Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from October 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Engage students and deepen content area knowledge using Animoto to create instructional videos. Text, audio, and video provide additional context to content area instruction for your students. Use student-created videos as formative assessment. Brainstorm with others workshop participants on how you and your students can use Animoto in the classroom. Participants will: 1. Learn basic use of Animoto; 2. Explore three different ways to use Animoto in the classroom; and 3. Plan for the use of Animoto in the classroom. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

tag(s): video (269)

This archived Twitter chat is from October 2018 and will open in TweetChat. The title of this chat is - Engage, Enhance, Extend: Creating Authentic Lessons. Through this chat, participants will: 1. Explore the main components of the Triple E Framework, 2. Discuss ways to successfully integrate technology into lessons, and 3. Share resources to leverage authentic engagement in the classroom. Find great tools and resources to integrate technology into your lessons while keeping the focus on learning goals through the understanding of the Triple E Framework.

tag(s): twitterchatarchive (57)

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from October 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Good readers take breaks to process what they are reading. Learn to use Microsoft Sway to guide comprehension through the use of research-based strategies. Helping students become aware of reading comprehension strategies allows them to manage their learning and empowers them to read strategically. While teaching students to think about how they read isn't an end to itself, it is a great instructional strategy. This is specifically helpful in a flipped or blended learning model. Join us and learn how to put this into action in your classroom. Participants will: 1. Learn three active reading comprehension strategies; 2. Understand where these strategies fit in the instructional cycle; and 3. Plan for the use of Sway during reading instruction. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

tag(s): Microsoft (59), reading strategies (55)

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from September 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Develop social media savvy in your students using practice spaces focused on digital citizenship, critical thinking, persuasion and communication skills. Explore online and offline strategies and tools to create safe, authentic learning experiences for students in grades 2-12. These strategies can be applied to any content area. As educators, we can prepare every child to be influential by helping them understand how to leverage the power of social media. While students intuitively understand the mechanics of social media platforms, using them in a responsibly purposeful way to build influence is not instinctual and must be taught and practiced. Participants will recognize the cycle of information gathering, processing, and posting; followed by vetting ideas and voice amplification as both a professional use of social media and an experience that learners should have. Participants will: 1. Learn the importance of responsible social media use by students; 2. Understand the purpose of using social media practice spaces as part of regular instruction; and 3. Explore both paper-based and digital practice spaces that can be used with students. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

tag(s): digital citizenship (68), social media (31)

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from October 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Transform your classroom activities with interactive images created using Google Draw. Engage students and deepen content area knowledge by adding text, audio, and video to images which bring additional context to your instruction. This strategy can be used across content areas and grade levels. Participants will: 1. Learn how to create an interactive drawing; 2. Identify ways in which interactive drawings can be used to support instruction; and 3. Create an interactive drawing that can be used in class. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

tag(s): drawing (78), Google (34), images (279)

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from October 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Get inspired by digital writing tools that facilitate the planning and implementation of powerful, engaging lessons in support of literacy standards! Through the exploration of three digital writing tools, understand how these tools can scaffold instruction for each component of the writing process -- prewrite, draft, revise, edit, and publish. Engaged students who understand the writing process produce more successful work. Join us to see how you can improve student organization, collaboration, storytelling, and decision-making within the writing process by using these digital tools. Participants will: 1. Understand ways different digital writing tools can scaffold instruction; 2. Identify ways digital writing can increase student engagement; and 3. Plan for the use of digital writing tools in their classroom to support the different parts of the writing process. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

tag(s): writing (364)

This archived Twitter chat is from October 2018 and will open in TweetChat. The title of this chat is - Make That MakerSpace! Through this chat, participants will: 1. Define and discuss the basic components of a makerspace 2. Discuss technology integration into makerspaces and 3. Explore digital options to use in your makerspace area. Find great tools and resources to create or expand a makerspace in your classroom or school.

tag(s): collaboration (33), makerspace (22), STEM (199), twitterchatarchive (57)

This archived Twitter chat is from September 2018 and will open in TweetChat. The title of this chat is - Tech Tools for Collaboration. Through this chat, participants will: 1. Discuss the importance of building collaboration skills in the classroom, 2. Discuss ways to integrate tech tools to foster student collaboration, and 3. Share tech tools that engage students in collaborative learning experiences. Find great tools and resources to foster student collaboration using technology.

tag(s): collaboration (33), twitterchatarchive (57)

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from September 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Technology in the classroom can foster engagement and higher order thinking. When strategically infused into lesson plans designed with sound instructional practices, technology can provide challenging, collaborative, and creative experiences. Learn how to transform your lesson plans by applying the SAMR Model in conjunction with resources available on the TeachersFirst website. Participants will: 1. Understand the SAMR Model and its importance to the lesson planning process; 2. Locate resources within TeachersFirst that support lesson planning in your content area; and 3. Plan to use TeachersFirst's resources and the SAMR Model in combination to plan effective technology-infused lessons. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

This archived Twitter chat is from September 2018 and will open in TweetChat. The title of this chat is - Tech Tools for Parent Communication. Through this chat participants will: 1. Define and explore basic principles of effective communication, 2. Share ways to share classroom experiences with parents, and 3. Share tech tools to facilitate school/home communication. Find great tools and resources to improve parent/teacher communication.

tag(s): communication (13), parents (57), twitterchatarchive (57)