useful advice for next year's students about how to achieve success.  

From the "About Us" on the Science Buddies website: 

Science Buddies mission is to inspire and educate students of all ages with hands-on STEM explorations that reflect their unique personal interests. By providing highly personalized educational experiences, we drive student discovery, engagement, and learning in STEM subjects.

Our vision is to develop high-quality scientist-authored explorations covering all key areas of STEM, from the classics to the cutting edge, in formats tailored for the needs of the audiences having the greatest potential to impact student STEM learning, students themselves, classroom teachers, informal educators, and parents. Free and open to everyone, we level the playing field, making STEM learning possible for students of all demographics.

WCPS is a member of a shared collection of digital books and audio books through the Alberta K-12 Shared Digital Collection. 

The app that allows us access to these titles is known as SORA. 

Here is a link to info. on how to access these digital books in WCPS. 

Art Hub for kids has a number of resources for students and teachers looking for some fun and engaging drawing, origami, painting and holiday art projects. 

Click on the link above to be taken to the How to Draw menu area on the Art Hub for Kids site.  

The Edu Gals have a great podcast episode and show notes blog post detailing some ideas and their approach to keeping their Drives organized. 

Kasey Bell from the Shake Up Learning Podcast and Blog has both a podcast episode and a blog post with 13 fantastic tips for organizing your Drive.  

If your students are looking for some advice about how to organize their Google Drives, Mrs. Shaw has some great tips and trick in this video. 

Do you have .pdf documents in your Google Drive that you wish you could split and save into smaller sections?

Click on the video to learn how!

Spinners can be used in a whole variety of ways! 

Spin for a paragraph topic assignment!

Spin for a random group number!

Spin for a random student name!

Click on the video to learn about how to use Google Slides and Wheel of Names to create this fun classroom tool. 

Want to know how students can add voice typed notes to the Google Slides?

Click on the video to learn how!

WeVideo is a browser based video editing platform that is licensed for up to 600 users in Wolf Creek Public Schools. 

Recently, WeVideo launched a Chrome extension that allows staff and students to create video content via screen and webcam recordings. 

According to this extension's page on the Chrome Web Store:

"With WeVideo for Schools - Quick Recorder you can record:

✔ Presentations and mini-lessons

✔ How-to videos and tutorials

✔ Read alouds

✔ Feedback for students

✔ And more!

Download this extension today and:

✔ Record your screen and webcam individually or at the same time

✔ Record your microphone for voiceovers

✔ Use your cursor to highlight what’s important

✔ Draw on your screen using marker tools

✔ Download your video and share wherever you’d like

✔ No watermarks!

✔ Save directly to Google Drive and OneDrive

✔ Send directly to the WeVideo editor to add music, crop, use green screen and more!"

Flipgrid is a tool that allows teachers to communicate through short video responses to topics. One way to allow students who wouldn't normally speak up or share their perspectives in class to share their voices. The customizable built-in rubrics are a great way for teachers to set expectations and provide feedback on student videos 

Formative is a web- and app-based interactive student response and assessment tool that's compatible with almost any device. After sign-up, teachers can add classes via class code, QR code, or URL or through integrations like Google Classroom. Teachers can then choose whether to take advantage of detailed tutorials and a library of user-created content, or they can upload or create assignments on their own that let students type, record audio and video, enter numbers, draw (with a mouse or their finger, depending on the device), upload an image, answer multiple-choice questions, and more. Through teacher-paced or independent means, students complete assigned tasks and submit them for feedback. Students need accounts if teachers want to track their progress over time, but there's also an option to respond as a guest without logging in. 

Floop helps teachers provide formative feedback efficiently by allowing students to photograph written homework.  Teachers can then comment on this homework directly, as with Google Docs, but with this tool, it extends to all work a student completes in class whether written, typed, or a combination of both. Thanks to the just in time nature of the communication between teachers and students facilitated by Floop, students can submit work either when they complete it or when they get stuck and need to know the next steps.    

What could be cooler than learning about animals?

 On National Geographic Kids, students of all ages can enjoy science experiments, animal watch cameras and a ton of activities to keep them engaged and learning for hours. 

How Stuff Works is a comprehensive articles-based site that introduces and informs on a variety of topics like culture, science, money, technology and more. Games, quizzes, and videos are also available to supplement the articles. 

Exploratorium (yes, the same one as the museum in San Francisco) has a website that teaches students about science and art. Help your students go far into the galaxy or deep down to the bottom of the ocean on this site.    

Form the Common Sense Media Site: These lessons are "designed and developed in partnership with Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education -- and guided by research with thousands of educators -- each digital citizenship lesson takes on real challenges and digital dilemmas that students face today, giving them the skills they need to succeed as digital learners, leaders, and citizens tomorrow. Read about the research behind our curriculum." 

This article asks important questions around how do we teach our kids to tell fact from fiction when seeing something online or in other forms of media doesn't necessarily mean we can trust or believe the information. 

Provides a 6 R framework for evaluating false information online. 

This is an article co-written by Mike Ribble and Marty Park authors of the book The Digital Citizenship Handbook for School Leaders: Fostering Positive Interactions Online.. 

This article goes over their 9 elements of Digital Citizenship and a 3 S Framework of being safe, savvy, and positively social in our online interactions.

The article also has a link to a collection of free digital citizenship lessons, sites and activities.   

This is one of Matt Miller's many contributions to using technology to support teachers and students in today's dynamic classrooms. From the DTT site you can access Matt's Blog, YouTube Channel, and other free resources.  

One of the posts on the Ditch That Textbook site has a collection of graphic organizers, made with Google Draw, that are free to copy and use. If you love KWL, Fishbones, Venn Diagrams etc. check this resource out!

Another excellent post on the Ditch That Textbook site has to do with what Matt Miller calls the "Swiss Army Knife" of the Google Suite, Google Slides. Follow the link above to read about 30 different and exciting learning activities that you can use Google Slides to make awesome.