mortiz051

What advice do you have students as they prepare for final exams? Exams may be just around the corner, so here are a few resources we've put together to help students organize, prioritize, and prepare for just about any assessment at any time throughout the year. Essential Tips for Studying Smarter, Not Harder Supercharge your Study Guide It is just as important to think about HOW you study as it is to WHAT you study. Don't Memorize - ORGANIZE! Organized learners are more successful on exams. Being organized is the difference between knowing and understanding. Graphic organizers are a great way to make connections. The Auditory Learner Written notes have always been a valuable tool to learn, but voice typing and recording your voice are powerful ways to learn and review. Voice typing in Google Docs is a quick way to add thoughts and essential concepts to your notes as you review activities or text. You can also record and share your learning by using quick recording resources ...

I sometimes struggled tremendously with the pace of the content in my Advanced Placement Environmental Science classes, so much so that I sometimes forget what is the most important thing in my classroom. My students and their growth as humans are so much more important than the content or the test we will all take. Don't get me wrong, I understand my responsibility to engage students in content, but I try to remember that it is not the only thing. This post is about remembering that content is not the most important part of my students' lives. A few years ago I started a tradition of showing a funny, inspirational, or unique videos in class every Friday. While the videos were not always about being happy, we dubbed these our Happy Friday videos. I try to keep these short so we still have time for the Environment. I think the students looked forward to them almost as much as they did the weekend. I loved them because of the messages that were shared and discussed. Last year wi...

Every year I do more and more of my shopping online. The thrill of driving from store to store and fighting the crowds just isn't there for me anymore. Each year I  a share some Holiday shopping tips I’ve put together to help teachers, their families, and just about anyone save a little green this holiday season. I put this guide out once a year and we think there is something in this post that can help just about anyone regardless of your online shopping experience. Do you have additional online shopping tips or resources? Please share them in the comments below. Online Cashback Websites There are many sites that take advantage of online advertising to provide the consumer with coupons and cashback for major retailers when you shop online. They are free, secure, and incredibly easy to use. Combine these with rewards on a credit card and it the cashback can start to really add up. Mr. Rebates and Ebates are two great resources for online shopping. Click  here  to explore...

We've put together a  resource document  sharing tools and resources for independent and collaborative student-centered learning and review. The goal of the  guide  is the help students use digital tools to be self-directed and collaborative learners as they learn new concepts and review for classroom assessments. We need your help. If you have a moment to look over the  guide  and provide any additional resources or suggestions, we would appreciate it. Thanks in advance. 

“ Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn. ”  - Xun Kuang I am always looking for new ways shift the ownership of the learning experience away from me and towards my students. I have always believed that student engagement can be enhanced when students are encouraged to take ownership of not just the knowledge, but the process of learning itself. I really enjoy creating and experimenting with different student-centered learning experiences. I am always looking for new ways to engage my students. Today I am reflecting on a new learning activity my students and I explored this week.  On Monday, I introduced my students a new Time Design Challenge . The activity was designed to help students build a knowledge base connected to several essential concepts connected to life on Earth.  Day 1 - Getting Started We led off with a Pear Deck question and class discussion about the concept of time. I then introduced the activity to the class and ...

Have you ever explored Google's Science Journal?  " Science Journal is the free digital science notebook brought to you by Google.  Whether you're a science educator or a hobbyist doing science at home, you can keep your notes, photos, and observations all in one convenient place. Use the sensors in your phone to measure and graph phenomena such as light, sound, and motion, or connect to external sensors via bluetooth to conduct experiments on the world around you." Explore Science Journal Getting Started Experiments For Teachers Google's also recently announced that  Science Journal  is integrating with Google Drive. Now, all experiments will be accessible through google accounts.  Are you already using Science Journal? Please share your experiences in the comments below. 

The best educators are not content to do the same old thing year after year. Innovative educators push their thinking by engaging in social media, exploring blogs, attending conferences, and exploring the newest generation of educational books. I've created a  Recommended Educator Book Site  to organize and share some great books connected to teaching and learning. I will also occasionally feature a new book recommended by my PLN on this blog.  Have an idea for our next featured book? Please share in the comments below. This month's book is Learning Supercharged by Lynne Schrum and Sandi Sumerfield. This book will also be part of the ETCoaches Book Study and Twitter Chat in January.  Learning Supercharged: Digital Age Strategies and Insights from the EdTech Frontier "A s educators seek out new ways to energize and engage their students and prepare them for the future, they need to know how to employ the latest technologies in creative and innovative ways. ...

Recently I stumbled on an interesting site connected to media literacy, equity, culture, and empathy. From the site: Critical Media Project (CMP) is a free media literacy web resource for educators and students (ages 8-21) that enhances young people’s critical thinking and empathy, and builds on their capacities to advocate for change around questions of identity. CMP has a two-fold mission: To raise critical awareness and provide the tools to decode media representations of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, socio-economic class, religion, age, and disability, and develop an understanding as to how these identities intersect To encourage and offer guidance for students to tell their own stories, create their own representations, and uphold their status as active and engaged participants in civic society. cmp learning objectives EXPLORE: To observe and become cognizant of messages about identity that surface in everyday media and culture EXPAND: To understand and gain perspective on ...

Projectors and Flat Screens have become an integral tool in many teacher's classrooms. I use my projector and screen daily to display objectives and instructions. It also sometimes serves as a backchannel, a timer, or a focus point for students at different points during classroom activities. I have traditionally used Google Slides as my palette for everything I display in class, but recently I discovered a great tool with some incredible features. ClassroomScreen ClassroomScreen includes some great features, including: Language  – Choose from a variety of languages.  Background  – You can use one of the incredible images on the site or upload your own.  Random Name  – Enter student names or upload a .txt file to create a quick random name picker.  Sound Level  – Let the class know if it is getting too loud.  QR Code  –  Share an url with a QR code.  Drawing Tool and Upload Image  – A Digital whiteboard. You can ...

I've long been a huge fan of Google forms for exit slips, surveys, and formative assessments. For me, it is one of the easiest tools to efficiently engage my students in reflective learning and assessments. I've even dabbled with using Google forms as a HyperDoc. (I still prefer slides and docs, so I'm not ready to recommend forms as a resource to create HyperDocs.) Another great feature of Google Forms is the ability direct learners to different sections of the form based on the answer chosen in a multiple choice question. This is a great way to support differentiated learning experiences. Students can be directed to a statement, video, website or other digital resource based on the answer they choose.  If you want to see this in action, I've put together a quick formative assessment connected to Copyright and Fair Use. This is not perfect, but I think it is a good starting point to demonstrate how powerful branching in Google Forms can be.  Copyright and Fair Use F...