Edustructional Technology

Introduction Every U.S. state has some law requiring citizens of a certain age to attend public or private school. Most of the states require students aged 6-16 to spend approximately 180 days in a classroom ( Source ). The penalty for truancy is usually the arrest of the parents, though, if you happen to work in education, you know that parents are rarely arrested for their children’s truancy. These compulsory attendance laws arose with the spread of public education in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The men who originally enacted these laws (given the time period they were most certainly men) were likely creating laws they believed would be beneficial to society. America was transitioning from a mostly agricultural economy to a mixed agricultural and industrial one. In an agricultural economy, the need for formal education is low. The ability to read and write is not even required as it has little to do with farm life. One doesn’t need an instructional manual to feed a cow. ...

1.  Geek out Even though you may not consider yourself a geek, there is something that you are interested in that someone else is really passionate about.  It could be that you really really love PowerPoint, or you can't live without instaGrok.  Regardless, you can spend an hour talking about your love without anyone batting an eye. 2.  Make professional connections Conferences gather a wide range of people: vendors, school administrators, media center specialists, teachers, national education speakers, etc.  Talk to these people and you can develop a professional relationship that will benefit you both for years.  I recently met a Pearson executive who was at a conference networking and establishing sales.  But, in my conversation with him, I discovered the free tool autoCrat for Google Drive.  He told me that it would change my life, and it has. 3.  Find new tools Many of the speakers at a conference are professionals.  They spend thei...

With budget crunches, the death of textbooks, and the Common Core's emphasis on nonfiction and curation of content from multiple sources, educators often turn where we all do to find information, Google.  However, like most people, many educators fail to take advantage of the search capabilities of Google when searching for the appropriate content, instead relying on 1,000,000 results and Google's ranking to find pertinent information. But, with a few tips, you can become a much more effective searcher.  Instead of wandering through millions of results, pare those results into a manageable list and perform other useful tricks. Tips 1.  Sort results by reading level Complete a standard Google search.  For example, I searched for "net neutrality" and returned 11,100,000 results.  Now, choose "Search tools" below the search box and select the drop down menu "All results." Choose "Reading level."  You can now choose between basic, intermediat...

As a former English teacher and an all-out Google junkie, I am always looking for more efficient ways to give students prompt feedback on their writing.  One of the most difficult parts of grading writing is the amount of time involved.  Not only is it taxing on the teacher, but the student does not get prompt feedback, which results in lost learning opportunities. We all know by now that, the closer feedback is given to the time of the task, the more students learn from it.  But, many of us have been in the position of carrying a milk crate full of essays home every day, constantly trying to keep up, only to return an essay to a student 2 weeks later.  An essay the student can hardly remember writing. But, take heart, if you use Google Drive and Google Classroom (and why wouldn't you!), you can easily add voice feedback to student essays with Kaizena. Kaizena If you are not a Google Apps for Education (GAFE) school district, then Kaizena will not be for you.  I...

This Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I am attending the Georgia Educational Technology Conference .  I love meeting with colleagues and exchanging ideas about our profession.  I will be updating this post throughout the conference with quick points and nuggets for all educators.  I will try to link to the presenter (using his/her Twitter handle) when possible.  Also, early next week look for a post about the value of technology conferences for educators. What I Learned Drop a student's writing into Tagxedo  to see the words that the student overuses (@thenerdyteacher) Every child (even high schoolers) likes to write picture storybooks with Storybird (@thenerdyteacher) Coding with Code.org  is fun!  I bet kids would like it too (Cindy Smith and Tanya Cheeves, Forsyth County Schools) Live life in Beta (@adambellow) Offer self-directed PD over the summer for teachers (Carrie Siegmund and Clint Winter Clarke County Schools) Even more effective Google sear...

The Problem-Inappropriate Content The internet has changed the way that information is gathered and exchanged in our society.  No longer is information confined to books, libraries, protected databases, etc.  It is now free and open.  This change has created a rich educational environment because students have access to so much information.  But, there are drawbacks to open access. One of the most frequent concerns that I hear from elementary teachers is that they are afraid that students will be exposed to questionable content if they run Google (or other search engine) searches to find information.  The teachers are not so concerned that the searches themselves will turn up questionable content but that the ads and videos embedded on sites will be inappropriate, which is a legitimate concern.  So, what can a teacher do? Personally, I fall on the side of teaching children to avoid inappropriate content.  The best internet filter is the one between you...