Tales of 3rd Grade Tech

  What is  PBISWorld ?  PBISWorld.com is a website that is designed with PBIS and MTSS in mind and can offer teachers support for tier 1, 2, and 3 students. The website includes interventions, resources, and data tracking tools to help teachers with the diverse learners in their classroom. This website is free to use and gives teachers a place to start when looking for interventions for an individual student or for their class.  How does it work?  There are a few ways you can utilize PBISWorld. When you get onto the website the user can immediately identify a problem behavior that they are looking for interventions for. When you click on the behavior you are noticing it will direct you to a page where it describes what that behavior may look like in a classroom setting. If the description matches your student you will click "yes" and will be sent to another page that provides you with a list of interventions. Each interven...

  This week I looked at Holly Clark's blog   Infused Classroom   and her review of Pear Deck.  What are some benefits of Sketchnoting?  Sketchnoting is a way for students to interact with information and their learning. It allows students to include drawings and captions in their note taking and can help with retention of the content being taught. According to Clark, our culture focuses on verbal information and ignores other ways of processing, such as drawing. Clark also states, " research shows that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text!" (Clark, 2020). By  sketchnoting   students  draw and write notes or thoughts to best process the content that they are learning. Clark suggests  that teachers have students explain their notes to make their thinking and learning visible. Teachers have a variety of options for students to sketchnote such as, Drawings on Drive, Auto Draw and Autodesk Sketchbo...

  What is  Epic ?  Epic is an online reading platform that brings thousands of digital books to students. Since Covid started Epic has allowed students access for free during school hours. Schools can pay an additional fee if they would like students to use this tool outside of school. Epic is a great tool because it offers digital books that students can read or have it read to them. Additionally, it has educational videos that students can watch.  How does it work?  Classroom teachers can set up their accounts for free. They can upload students information from an excel spread sheet or manually input their class. Teachers can then either link students too Clever (if they have an account) or send their students the class code. Once teachers have their students on Epic they have a lot of options. Teachers can let students explore the website independently or read assigned texts. Teachers can assign specific books to students or to their class. Teachers can also ...

   This week I looked at Holly Clark's blog   Infused Classroom   and her review of Pear Deck.  What are some benefits of Pear Deck?  I was really excited to learn about Pear Deck this week! Pear Deck is a teacher-led or student-paced tool that allows your lessons to be interactive. Educators can intergrate formative assessments into their daily slides to check for students understanding. The biggest benefit of Pear Deck is the fact that it is an extension of tools that teachers already use. Google users can add it as an extension to Chrome and Microsoft users can add it to their Teams page. Educators have their  students  go to app.peardeck.com and they can sign into the session. This allows  students  to interact with the lesson from their personal computer. Pear Deck is also free, so any teacher can easily utilize it into their everyday practice. According to Clark, Pear Deck allows you  too , " embed formative assessment, create...

  What is Clever ?  Clever is a single sign-on platform that allows students to access various apps, links and PDF's. This tool is very user friendly and keeps all the resources your student uses in school in one place. Since it helps student navigate through the different tools they use it can save educators instructional time as well as the headache of trying to support students in remember their log in. A student will never ask you, "what is my password?" ever again!  How does it work?  Unfortunately, Clever does need to be purchased by your school. If your building does not have it I would highly recommend that you bring it to your administrators attention. However, once your building does purchase it, it is very easy to use! Teachers will be given a log in and will be taken to the "Homeroom" page. Here they can access apps that have been uploaded and approved by their district, access apps that they have personally saved and create a class page. Teachers st...

   This week I looked at Holly Clark's blog   Infused Classroom   and her review of Chrome Extensions.  What are some benefits of HyperDocs?  This week Holly Clarks shares that HyperDocs are so much more than just a word document with links. HyperDocs are digital lessons that allow students to explore and engage with different topics. Teachers can modify pre-made template or create their own to meet their classes learning needs. Clark stated that HyperDocs, " inspire students’ inquiry and curiosity - driving them to exploration, to find answers to their questions, build the background knowledge and supports the application of their new knowledge in order to show what they know" (Clark, 2020).  When utilizing  this tool teachers  can  rethink their instruction and  incorporate  a variety of  resources  into one  organized  place. Teachers can link videos, PDFs, websites and images to help hook  stud...

  What is Code.org ?  Code.org is a website designed with the purpose of bringing computer science into the classroom. The goal is to make coding more accessible for girls and underrepresented groups of students. This resource is free to use and designed for k-12 students, meaning that any teacher can utilize it in their classroom. Its best feature is that it is user friendly meaning that students can independently explore and work through the website.  How does it work? Teachers can create their free account and then either manually upload students or if they have it sync their roster with Clever. Once teachers have created their account they have a few options. Teachers can start by assigning students lessons or have students work on projects. There are a number of different courses that teachers can assign, I started with Course A, but it is based on what your class needs. Once students have been assigned lessons they can begin to work through them independently. The l...