David Lee EdTech

As teachers, it is important to provide struggling students with interest-based learning activities that engage their curiosity and take advantage of their intrinsic motivation. Teachers have to find out their students' interests and utilize the information to facilitate learning for higher achievement.  For those students who are interested (or obsessed!) with Minecraft, you can use the  game to teach almost any topic . For example, if you have students who don't enjoy journal writing, try incorporating Minecraft into a journal writing assignment.  Here are three documents I created that are part of my journal writing unit.  Google Presentation I created this Google presentation explaining the purpose of the unit and the culminating challenge. The purpose of the unit is to develop journal writing skills: Retelling of Experience Reflections/Personal Response Relevance to Classroom Concept or Personal Experience Making Inferences The students' culmin...

Here are 5 new features of the new Scratch! 1. Your old work from the original Scratch website will be transferred to the new Scratch 2.0 site. 2. You don't have to download anything when you want to start a new project. Just click "Create." 3. You can share your work by clicking "Share." Your work will also be automatically saved to your My Stuff page. 4. Your Profile page can be viewed by the public. However, you are the only person who will be able to see the My Stuff page, where you can find your projects. 5. Scratch 2.0 will continually be upgraded with new features and bug fixes.

StoryToys Entertainment Limited  has released a series of 3D interactive pop-up books based on classic fairytales. As you can see in the image below, these book apps provide gorgeous design and illustrations, as well as interactive and engaging activities that  bring the stories to life.  Most importantly, students can practice their reading skills in "Read it Myself" mode.   Here are the StoryToys book apps that are currently free (as of 4/24/13): Rapunzel    Sleeping Beauty Snow White   Read Riding Hood  Hansel & Gretel Little Mermaid Puss in Boots

Google+ Community A Google+ community is a forum where people with common interests come together to interact on the Web. This would be an ideal tool for schools who use  Google Apps in Education . Every student or teacher in your school can set up a  Google+ account  (Google's version of Facebook) and join your learning community. Features of Your Class/School Google+ Community Make your community private  Invite your students and other teachers to your class/school community You can start a  Google Hangout  with your students or colleagues Edit your community information, provide a description, and include different classroom categories (ex. discussions, homework, projects, etc.) Community Feed: Post discussion topics or share content with classmates You can share any site that has a Google+ button onto your class's feed Check out my  EdTech Google+ community  to see an example!

Incorporating Graphs/Charts (Math) with Biomes (Science) My second grade class has been learning about biomes for the last month. I decided to have my students create a graph or chart that compares the number of deserts in each continent. I shared a Google document that stated two objectives:  The Google document also had a link to the  Survival World website  that listed all the deserts in each continent.  Steps in Creating Their Graphs or Charts: Open the Google document and visit the Survival World website to find out how many deserts there are in each continent Create a Google spreadsheet  Create a table that lists the continents and the number of deserts in the continent Go to 'Insert' then 'Chart' Open Google Earth and search for 5 deserts Take a screenshot of one desert (command+shift+4 for the Mac) and insert it into a cell on the spreadsheet Open Google Earth and find  Example of Student Work  Here is what one of my...

Mike Rugnetta's  video  inspired me to think about how Minecraft can be used to teach economics. If you have played Minecraft (adventure mode) before, you would know that the 3D procedurally generated world contains limited resources for you to use to survive. This means that your tools, food and natural resources can be used up. This feature of the game can help illustrate the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.  Content Standards You might be asking, "What grade could I use Minecraft to teach economics?".  Well here are some grade-specific  CA social studies standards  for your Minecraft economics lessons.  Grade 1: 1.6 Students understand basic economic concepts and the role of individual choice in a free-market economy. 1. Understand the concept of exchange and the use of money to purchase goods and services. 2. Identify the specialized work that people do to manufacture, transport, and mar...

Lesson Objective Students will be able to compare the size of different geographical locations (ex. continent, country, state/province, city, etc.) with a 3D mapping tool (Google Earth).  Content Standards of Lesson (California) 1.2 Students compare and contrast the absolute and relative locations of places and people and describe the physical and/or human characteristics of places. Compare the information that can be derived from a three-dimensional model to the information that can be derived from a picture of the same location. Learning Activities 1. As a class, we started a K-W-L chart (what they know, what they want to know).    2. I presented my  Geographical Location Presentation  while students filled out their  graphic organizer . The presentation helped explain the different location categories, and presented the challenge: Find where Mr. Lee lives!     3. Students opened  Google Earth  ...

Sammamish High School was given a federal grant to redesign their curriculum and school with project-based learning (PBL). The school plans to transition the whole school to a PBL curriculum by 2015. Edutopia created this video to document the school's first year of PBL implementation. Here are some of the things Edutopia found out:  All disciplines and grade levels are shifting from teacher-centered instruction to student-centered learning.  There is a great focus in engaging students with authentic challenges. Students are learning academic content through the process of finding the solutions to authentic problems.  The hands-on experiences also help students to retain information better. Students were motivated to created quality work when clients were involved.  Teachers are required to attend a five-day professional development on PBL in the beginning of the year.  ELLs can benefit from projects that require them to work in groups. These ...

Android Police's  Ron Amadeo  reported a new  Evernote -like service called Google Keep on March 17th. Sadly, he reported later in the day that the website was gone (www.drive.google.com/keep). It seems that Google is not ready to push out this service to the public, but it is great to know that  Google is working on a project that will allow you to clip web pages and take notes.  I have been hesitant in using Evernote or any other note-taking service because want to stay in Google's ecosystem for my work. When Keep comes out I will never have to!  Google Keep screenshots via  Android Police Through Android Police's screenshot, you can see the service looks very similar to  Google Notebook , which was shut down in  July 2012 .  The screenshot shows that your notes can be color-coded, archived, or deleted. You can also add an image to your notes, and view your notes in a list or as thumbnails. At the top, you can see Google's f...

Next year, our elementary school will roll out a 1:1 iPad program for 3rd and 4th grade classrooms. A time-consuming step in the implementation process is setting up students with the proper software, user accounts, and educational bookmarks on their iPad.  This post will describe a quick method for students to bookmark essential educational websites to their web browsers.  Teachers usually have a list of essential websites that they require students to use in a regular basis throughout the year. Here is how it works: 1. Create QR codes with a QR code generator (I prefer qrstuff.com). 2. Download the QR codes onto their computer, and drag the codes onto a document  like the one below . Make sure to label the codes with the name of the websites. 3. Print out the document and make copies. Pass out the documents to the students at the start of the year.  4. Students will use a scanning app to scan the QR codes. A window will appear to link your stud...

Image from schoolofone.org  In the article, “ The Problem with the School of One ,”  Jason Paul Gee  points out a glaring problem of too much personalized learning: “What happens when people with different “sweet spots” have to learn, solve problems, and collaborate with others who have different “sweet spots,” as people often have to do in modern workplaces?”  I think this is an interesting question. Providing personalized learning is a goal that every teacher strives for. Depending on the learning styles, abilities, and needs of their students, teachers provide students with  different methods of acquiring knowledge and skills. However, with new educational start-up programs that focuses solely on personalized learning, students might find themselves frustrated in real-world learning situations that do not fit their learning styles, abilities, or needs.  Too Much of a Good Thing Classrooms should provide students with BOTH personalized l...

5 Challenges Solved by EdTech

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovwj0Wr9gS8?wmode=transparent&autohide=1&egm=0&hd=1&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&showsearch=0&w=500&h=375] Old #computers are turned into #supercomputers for #cashstrapped #schools. #edtech #elearning #edchat ( Source: http://www.youtube.com/ )