Useful links.

“Metacognition” (CC BY 2.0) by mrsdkrebs

• Note Taking With Technology | Edutopia “Today’s students require strategies that support their acquisition of knowledge, allow them to save their notes across devices, permit them to search through vast quantities of information, and share their learning with the rest of their community. Before blaming a device—either the pen or the laptop—we need to identify what is best for individual students by considering what I call the four S’s of note taking. Does the system students are using: 1. adequately support the students’ learning needs? 2. allow students to save their notes to multiple locations? 3. let students search for salient points? 4. permit students to share with peers and teachers?”

• Sketchnoting: I Just Don’t Know How To Start • Heck Awesome If you like the idea but don’t know where to start here are “some ideas to keep in mind,  tips for thinking about it and ideas for how to start using it in your teaching and student’s learning”

• ISTE | 9 ways real students use social media for good “Students around the globe are tapping into social media to get involved with world-changing projects and share their passions. The 9 approaches here explain some of the ways they are using these tools for good.”

• A Reading List for Differentiated Instruction | Edutopia  Annotated list of resources on the topic.

• How to Teach Students to OWN that Speech | Teacher Off Duty “A lesson plan that offers practical advice and can also be adapted to plan for any sort of performance-based activity: speeches, poetry slams, presentations, or interviews. “

• Slam Poem Videos Appropriate for Middle School (and others) – Teacher Powers One teacher’s thoughts about SLAM poems and ides for how to use them. You are also given his introduction to slam poetry lesson plan. The lesson could be appropriate for all ages.

• A Great Hands-on Approach to Programming – STEM Activities for Kids  One teacher’s explanation about the Let’s Start Coding kit? The basic kit comes with some useful pieces and component and coding cards. “There are projects included on the website, as well as educator guides you can download. The projects have the kids modify both the hardware and software components. By changing various components, the board and program will respond in different ways.” One way to approach learning coding.

• A Beginner’s Guide to Bringing Coding Into the Classroom | EdSurge News  There are many free resources, lesson plans, tutorials and events that can bring the power of coding into the K-12 classroom. This post discusses nine of the authors favorite options for anyone of any age to learn computer science skills. There is allso a link to a much fuller list of coding resources as well.

• The Edvocate’s List of 88 Amazing Edtech Tools, Apps, and Websites – The Edvocate “A list of 88 amazing edtech tools, apps, and websites that has been created to assist educators to understand what is available to them.”

• 10 Questions to Ask Before Installing a New Educational App | EdTech Magazine “This checklist has been compiled to assist teachers to select apps that can not only improve learning outcomes but also align with school and district technology goals.

• News for Padlet fans and newbies — @joycevalenza NeverEndingSearch  Joyce Valenza has written a post to explain about some useful new features added to Padlet that make it an even better space for classes for learning and sharing.

• Canva Font Combinations: How to Create Pinterest Friendly Graphics Discussion about designing graphics using canva fonts.

• Type Connection This is a typographic dating game site called typeconnection. It can be fun and helpful as you learn different strategies for combining and matching fonts.

• Fontspring Matcherator :: Find Fonts From An Image This is a tools that takes an image with type and finds the fonts that match. One user talked about using different maps and wanted to find a font that would be perfect for the writing on them, Font Matcherator was helpful.

• Font Pair – Helps designers pair Google Fonts together. Beautiful Google Font combinations and pairs. This is a tool that assists designers pair Google Fonts together

• Why Digital Learning is Reshaping Education – The Edvocate “Technology has changed just about every field, including education. Digital learning is reshaping education in unprecedented ways. The ways in which students learn are changing rapidly thanks to technology, and both students and teachers will benefit from it.
  There are several specific changes that we can expect to see as digital learning takes over education. For one, the way teachers present information and how students work with that information has changed. Students are asked to be more hands-on and collaborative than ever before. There are also new skills that students must learn, such as digital literacy.”

• 9 Tips for Teaching Coding in the Classroom – The Edvocate There are some very good suggestions discussed here. They are logical and really show commonsense and offer practical ideas.

• Choose The Best Search For Your Information Need – Laptop Study Useful list. Nicely organised with brief annotations.

• The Complete List of 200 Most Useful Websites for College Students – Laptop Study A useful annotated list, with like tools grouped together under appropriate headings.

• 15 Games To Teach Kids About Social Issues – EasyBib Blog An annotated list of social impact games that can be used with students to educate students about different social issues.

• John Grisham’s Do’s and Don’ts for Writing Popular Fiction – The New York Times

• How to Teach Students about Internet Privacy – SafeSmartSocial Nothing new but some simple and logical commonsense points that it doesn’t hurt to be reminded of. “3 experts to share their best tactics, tips, and talking points parents can use to help teach students about social media and internet privacy.”