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4 awesome videos to check out over the summer

Videos can be used in many ways in the classroom and in professional learning, and they can greatly benefit students if they’re engaging and thought-provoking.

They’re also valuable tools for educators who wish to access on-demand resources for students, who want to learn more new instructional strategies, or who want to expand their professional learning.

Check out the following four videos for help with your professional learning network (PLN), to supplement lessons about video essays, to help students self-assess, and more. You may want to use these videos with existing lessons next school year, or you may find yourself creating new lessons around the video content.…Read More

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App of the Week: Mentimeter

Ed. note: App of the Week picks are now being curated by the editors of Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. Click here to read the full app review.

What’s It Like?

Mentimeter helps to solve the problem of always calling on the same students by getting feedback from the entire class. Start your day with a class poll to gauge mood, warm up, or ask an essential question. Use an Action Priority Matrix to determine which skills to teach first (involving students in instructional planning) and perform quick assessments using the quiz feature to anonymously check for concept mastery. Host a March Madness-style tournament, letting students vote weekly on their favorite books, scientists, characters, or historical figures. Crowdsource a word cloud to brainstorm character traits of famous leaders throughout history, innovative inventions, or solutions to real-world problems. Group discussions with questions related to themes or scientific discoveries are easily implemented.…Read More

App of the Week: Stack the States 2

What’s It Like?

Teachers can use Stack the States 2 as a fun way to learn or review geography facts. For students who prefer to have an existing foundation of knowledge before being tested, review state capitals, state locations, major cities, and other U.S. geography features with them. Then allow them to play the game, earning states and unlocking the additional games. For students who like to just dive in and learn as they go, this app also teaches its geography facts very well through repetition and fun.…Read More

App of the Week: Google Applied Digital Skills

What’s It Like?

Google Applied Digital Skills can be used as a semester curriculum to teach a digital literacy course or as stand-alone lessons integrated into a core class on an as-needed basis. For example, the If-Then Adventure Story unit fits easily into a creative writing class, but would also be a good project for a history class where students use real events to envision alternative histories. There are several spreadsheet budgeting activities for personal finance class, and librarians can get on board with multiple units focusing on research and technology ethics.…Read More

App of the Week: Bear

What’s It Like?

Bear is refreshing in its simplicity, managing to be useful without being complicated. Use Bear for teacher and student productivity — teaching note-taking and list-keeping skills to help students organize their work and manage assignments. Promote student collaboration by having students share sets of notes to a class document in order to provide more breadth and multiple perspectives, or improve classroom communication by designating a class minutes keeper so that absent students can stay caught up.…Read More

App of the Week: Kiddom

What’s It Like? …Read More

App of the Week: Bandimal

What’s It Like? …Read More

App of the Week: Anti-Defamation League

What’s It Like? …Read More

App of the Week: Otus

What’s It Like?

It’s not often that teachers come across a technology tool that delivers as much as Otus, much less a free one. With many opportunities to manage grades, class content, and student data, the site can feel overwhelming at first; however, with some up-front investment, teachers will find it a valuable resource for managing instruction and pulling in valuable data points from third-party resources such as Khan Academy, PARCC, NWEA, and more. Use Otus to create and grade standards-based assessments, to get feedback from and about students, including video responses, document uploads, and quick polls, and to access detailed reports to disaggregate data and create more individualized assessments and targeted skill practice. Host topic discussions and cultivate writing skills via a class blog. Draw from the item bank to address specific skills, and then automatically assign an assessment to a group of students you’ve identified.…Read More

App of the Week: Construct 3

What’s It Like?

Start your students off with the tutorial “Beginner’s Guide to Construct 3” to get them oriented; have middle school students work in pairs or teams if game design or programming is new to them. Next, have students peruse the Construct 3 Arcade to see what kinds of games are possible to create. Then have them brainstorm game ideas for their own games, either individually or as part of a development team. Once they decide on an idea, have students work out what will be needed inside the game, and then set them free to begin prototyping and programming. Encourage students to visit the community forums on the Construct 3 site, as well as their Reddit forums. There’s also a comprehensive user manual on the website for students’ reference.…Read More