Must Have Apps and Extensions

Here is the must have apps and extensions I discovered at the Google Summit:

Extensions:

1. Adblocker
2. Extensions Manager (turn your extensions on and off)
3. Screencastify (record and add voice)
4. Techsmith Snagit (screen capture - you can also add voice)
5. BlackMenu for Google (get to sites much quicker)
6. URL shortener (as the name applies)
7. You Tube Options (will have to start paying for this extension in April)
8. diigo (add bookmarks to your diigo account)


Apps: 

1. Blogger
2. Voice Recognition
3. Snag it - to use with the extension Techsmith (you need both!)
4. Tweet Deck
5. Sumo Paint (photoshop)
6. webcam toy
7. pocket
8. google keep
9. digital human body in 3d

Must have Add Ons for Education

Applications for Education

AddOns for Docs: This is a new feature you will find in google docs or spreadsheets

- EasyBib for creating bibliographies
- Kaizena shortcut for adding voice comments to Google Documents
- Table of Contents
- Clip Art 

Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions

The Question Formulation Technique- 6 steps



 Step 1: Teachers Design a Question Focus



Step 2: Students Produce Questions. 

The rule here is for students to create as many questions as possible write down all questions, do not stop to answer, discuss, judge or reflect on the questions being written down.



Step 3: Students Improve Their Questions. 

Teacher defines open and closed sentences. Categorize the questions that were created. Change an open question to a closed and vice versa.



Step 4: Students Prioritize Their Questions.



Step 5: Students and Teachers Decide on Next Steps. 



Step 6: Students Reflect on What They Have Learned.







Harvard Education Letter

Greg Tang

A few years ago I had the opportunity to attend a workshop presented by Greg Tang. He is the author of popular math books:


I want to share his website: http://gregtangmath.com/

When I attended the website he was just developing his website/math apps/ and programs for schools. His website has come a long way! 

I appreciate the value he places on number sense and math facts!

Can every child and adult learn to enjoy math? Yes, and my goal is to make sure they do! Greg Tang 

Do 2 Learn

Do2learn provides thousands of free pages with social skills and behavioral regulation activities and guidance, learning songs and games, communication cards, academic material, and transition guides for employment and life skills

http://www.do2learn.com/

Good Questions For Inquiry-Based Projects

Any question that matters to students is a good question. If students are genuinely interested in the answer and learning about the topic, then the question is worthy of investigation. - Sue Jackson

 'mini-inquiries', short-term research experiences that enable students to search for and find information quickly. To determine an answer, it may be as simple as jumping on the Internet or skimming through a book. Mini-inquiries are great ways to teach students how to investigate questions, pursue answers, and demonstrate their learning (Harvey and Daniels, p. 143).

Mini Inquiries vs. Inquiry based projects:

Student and teacher need to develop essential questions with the following characteristics:

• relevance to the learner
• open-ended and higher-order (have no right or wrong answer)
• answers are not already known
• multiple possible answers
• not too personal
• cannot be answered without careful and lengthy research—answers have to be more than simple facts
• able to be researched given the available resources—must be answerable
• make learners question their basic assumptions
• promote further inquiry

Examples of Essential Questions:

Grades K to 3	Grades 4 to 6	Grades 7 to 9
What makes a good friend? What makes a bad storm? How can we eat well? Why do you suppose the rain falls down? If you could change the town we live in, how would you make it better?	What are the traits of a good leader? What makes a fair punishment? What makes one writer more powerful than another? How could you invent a better city?	How do you know if a law is just? How is a hero different from a celebrity? Which leader of the previous century relied most on propaganda and appeals to fear?
Adapted from: www.questioning.org/mar05/essential.pdf

Scholastic Canada Education—Teaching Tip of the Month • March 2013

Asking good questions - different kids of wonder

This is the question I have been asking myself:

How do I help students develop the ability to ask good questions?

My students and I read Lisa Dalrymple's book Skink on the Brink and the students created numerous questions that Heard would label Research Wonders:

Different Kinds of Wonders
Heart Wonders	Research Wonders
- questions you can answer with your heart and mind - What makes a best friend a best friend?	- questions that you can look up in books, magazines, on the computer, or by observing - What goes on under an ant pile?

Next step I want students to develop world questions that promote critical thinking:

Kinds of Questions
Factual Retrieval	Personal Preference	Critical Inquiry
Fact Questions	Imagine Questions	Interpretive questions
- have only one correct answer - provide an understanding of the details of a topic - good for 'mini-inquiries'	- ask for some kind of opinion, belief or point of view- no wrong answers - good for leading discussions - rarely make for good inquiry-based projects because internally focused	- have more than one answer but must be supported with evidence - effective for starting class discussions and for stimulating oral and written tasks - good for inquiry-based learning

Scholastic Canada Education—Teaching Tip of the Month • April 2013