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Monday, October 26, 2020

Choiceboards and Design Your Own Adventure

Lots inspiration to design student choice boards here  along with my attempt to provide students with 
choices by customizing ... here along with some inspiration to Design a Choose Your Own Adventure Learning Experience

I hope to explore Challenge Based Learning / CBLworld with students as a way to connect learning technology skills and applying real-word and mobile learning.

Stay tune for some reflections while implementing with students.

Research: QR Code for chrome browser desktop - Quick Sharing through dino-themed QR Code 

Explore Rubrics and Classroom

More of ideas 

Make and take choiceboards video and session https://twitter.com/mrshowell24/status/1420790264743010310?s=21
 

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Adobe Creative Educator Program - Fall 2020

How to Become an Adobe Creative Educator https://buff.ly/2H3cWnR

What is the Adobe Creative Educator program?

If you haven’t heard of the Adobe Creative Educator program, here is the official description from the program landing page Class 1: Creative Educator -  https://edex.adobe.com/adobe-creative-educator 

The new Adobe Creative Educator program for educators in every subject area and grade level. In this community program you will receive curated professional development materials, information about virtual and in-person events, and the opportunity to connect with like-minded educators from around the world. To recognize your professional development you’ll earn badges for completing each level of the Adobe Creative Educator program.

After taking this course, you will understand/learn:

  1. What creativity looks like, and why it is important for every learner
  2. Recognize creativity in all students and develop it in your learners
  3. How to make every subject creative
  4. How to foster a creative learning environment
  5. Leverage Adobe’s creative tools
  6. How to keep learning and engaging with the Adobe Creative Educator Community
Both classes you need to provide evidence and you will get a certification  badge.

2.  Design Your Creative Class 
       https://edex.adobe.com/pd/course/design-your-creative-class-L2  *6hrs?
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Class 2 - Design Your Creative Class  
This course helps educators use the principles of great instructional design to bring creativity into any class for all students. You will hear from experts and educators on how to plan for and infuse creativity in your class. 

This course draws on examples from a wide variety of subjects and grade levels, to help those who teach children all the way up to college students and adult learners to become creative thinkers and how to apply creative thinking to create new material and learn new things. 

This course will walk you through, step-by-step, how to choose, write and plan learning objectives for your class, as well as give examples of creative learning outcomes in math, science, history or literature courses, and much more. Whether you teach in a media lab or a history class, primary school or college writing, this course will give you a deeper understanding of the power of creativity in any subject. 

 After taking this course, you will understand/learn: 
  • The importance of great instructional design for infusing creativity into any class 
  • How to write and plan for creative learning outcomes/objectives for your class 
  • How to scaffold and sequence creativity into your class 
  • How to provide peer and teacher feedback on creativity 
  • How to personalize and differentiate to enhance creative outcomes for all students The importance of fostering a diverse and inclusive learning environment for all students 
  • How to plan for creativity through online or distance learning 
  • How to encourage sharing and communication of creative learning 
  • How to choose the right Adobe tools to help students express their creativity 
The learning content in this course will take about 6 hours - this includes an optional assignment (a requirement for Adobe Creative Educator Badge or a requirement to receive PD hours if you are not earning your ACE badge). By completing the assignment and marking this course as complete, you will receive a digital badge and a certificate for 6 hours of accredited professional learning. 

Note: This course will be even more engaging if you have already taken our Creativity for All course, as this course builds on some of the core ideas and pedagogy introduced in that course. Additionally, you will need to complete the Creativity for All course and receive your Adobe Creative Educator Level 1 badge before qualifying to receive your Level 2 badge.

Lesson Proud Moment here and 

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

New features of tools to explore this month

 Tools and updates to review for class project:

  1. Google Meet - new Breakout Room & Jamboard template 
  2.  Google Sheets data to to Infographics  - Digital Citizenship
    Canva for Education (connecting data from Spreadsheets to visuals)
    - Infographic Templates Bicycle Safety -Template  Example the Importance of Literacy
    - Examples of COVID Graphics on Canva

  3. Fligrid - shorts  - Show work  / portfolio and reflection post
  4. Screencastify and Submit recording portfolio project
  5. Adobe Spark - Classroom Accounts and resources
  6. Choice boards and topics for Students
  7. Advisory - Poetry Wednesday Oct 7th  - Make someone's day. Or make your own day.
    With some random poetry. bit.ly/3k6XoOn#raopoetryday #poetry #randomactsofpoetryday
    - Halloween magnetic poetry  wtemolate https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/halloween-magnetic-poetry-with-google-drawings/ 
    - Halloween Template google drawing https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/12OqtTCPup_NUj567ilE5EqVOwf96GYe7BTwXTUGj6Ak/edit

Applied Digital Skills Integrated Projects Planning (ELA, Social Studies and Science)
with  Topics and Choice Options 



Friday, October 2, 2020

Learning to work Independently in a hybrid model

Working with students to work independently can be a challenge. There are times when directions must be presented verbally, in writing and visible to students.  Not everyone learns at the same pace, so it also means repeating many of those steps.  Not to mention if someone is pulled from class, out sick or just not paying attention, there can be redundancy communicating the steps.  For short instruction, I provide quick screen recordings, but obviously I am not able to record all our instructions and look for other resources.

I found myself teaching this year and showing students a variety of technology tools and skills in a digital literacy class. I had also started using Google's Applied Digital Skills curriculum to introduce or support a lesson. I came across this article on Edutopia How to Help Middle School Students Learn to Work Independently and it confirmed what I am already experiencing. 

We started out this year with rolling out Chromebooks and getting students to organize their google drive.  After some basic instructions  I linked to Google Applied Digital Skills, created an account and added my Google Classroom students to the dashboard and assigned a module.  The first assignment was  "Organize Files in Drive" and I required the 45 minute tutorial as a review.  What I liked about using the dashboard, it showed student progress by activity.  As I introduced other topics around Internet Safety we reviewed part of the Build Healthy Digital Habits. Students already had Portfolio sites created but the links we not the same and many had the url with a former grade level, so we unpublished, republished with a protocol link.  I then collected the links in a google form to share with grade level teachers. To my surprise students were using Interactive Notebooks in ELA and Science so we simply shared the link and added to our portfolio page!  We did edit the site, made pages, etc and I provided an optional module on "Build a Portfolio with Google Sites" telling students it was optional.

The ELA teacher provided a "Technology Checklist" by tool and skills that would be helpful for students to know.  We reviewed updates in docs and slides together and added content to the portfolios.  I know most students do not know show to used spreadsheets so, I introduced the program and the students loved calculating the data and creating charts.  Some were overwhelmed and I know they need more practices, so I will add "Manage your Time with Google Sheets" which will server as a refreshed for the material covered in class.  This module 45-90 minutes will be required.

When getting started with Self-Paced / asynchronous lessons, the article recommends the following:
- Introduce Self-Pacing Gradually 
- Self Pacing is a set of Skills have  them engage with instructional videos. Often, they forget to write things down or take notes. They also don’t always take advantage of the benefits of video instruction—pausing, re-watching, or googling something they don’t understand.
- Completing isn't the same as Learning - just because a student does something quickly doesn’t mean they did it well. 
- Some student aren't ready for self-pacing, it takes time to prepare students.  I agree with the artilcel that when Covid-19 happened, we had started Applied Skills and a hyperdoc for self-paced skills and students seemed to transition more easily and need less support. 

So I am experimenting with self-pacing learning and so far, if done thoughtfully can provide students with some independent learning. I have enjoyed providing students with "challenges" while teaching and eventually plan to shift into some project based learning. using Google Tools to Support Project Based Learning and the BIE website now/ PBLworks in the past and plan to cycle back to Essential Project Design Elements Checklist .

Stay tuned for more!

MassCUE - October Featured Educator

 Well this was a nice surprise.  October Featured Educator –
Mary Marotta https://www.masscue.org/marymarotta/ 
Congratulations to Mary Marotta, MassCUE’s Featured Educator for October, 2020! While creativity and innovation have been a conversation in education for a while now, there has never been more of a need to put these skills into practice than there is now. Mary has gone above and beyond in meeting this need in support of teachers in the use of technology, and fostering a design-thinking approach to teaching and learning. 

In addition to integrating design thinking in class lessons, Mary has also been instrumental in rethinking classroom spaces through the design process. A provider of professional development, Mary has helped to foster the best use of technology for the teachers she supports as a community of learners following #nashobalearns. 

She has been described by colleagues as “committed and dedicated in the support of next generation learning for both students and staff.” As an innovator, Mary is always seeking new ways to model and apply sound technology in educational practice. But it doesn’t end there. The magic she brings to others is her willingness to share with peers through EdCamps, Google events, and within her own school community. 

In addition to providing professional development for her own school, she is a Google for Education trainer and co-facilitator for four graduate level technology courses at Fitchburg State University. In one particular course,  Teaching and Learning with Multimedia, she helps teachers explore new ways to bring emerging technologies to their students’ learning experiences. This includes augmented and virtual reality, storytelling and even virtual expeditions! Innovative design for both teachers and students is at the core of this work, which may be shared with the world thanks to the technology we have at our fingertips!

Mary’s commitment to education is clear to see. The positive impact she is making for her students and her district will benefit many in the years to come. She has been a great role model for many educators. Congratulations from MassCUE on a job well done!


Mary Marotta is an Instructional Technology teacher with over twenty years experience teaching at the high school, college level with a focus on technology integration. She is a Google for Education Certified Trainer and MassCUE Pathfinder. Mary delivers a variety of technology courses for teachers to promote creativity in the classroom. Twitter: @mmarotta