7 Technology Education books you must read.

Over the past few years I have read a few collection of winners, a few collection of losers and far too many mediocre education technology books. The aim here is to share the ones that have been so highly recommended  that got to be considered must reads. I have not read all of them so we are probably going to add this on our to read list together.
Let's take a look, shall we?


1. Out of Our Minds

Sir Ken Robinson
Anyone familiar with Ken Robinson and his amazingly popular TED talk, ‘Do Schools Kill Creativity‘ (if you have not seen this just go watch it, I will wait), will understand that this is a must read. The book follows Ken’s belief that creativity is greatly undervalued in modern education. Delving into why this has occurred and how we can change it, the book will completely change your mind-set on learning and creativity (in the broadest sense).


2. A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change 

Douglas Thomas & John Seely Brown
With so much change occurring in the education space it is often difficult to keep up, stay enthused and most importantly, embrace and grow through change. Not just a critique on current educational practices, ‘A New Culture of Learning’ discusses how schools can embrace a new model of learning and how technology can help foster teaching and change.


3.Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education

Will Richardson & Rob Mancabelli
 The book studies the most powerful tool in an EdTech leader’s arsenal, the PLN. Dissecting and advising on the benefits and learning opportunities that can be achieved through networking, this is a great read for anyone building or just starting to grow their PLN.

4. Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in 
America

Allan Collins & Richard Halverson
Re-enforcing many concepts that education technology mavens see as beneficial to 21st century learning, ‘Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology’ builds an EdTech future that in truth should not be at all far off. With technology creeping into every device, career path and facet of modern living, the book takes a clear steer at how this should impact learning.

5.Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations

Clay Shirky
 Clay Shirky writes about the huge role technology has played in shaping group organization. Not specifically an education technology book, it really is a must for anyone interested in understanding just how powerful technology can be.

6. Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World

Heidi Hayes Jacobs
Broken down into seven key areas from content and assessment to habits of the mind, ‘Curriculum 21’ lays out a path for transforming schools into what they must become. With the collective wisdom of ten education thought leaders, renowned author and speaker Heidi Hayes Jacobs shares an idealistic view of where education needs to head.


7. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Daniel H. Pink
A book I discovered after watching an inspiring YouTube video (once again, you gotta watch this), ‘Drive’ is a brilliant book for both personal and professional growth. Understanding exactly what motivates people to succeed will change the way you motivate yourself, your staff and most importantly, your students. It’s amazing how a few simple concepts backed by fascinating research can have such a huge mental impact.

This was all for this blog , i hope you will read them one day as well as myself since i haven't read them all.

Bye~

Technology tools to help you in teaching writing.

There is a wide range of assistive technology (AT) tools available to help students who struggle with writing. Some of these tools help students circumvent the actual physical task of writing, while others facilitate proper spelling, punctuation, grammar, word usage, and organization.

AT tools that assist with writing fall into several categories:


Abbreviation expanders:

Used with word processing, these software programs allow a user to create, store, and re-use abbreviations for frequently-used words or phrases. This can save the user keystrokes and ensure proper spelling of words and phrases he has coded as abbreviations. This type of tool benefits people who struggle with writing.

Alternative keyboards:

These programmable keyboards have special overlays that customize the appearance and function of a standard keyboard. Students who have LD or have trouble typing may benefit from customization that reduces input choices, groups keys by color/location, and adds graphics to aid comprehension. This type of tool benefits people who struggle with writing.

Graphic organizers & outlining:

Graphic organizers and outlining programs help users who have trouble organizing and outlining information as they begin a writing project. This type of program lets a user "dump" information in an unstructured manner and later helps him organize the information into appropriate categories and order. This type of tool benefits people who struggle with writing.

Speech Synthesizers/Screen Readers:

These systems can display and read aloud text on a computer screen, including text that has been typed by the user, scanned in from printed pages (e.g., books, letters), or text appearing on the Internet. This type of tool may benefit people who struggle with reading and writing.

Paper-based computer pen:

This technology records and links audio to what a person writes using the pen and special paper. It enables the user to take notes while simultaneously recording someone( e.g., a teacher) speaking. The user can later listen to any section of his notes by touching the pen to his corresponding handwriting or diagrams. This type of tool may benefit people who struggle with writing, listening, memory and reading.

So, this are some of the ones i found and found more interesting to share with you. I hope they were helpful.

Recommended Video Apps

Hello everyone ,


As teachers we are about to face many difficulties as about to how we can find ways of making our classes more interesting and even though we have already a vast knowledge of some technological tools that may come to our rescue , i wanted to take a specific one in this post.

Videos.

Obviously all of us know about videos but the think is that actually you editing a video yourself is not an easy task and most of us may not even know how to do that. So, here i am today enlightening you on that matter by presenting you some of the video making programs that i have myself tested and show you what you can achieve with each of them.

1- Kinemaster  

KineMaster is the only full-featured professional video editor for Android, supporting multiple layers of video, images, and text, as well as precise cutting and trimming, multi-track audio, precise volume envelope control, color LUT filters, 3D transitions, and much more.

For professionals and amateurs alike, KineMaster offers an unprecedented level of control over the mobile editing process, and for artists and educators, handwriting layers allow you to draw directly on the video (also handy for storyboarding). Their users include mobile journalists, YouTube creators, short film producers, educators and other professionals from various industries around the world.

2- FimoraGo       

A pretty powerful video editor application, which will not stamp a watermark or place a time limit on your clip. With FilmoraGo you can make videos with music and effects. Your amazing video could be easily shared to your friends on Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsAPP .ect  And is quiet easy to use.

3- VideoShow        

It's an easy and practical video editing app & movie scene maker for both film directors and beginners. It has HD export, no quality loss No duration Limits and no watermarks or crops or ads.It's easy to use and has a wide variety of functions .Plus has hundreds of pieces of free music all fully licensed.

Here you have some links of Youtube tutorial videos on those apps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBUUbkPNgGE      : Kinemaster 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X46UEGsgCGY       : FimoraGO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzio5-gmwWM        : VideoShow

Thank you for reading ^^

Effective ways to optimize teaching.

Teaching through technology in the classroom will just not be the guidance that students require in today’s world, it’ll infuse in them, the required technological skills that will be their success key in the future. And teachers, being at the forefront of a student’s learning experience, plays an important and much responsible role of giving out the best learning experience to the students. With the help of various ways of teaching through technology, teachers can inspire students to learn more effectively. So below i will share with you, some effective ways that i found that will help to optimize teaching through technology in classroom.

Blended learning: Technology for teaching and learning has a new face- blended learning. It is a kind of learning opportunity that bring in together the traditional face-to-face and online learning. The main objective of blended learning is to prepare students with diverse learning styles, integrated in the day-today classroom learning activities. Teaching through technology like blended learning, allows students to learn better, at a faster rate and at their own convenience, at reduced cost of study materials- definitely, a smarter option for optimized learning.

Digital resources: With teaching through technology, have come the increased usage of digital resources in educational institutions that have given the right boost to learning and teaching in classroom. Digital portfolios, electronic grade books, learning games and real-time feedbacks on students and teachers are some of the smart technologies to power learning in the classroom.

A podcast for learning: Encouraging students and getting them into a podcast for the class, like reading out class lessons or discussions on particular topics can boost learning. Because, these podcasts are very good study references for the students in future.

Use social media platforms like Twitter and Pinterest: Pinterest is a great medium for teaching through technology, specifically because its a great visual medium that can encourage students to share their projects, classroom activities, photos, etc. Technology for teaching and learning can also include Twitter as a good learning platform. Students who are above 13 years can create important hashtags for classroom lessons and promote participation from experts in Twitter.

Technology if used in the right direction, can create wonders for teaching and learning. Teaching through technology at the right time, can inspire students to embrace technology without much hesitation, to optimize their learning. Teachers, on their part, can promote a healthy learning environment in the classroom with technology for teaching and learning.

Thank you for reading .

Stimulating Creativity

Time never stops it's flow and as it goes is bound to bring changes for everything. One of those things that sure will undergo some changes is education itself.
Our traditional educational system happens to lack one of the important elements that will be part  of the future teaching and that is non other than Creativity .
So, we as future teacher should have some knowledge as about to how to stimulate the aspect of creativity in our students and that is what we are going to talk about below.

 Here are some ways that we as educators can promote creativity in our classrooms.

1-Embrace creativity as part of learning. Create a classroom that recognizes creativity. You may want to design awards or bulletin boards to showcase different ways of solving a problem, or creative solutions to a real world scenario.

2-Use the most effective strategies. Torrance performed an extensive meta-analysis that considered the most effective ways to teach creativity. He found that the most successful approaches used creative arts, media-oriented programs, or relied on the Osborn-Parnes training program. Programs that incorporated cognitive and emotional functioning were the most successful.

3-Think of creativity as a skill. Much like resourcefulness and inventiveness it is less a trait and more a proficiency that can be taught. If we see it this way, our job as educators becomes to find ways to encourage its use and break it down into smaller skill sets. Psychologists tend to think of creativity as Big-C and Little C. Big C drives big societal ideas, like the Civil Rights movement or a new literary style. Little C is more of a working model of creativity that solves everyday problems. Both concepts can be included in our classrooms to promote creativity in general.

4-Participate in or create a program to develop creative skills. Programs like Odyssey of the Mind and Thinkquest bring together students from around the world to promote creativity, design creative solutions, and bring them to competition.

5-Use emotional connections. Research suggests that the best creativity instruction ties in the emotions of the learner. In the “Odyssey angels” program students can devise a solution to help their local community, such as helping homeless youth. This topic is worthy of more discussion by itself.
Research suggests that the best creativity instruction ties in the emotions of the learner.

6-Be aware during discussions. You know that student who often asks the question that goes a bit outside the lecture? Well, engage him. Once a week, intentionally address those questions. Write them down on an assigned space in the board to go back to later. Promote creativity by validating students’ creative thinking.

7-See creativity in a positive light. If we are going to promote creativity, we need to embrace it too. Reward students for thinking of problems in varied ways by recognizing their efforts.

8-Use a cultural artifact. Research from experimental social psychology finds that artifacts can enhance insight problem solving. Consider using an ordinary object, such as a light bulb used in the study or a historical artifact to have students think about living in a particular time period.

9-Establish expressive freedom. The classroom environment must be a place where students feel safe to share novel ideas. Allow for flexibility and create norms that promote creativity.

10-Be familiar with standards. Knowing the standards inside and out helps find creative solutions in approaching a lesson. Teachers can adapt them and work within the current framework. Some topics allow for flexibility and use of creative approaches.

11-Allow space for creativity. Design some classroom space for exploration, such as a thinking table, a drama stage, a drawing table, or a space for groups to discuss ideas.

12-Creativity builds confidence. Students take ownership of their own learning. Think of ways where students might design a project. For instance, for the history requirement, I suggested students of both fifth grade classes create an exhibition of their final projects. The students were so proud of their final work and learned from others presentations. Parents and community members were happy to see students take ownership of their learning.

13-Encourage curiosity.Consider what is important to students. Student interest is a great place to start on what drives their own thinking tank. Find inspiration from their world. Creativity is intrinsic in nature. Try to promote creativity by stepping into their viewpoint to find what motivates them.
Student interest are a great place to start on what drives their own thinking tank. Find inspiration from their world.



This are some of the ways i found of how to stimulate creativity. I hope they were helpful as i myself found them quiet interesting .

Till the next time, Have a nice day/night ^^

Setting Boundaries In A Classroom.

A classroom without rules is equivalent to a chaotic environment someone might say. However a rule is not the same as a boundary. Rules certainly are familiar in a classroom setting but they create additional conflicts , resorting to traditional authoritarian power dynamics or somehow compromising the emotional climate of the classroom.

In many classrooms, the rules are invariably negative and often start negatively. (Don't call out." "Don't eat in class") However even if they have a positive start the result of an infraction is typically negative. Rules are penalties depend on the students fear of the negative consequences that usually follow after the rule is broken.

In contrast , boundaries do not depend on fear or power .This positivity represents an important characteristic of a boundary as well as a significant difference with the rules. Boundaries are stated positively as promises rather than threats and instead of punishments , oriented strategies to a reward oriented approach to behavior management is used.

Now that we know the difference between those two i am sure you would want to know how someone can set effectively boundaries so here are some things you should remember when setting a boundary in our classrooms.

1-  Use boundaries to let your students know your limits and tolerances, your availability, the
conditions under which you will participate in some activity, which privileges are available or
the conditions under which a privilege is available to your students. Use boundaries to give
your students information they can use in making decisions.

2- Using past experience (and common sense), anticipate what you will want and what your
students will probably want as well. Consider both your needs and the students’ needs when
formulating your boundary.

3-  Be clear and specific about what you’re asking for, what you would like, which options are
available, the times or conditions under which a positive outcome is available, or any other
factors that your students will need to know in making their choices or anticipating a particular
event.

4- Communicate your boundary before there is a conflict, or before the conflict continues or reoccurs:
“You can get credit for your homework as long as it’s on my desk before the bell rings
tomorrow.” “I will read as long as it is completely quiet.” etc.

5- State boundaries positively, as promises rather than threats: “You can watch the movie if your
seatwork is done by 2:00,” rather than, “You’re not watching the movie if your seatwork isn’t done by 2:00.”

6- Be prepared to follow through. If you’re not willing to withhold positive outcomes until your
students do their part–whether it’s finish their seatwork, complete a chore, put their plan in
writing or tone down their voices–don’t bother setting the boundary in the first place.

7- Examine your attachment to particular outcomes. For example, if you are heavily invested in
your students’ performing at a certain level in order for you to feel okay about your teaching
ability, you may find yourself asking for excuses or making excuses in order to avoid following
through. Either refrain from setting this boundary (and don’t complain when your students act
irresponsibly) or use your resistance to following through as a chance to look at your need to
protect your students (or yourself) from the negative outcomes of their behavior choices.

8- Watch the tendency to make excuses, give warnings or let things slide “just this once.” This is a
great way to teach kids that you don’t really mean what you say and that it’s okay to disrespect
your boundaries. If you want to build in some flexibility, do so before your students blow it.

9- If the student is unable to perform or complete his or her end of the bargain because the
request or time limit was truly unreasonable, because the instructions were not clear or
understood, or because the child was developmentally incapable or lacked the necessary skill
or experience to do what you want, it’s a bad boundary. This is not the same as making
excuses for a developmentally capable kid who simply doesn’t come through. In this instance,
back up and try again (delaying the request until the child is more capable, setting a different
boundary or offering more clarity, instruction or a more reasonable time limits, for example).
Do not withhold positive outcomes at this time.



That was some of the ways that i found interesting and decided  to share them with you .I hope they will turn out helpful in the future.

Till next time.
Have a nice day/Night ^^

Learning ESL in an easier way with the help of technology.

We all know how boring can get learning something in the traditional way, sitting in a room you and your books or having a teacher that forces you to learn by heart new vocabulary that is need ,however the method does not encourage some to learn that language but does the exact opposite sometimes.

We have all been there and we can all relate and that is why we as teachers need to find more fun activities to engage our students and this is were technology comes to offer as it's helping hand .

Knowing that technology is part of everyone's lives now days we can take advantage of that fact through some technological tools that i found and that i will mention bellow.

1- Online Games

Online Games is a trend that children follow devotedly ,passing most of their time playing virtual games in front of their computer or phone. Though that can be considered as distraction from studying all we have to do is introduce them to the right games that benefit us ,games that are educational and make them obtain knowledge while playing them. Funbrain is one place where you can find such educational games and books .StarFall  has multiple games for younger students to increase English literacy skills .Also there are digital games of traditional games that can be played in the classroom on the white board such as Hangman, Scramble or Boggle.

2- Pen Pals

Sending letters with post mail it seems that is something left to the past as now you can exchange messages via social apps or emails. Students this days use this kind of communication very frequently and because of the amount of time that takes of their lives we should make good use and benefit of such preference of communication. Pen Pal will enable them to communicate  and interact with new people without making them feel like they are taking an extra mile to learn or do their homework. The only thing you need to do is to make an arrangement with an English speaking class in another country and have students write to their pen pals regularly .This is a great way for them to practice their English writing and reading comprehension skills  while making new friendships .

3- Apps

What is more easy and accessible than an app that you can have on your phone , iPads or Tablets .Apps that will not frustrate you but will make you feel relaxed ,receiving enjoyment from the activity .For practicing grammar rules apps like Grammar Up allow students to test their knowledge in specific  topics such as verbs, prepositions etc. One good app for helping with the pronunciation of the words is Sounds Right by British Council which is a simple chart with great big resonance, when learning British English refer to Sounds Right for proper pronunciation of vowels and diphthongs ,with the former listed by mouth shape .

As you can see making use of technology that is used in our students every day lives can bring many benefits as well as simplify our work and make more enjoyable their learning process .

I hope this blog helped you in terms of finding some apps or tools to use in the future.

Till next time, have a good day everyone.