Bloom into EdTech: The Blog

Over the past few weeks I have been working with my colleagues on building online professional development (PD) courses using Schoology. As I went over the basics in Schoology (analytics, badges, updates) and spoke about course design, I wanted to draw attention to what online professional development could look like to teachers. As staff development specialists, we collectively analyzed and discussed what we believed to be an authentic online experience - one that teachers can emulate in their own classrooms. This brought up a conversation on the digital tools that are used everyday by educators, as well as certain settings found in Schoology. Instead of teaching about the digital tools that are widely used in classrooms (which is not the premise of their online PD, I take ownership of ed. tech), why not exemplify how they are used through online PD? This way teachers not only have the practice in the application, but can begin to understand the instructional reasoning behind usin...

Math. I have to be the first one to admit that it is not my strong suit. I only could wish that they had math applications like the ones listed below for me as I was growing up. Who knows- maybe I could of been a mathematician? Who am I kidding? My right side of my brain is a little bit more dominant. Anyway- here are some tried and true math games that you can bring into your classroom (or home). Most are free with paid versions. Splash Math - Is a great game based math site for students in grades K-5. With fun, interactive customizable math games, what kid wouldn't want to practice their math facts to improve their score? They also have apps available for free and to purchase in iTunes. Prodigy - I was first introduced to Prodigy at a NYSCATE conference back in 2015. I was handed a flier and spoke to the representative for a matter of 15 minutes. I went back to my hotel that night, logged in and played math (yes, me) for about an hour. I was hooked. Prodigy is grea...

Animoto is a great tool to use as an educator. At my school we use it religiously every month to showcase what we have been up to at our school to our families. Animoto can be just as powerful in your classroom as well. Students can use the tool to produce digital stories, explanation videos or powerful presentations. You can use it as a way for your students to create a gift for their families around special occasions such as Christmas, Mother's Day or graduation. I have created a tutorial that I use with my professional developments. Please feel free to use it for yourself by clicking here . Don't forget to check out my Website, Bloom Into EdTech  where I organize all my tutorials in one neat place! How do you use Animoto in your classroom?

If you haven't heard by now, there is a new feature in Google Classroom that I have been longing for: assigning individual assignments! {You can read all about the new update features here. } Released in January 2017, you can now assign students in your classrooms different assignments as well as questions. I have been using this feature for over a week to give it a test run- and it is everything that I have been waiting for! Some examples of how I use it: My fourth graders are currently working with a school in India on a project about pollution. The teacher in the school in India initiated the project by creating Padlets  that discussed the causes and effects of pollution in India and shared it with us via two blog posts to look over and comment on. I did not want all the students to gravitate to the blog post that contained the padlet with more videos and less text articles. Using Google Classroom's new feature, I simply divided the two posts strategically as t...

Kindergartners are fun, imaginative souls.  They have a lot to share and their stories are genuine.  This is a great age to start introducing the basics of digital story writing and exploring that creativity. Below are some sites that I use with my Kindergartner to second grade students: Arthur's Comic Creator Those little hands will have a blast adding backgrounds, prompts and text with ease! Buster's Movie Maker Learn about the elements of a great movie and change the mood of the movie. My Story Maker Another fun Website with writing prompts! Great for younger students! You can print and share the stories when you are finished as well. Storybird One of my favorite Websites to use with my students. Easy to use and offers a lot of great visuals! Story Maker from ABCya! Who doesn't fall in love with what ABCya! offers on their site? Students can create a story from scratch and print it out when they are done. Story Jumper Create and shar...

As educators, how do we know if we are doing a good job in providing our students with the best opportunities for the future? We can look at test scores and evaluate data, but are our students engaged? Are they learning? More importantly- are they satisfied? What if we were to create an education that encompassed our students' needs while delivering content that was relevant to them. What would that look like? A little background before we begin.... My current place of employment is a private nonprofit school located in a small suburban town. We have block scheduling, with ELA and Math taking up three periods of the schedule every other day and Social Studies and Science taking up two. I only see them for one period. Sad. I know. In my small corner of the world, I took it upon myself to ask my middle school students a series of questions in an anonymous survey. {I, of course, at first had to explain anonymity to a few to ensure honest results.} It was even asked to be c...

Courtesy of Pixabay- Give them a coffee! I am a Triathlete. That sounds amazing. According to my USAT membership and the handful of Triathlons I have participated in, it's true. What made me decide to become a Triathlete resonates into why I chose the career of educational technology; I love the challenge. In the beginning, training for a Triathlon was hard. I had a few personal challenges to overcome (I drowned twice as a child, so you would say swimming was my first hurdle). But what I remember the most about tackling my training, was over coming those hills. I purposely would find overly elevated hills to become stronger and stay focused. Man, they were steep. But keep in mind, whether you're training for a Triathlon, or to be the best Educational Technologist ever, the hills look a lot bigger from a distance. Once you start climbing the hills, and I suggest you do, you become a master and able to defeat anything. Today I received a phone call from a fellow ...