The ed Newsstand

Learn more about Nearpod and Google’s seamless integration and geek out on streamlining your instructional technology. Head to the G Suite Marketplace and download the Nearpod add-on for Google Slides and start creating Nearpod lessons right in your Google Slides presentation. You can add interactive activities, videos, or virtual field trips. Check out the newsletter for links to the store and a video about how it works.

You can visit the January 24, 2020 newsletter to learn more and access all the links: https://tinyurl.com/edNewsstand2020

With Nearpod, you can create interactive lessons in minutes, save time with ready-to-run lessons, synchronize and control lessons across all student devices, evaluate student responses live or with post-session reports, give every student a voice, allow students to take ownership of their learning, and get social with game-based learning. Nearpod offers a free and paid account on their website. The main difference between the two is the amount of space you have if you create lessons for your classes and access to lessons in their library. If you're looking for great classroom management and presentation software with incredible student engagement I encourage you to check out Nearpod.

You can visit the January 17, 2020 newsletter to learn more and access all the links: https://tinyurl.com/NearpodIntro2020

This week's episode introduces the Chromebook App Hub. If you are new to Chromebooks in class or have had them in your class for years and are looking for some inspiration you can find it on the Chromebook App Hub. The website gives you the ability to filter by ideas, age, subject, and learning goals or you can search by app category and age range. There are hundreds of ideas and apps from which to choose and you can either filter or scroll for inspiration. 

You can visit the January 10, 2020 newsletter to learn more and access all the links: https://tinyurl.com/edNewsstand2020

This episode of the podcast is a recap of the keynote speakers and sessions I attended over my two days at the Impact Education Conference. The goal of the Impact Education Conference is to create a vibrant community atmosphere that inspires educators and administrators to embrace innovative ways to impact student achievement and operational excellence. The keynote speakers for the conference were Angela Maiers and Jimmy Casas and the featured speaker sessions I attended were presented by Monica Burns and Michael Cohen. You can find more of the insight and resources from my time at the conference in my newsletter.

You can visit the January 3, 2020 newsletter to learn more and access all the links: https://tinyurl.com/edNewsstandTIES2019

This episode explores the underutilized Shortcuts app in iOS. In this episode, you will become familiar with the potential the app has to simplify your life and learn about a few resources to get you started using the app, like a free iBook from Martin Coutts.

You can visit the December 13, 2019 newsletter to learn more and access all the links: https://tinyurl.com/edNewsstand2020

This week's podcast was inspired by helping a colleague organize the bookmarks in their Chrome browser. If you have a lot of bookmarks saved but never remember where they are you can delete the words and just save them based on their picture or Favicon.  A favicon (short for favorite icon), is a file containing one or more small icons associated with a particular website or web page. A web designer can create such an icon and upload it to a website. Browsers typically display a page's favicon in the browser's address bar and next to the page's name in a list of bookmarks or next to the page's title on the tab or as a desktop icon (Wikipedia). I've created a short 6 minute YouTube video on how to create and organize your bookmarks based on Favicons and folders. You'll see an example picture in the newsletter of a bookmarks bar with a few Favicons and a folder and what your bookmarks bar could look like with a little TLC. This is the audio form of the YouTube video you can find the video version in this week's newsletter on my website.

You can visit the December 6, 2019 newsletter to learn more and access all the links: https://tinyurl.com/edNewsstand2020

This week's podcast takes another look at the SMART Notebook website SMART Exchange. However, this week I provide links to several resources found on the Exchange website. On the podcast, I took a deep dive into a lesson called the 12 Days of SMART. In the lesson, teachers are challenged with creating a new activity each day for their students as a way to try new aspects of the technology and to enhance a student's learning. Other resources in the newsletter and on the podcast are an introduction to SMART Technology's monsters, which are associated with various learning skills, and links to SMART Notebook lessons on Project Based Learning, Design Thinking Ideas, and STEM Instructional Ideas. 

You can visit the November 22, 2019 newsletter to learn more and access all the links: https://tinyurl.com/edNewsstand2020

This week's podcast looks at the SMART Exchange website from SMART Technologies. The website houses free classroom resources. On the website, users can download activities, games, lessons, assessments, and templates that are created by teachers and SMART Technologies. Search filters on the website can help you narrow down searches by grade, subject, and resource type. If you don't have time to make your own lessons and don't have the funds to buy what you are looking for then the SMART Exchange website is the perfect resource.

You can visit the November 15, 2019 newsletter to learn more and access all the links: https://tinyurl.com/edNewsstand2020

This week's podcast brings you the amazing tool EdPuzzle. EdPuzzle is a video assessment tool that lets you find videos on multiple platforms and incorporate open-ended or multiple-choice assessment questions directly in the video to check for understanding or facilitate discussion. With EdPuzzle, you can also crop a video to just show what you want, add a voice to provide instruction, add an audio note to highlight something in the video, or add a comment to a video to deepen understanding. EdPuzzle incorporates easily with Google Classroom and setting up assessments is a breeze. Check out the podcast for a deeper look at EdPuzzle and check out the newsletter for a video walkthrough and links to EdPuzzle resources.

You can visit the November 8, 2019 newsletter to learn more and access all the links: https://tinyurl.com/edNewsstand2020

This week's episode provides a brief overview of the book Social Media Wellness by Ana Homayoun. The book provides students with the tools they need to complete their work in a world full of distractions. Students can quickly become overwhelmed trying to manage the daily confluence of online interactions with schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and family life. Social Media Wellness defines a new language of social media for parents and educators and provides fresh insights and a solutions-oriented perspective to help parents, educators and students work together to promote healthy socialization, effective self-regulation, and overall safety and wellness. Tune-in and learn about the book that should be a staple on every parent and educator's bookshelf that works with tweens and teens or has one in the home.

You can visit the November 1, 2019 newsletter to learn more and access all the links: https://tinyurl.com/edNewsstand2020