Vicki A. Davis's Blog, page 147
October 14, 2015
How to Make Google Chrome Faster, Better and Prettier
Essential Google Chrome Lessons: 30+ Short Videos
Want to know how to make Google Chrome faster? Want to feel productive? Tired of all of those tabs? Take time to learn how to use Google Chrome better. These quick tips will have your Google Chrome browser faster like new in no time!
Table of ContentsI’ve organized this tutorial into four sections:
Make Google Chrome Better(Including how to make email links open in Gmail!) Make Google Chrome Faster Make Google Chrome Prettier Make Google Ch...
October 13, 2015
How to Use Padlet: A Fantastic Tool for Teaching
Useful Tools for Teachers
Padlet is a versatile, easy to use tool for every teacher’s toolkit. Let’s dive into Padlet and Learn the Basics.
At the bottom of this post, I have a Padlet that is temporarily open for you to post and share your favorite edtech tools.
Richard Byrne, author of Free Technology for Teachers, spent some time teaching the teachers at my school about Padlet. I’ve got some notes in this article that he mentioned in the workshop to give him due credit. Richard has a fantas...October 12, 2015
Why Teachers Need to Keep Going Even When It’s Hard
The Cellist of the Schoolyard
In 1992, thirty-seven-year-old Vedran Smailovic wasprincipal cellist of the Sarajevo Opera. Because of the fighting, Sarajevo was being called “the capital of hell.”On May 27, a long line waited in front of one of the last bakeries in town. Parents wanted to buy bread to feed their families.A mortar landed among them, exploding and killing twenty-two people in line.
Something inside Vedran Smailovic’s heart broke.
The carnage lay in the streetoutside his window....
October 9, 2015
Top 10 Education Tweets of the School Year So Far – Fall 2015
The top 10 education tweets of the 2015 school year so far include lots of sketchtnotes. Sketchnotes! Educators love them. SAMR, growth mindset,new tools, blogging, and back to school were hot topics for my PLN. How encouraging it is to see educators taking the little time we have to reflect, learn, and challenge one another to be more.
A big shout out to uber sketchnoter Sylvia Duckworth! Shehas graphics in 7 of the 10 top Tweets! She is so gracious and helpful(as well as talented.)
How were...
Teach Writing Skills: Using Powerful Prompts to Inspire Students to Write
Every Classroom Matters episode 178 with John Spencer
Writing should be exciting. You can teach writing skills with powerful multimedia based prompts and ideas, a global audience, and easy to use tools.John Spencer has the data to show that kids write more using this method.
Important Takeaways How can reluctant writers get excited about writing? Why we should use multimedia writing IDEAS(not prompts.) The big question that should be asked BEFORE writing(but most people don’t.) Why we shoul...October 7, 2015
Study Tips: Teaching Kids to Be Excellent Students
Every Classroom Matters Episode #177: Judy Fishel
Guilty. We tell students “be a good student.” “Study hard.” “Work hard.” But are we guilty of not telling them HOW to be a good student? WHAT study tips actually work? WHAT things do they do to be a “good” student without having to work so hard?
Important Takeaways The simple things students need to do before anything else. What does it mean to “study?” How do you study? What can you do that will have more impact than reading a book or passa...10 Ways to Build Team Classroom
Empower Awesome Learning Every Day
We are team classroom. Learning can be a solo venture. It can also be a team sport.
No bystanders.When you build team classroom, you unleash a giant. Your class can learn more, grasp more, and move faster. Students learn to appreciate each other’s strengths and work together.
10 Ways to Build Team Classroom 1. Have a wordless way to ask for help.Flags, indicators, cups. Something. Teach team classroom to spring into action when someone is struggling. As t...
October 6, 2015
4 Writing Tips to Help the Writing Process
Make Writing Essays Easier
My student cried when I showed her how to voice type in Google. Then, instead of 90 words in one class period, she typed 500.She edited it. She turned it in early. Tears of joy happen when the right tool is taught to the right student. Technology isn’t flashy The right technology makes lives better.Make writing well easier with these four writing tips.
We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master. Ernest Hemingway about writing #amwritingPowe...October 5, 2015
What I Learned from The Worst Day of my Teaching Career
An Every Classroom Matters Episode
My ears were still ringing. The tears were still fresh. The day itself was ok, but at 3:04, I got a phone call that I try to forget. I can’t tell you any more than it was horrible. The worst accusations. No inquiries to what happened. Pure, unadulterated hate. It was the single worst day of my teaching career.
So, when I went home, I had an episode ofEvery Classroom Matters to record with my friend Alicia Roberts from Arizona. We weresupposedto talk technol...
October 3, 2015
Connect with Students: Getting and Staying In Touch with Every Student
An Every Classroom Matters Episode
How can we connect with our students every single day? Teacher Jennie Magiera reflects honestly about how she killed creativity but brought it back from the dead. She shares how a simple Google form changed everything about the relationship with her students. Her insights about kids working below grade level are helpful to every teacher who struggles to reach them. A White House Champion for Change, you’ll be inspired to connect with your students in new wa...
