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Weekly Tech Tips 8 August 2021

 Dear Friends,


As we all learned last week we will unfortunately be beginning the year online. With that in mind I have put together a few meta-resources for you. These are mostly collections of resources and articles for you to browse as needed. There are collections of favorite apps for online teaching and a list of articles about tips and best practices for virtual classrooms. I also have some icon.jpegs for you to spruce up your Schoology courses.


Weekly Tech Tips

First up, remember those two daily planners I shared last week with the MAJOR CAVEAT that it is possible, and indeed likely, that the odd / even pattern I used will get changed. Well guess what? They have, and will a few more times, so I would hold off on that if I were you. Always a balance between being timely and making sure.


This Week’s Apps and Resources


Jan's Padlet has most of the greatest hits for Edtech apps

https://padlet.com/middletonj8/dkttjkvc8ast


Matt Winter's Wakelet is from a Google friend and is a stupendous collection of Google and Google-adjacent Edtech. Grouped by subject (some redundancy) plus lets you see the differences between Padlet and Wakelet

https://wakelet.com/wake/na2NYmtsN5SQa6vR1H6V8


Mini CK-12 Flexbooks (FlexLets) for Math and Science. I have talked about this angelic company many times. If you are not interested in going whole hog on a Flexbook, these were made to fill summer gaps in MS / HS math and science

https://www.ck12.org/pages/flexlets/


Block Icons for Schoology

From Jean Loupe (School Colors)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CzFJAHROp-svmMOLh_c3yqBP_ykrp0II?usp=sharing

Mine (Block Colors)(not very well organized, sorry)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1M2JGvhLpQA6dh4JmNTbd6YoHCjoBGD22?usp=sharing

Pop ‘em in a powerpoint to add text if you like then screenshot them back into a jpeg for upload onto Schoology. If you don’t understand what I just said but want your Schoology courses to look like this

Let me know.




Articles

Here is a collection of articles from an online PD course I took over the summer called Foundations in Virtual Teaching from my alma mater, University of Phoenix. I used to always be very aware of the stigma associated with a degree from UoP, but as a pioneer in online distance learning, they now seem almost genius and certainly prescient. I got my MEd in Curriculum and Technology from them in 2003. That’s a long time ago. They have been doing this for a while, and now of course everybody is doing it. So I figure they have some worthwhile things to share on the topic despite whatever other issues they may have with their reputation.

These are essentially curated articles from around the internet. Most are very ad-heavy and some will not apply, but they are worth a scan.

10 Virtual Teaching Tips For Beginners

HOW TO TEACH ONLINE (Top Tips for New Online Teachers!)

How to Set Up a Virtual Classroom

How to Start with Online Learning! Remote Teaching Made Easy.

Virtual Teaching 101 for Early Childhood Educators

Distance Learning: Remote Teaching Strategies

Keeping the Good Stuff - Strategies for Translating Virtual Instruction into Buildings

Make the Transition to Hybrid Learning

My major takeaways from the course were:

  1. Establish routines and norms just like a regular classroom

  2. But have patience and grace with your students and yourself

  3. Pay attention to lighting, background and sound as well as personal appearance

  4. Always test the tech

  5. And always have a backup plan

  6. Take time to make personal connections with your students with games and icebreakers

  7. And screen take breaks so no one is  “on” for hours and hours.


Announcements


Do you ever want to talk about topics and ideas in education with your fellow teachers? Please consider contributing to the Google Group GSIS 2020 to discuss education and goings on at GSIS. Share your opinion on one of the existing threads, or better yet, start one of your own. 


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