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" I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something. " Neil Gaiman I hope everyone is enjoying their breaks and looking forward to reconnecting with your students in 2018? How will you start the new year with your students?  Will you jump right into the content? Reflect on the break or 2017? Something fun? Something different? Please share your thoughts and ideas for 2018 in the comments below? I've decided to do something new to welcome my students back. This year we will be working through a HyperDoc to start 2018. HyperDocs are not new for my students, but most of them are connected to our content. My welcome back HyperDoc will include: A review of events and stories from 2017. Student creation of an Av...

" Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful. " Margaret J. Wheatley Exit slips or exit tickets are a type of formative assessment that can help both teachers and students reflect on the learning process. Students respond to a question the teacher asks at the end of class or activity. I also believe these reflective student experiences can help cement key concepts for all learners. When the teacher reads or discusses the responses there is also tremendous value for the teacher to learn and grow.. The web is full of tools that support communication and formative assessment . Today I want to share 3 resources that work with Google Slides that support quick and easy exit slips, including the Pear Deck Add-on for Slides, The Poll Everywhere Extension for Google Slides, and the Google Slides Q and A Presenter Tool.  Pear Deck Add-on for Google Slides This free Pear Deck Google Slides Add-on all...

If you know me, it should come as no secret that I watch quite a few webinars and tutorials on YouTube. YouTube has always been a powerful resource to help me to learn and grow. I do have one problem with watching these videos. Sometimes I don't have enough time. This means I might sometimes skip something important or just not be able to finish. Recently I discovered the power of YouTube Speed settings. Most people can listen and learn faster than people talk. YouTube has a solution for this. If you click on the Gear Icon when watching a video, you can choose to speed up or slow down the video.  YouTube does a nice job of adjusting the sound so you don't feel like you are listening to the Chipmunks.  I typically use the speed of 1.5 when watching. I would recommend experimenting to see what works best for you. Try it out and let me know what you think? There is also a Chrome Extension that you can use to adjust on the fly. 

“ Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas. ” Albert Einstein We are working on updating our  web resources  for different subject areas. This week the focus is on Math Chrome and G Suite Resources for K-12 teachers and students. This is the working document: Digital Math Resources for K-12 Teachers & Students If you have suggested resources or ideas can you share them with us? Add a comment to this  Math Resource Document . Or post in this  Collaborative Padlet . Or add a comment at the end of this post.

Funny, but this is not the power of hashtags for educators! Hashtags for education are one of the most powerful tools connected to personal learning networks.  What are hashtags? Have you ever searched Google by using quotations to refine your results? Hashtags on Twitter work about the same way. A hashtag is the # symbol followed by a word of phrase. Two of the most popular educational hashtags are #edtech and #edchat . A hashtag search will default to "Top" tweets connected to the hashtag. The top tweets is a good starting point, but I recommend clicking on "Latest" to get the most from your search. You can also click on "People" to connect directly with educators associated with the hashtag.  Why use hashtags? Hashtags allow Twitter users to narrow down results. When attached to your post they help other interested users to find what you are sharing. Educational hashtags have the power to connect educators to important conversations and educational tre...

“ If you are on social media, and you are not learning, not laughing, not being inspired or not networking, then you are using it wrong. ” ― Germany Kent The only constant in this world is change. The world that many educators grew up in does not exist for our students today. We are connected to the world like never before, but the world also has unprecedented access to us. Navigating the digital world is an essential skill for all learners. ISTE Student Standard 2: Digital Citizen Students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical. I believe that it is important for educators, students, and parents to recognize that we all have a digital tattoo. Something is added to our digital tattoo almost every time we are online.  I like this analogy because once we share something with the digital world it is very hard to erase it, just like it is...

Student Voice is no longer relegated to the traditional methods and pedagogy. Powerpoints, class discussion, writing, and drawing still have an important place in our classrooms, but they cannot be the only way Future Ready Teachers and Students engage in content. EdTech today provides students and educators with incredible resources to engage Student Voice .  Today, Student Voice needs to be connected to a range of skills and connected resources including images, text, audio, interactive components, and video. The web and Google Apps for Education can provide students and teachers with a wealth of resources to flip the traditional a presentation model on its head. The resources connected on this page are commonly used in education and are typically free. This is by no means a complete list. We’ve selected and categorized some of our PLN's favorite resources to support Creative Student Voice . Most of the resources in this document have interactive help tutorials built into t...