Newsela – Nonfiction Leveled Readings

Newsela is a great resource for any classroom.  It is a site that has a collection of nonfiction articles and stories, including current events articles, that allow you to select the reading level you need to understand the text.  There are usually 5 levels available for students so they can select the level that best…

Google Classroom Introduction – Updated 1-20-15

Google updated Classroom last week and added some features that teachers were asking for.  (This shows that Google is listening to the feedback that teachers are leaving and that if there is a feature you want, make sure to suggest it.)  Classroom now gives you a way to view all assignments in one place, for all classes…

Easier Communication with Students

One thing that should be easier than ever, thanks to the technology that is readily available to us, is the ability to quickly communicate with others, including students.  There are various ways we can get information out to our students using the tools we already have, or by learning how to use some new ones.…

Use Snagit for Chrome to Create Animated Gifs

I end up creating a lot of tip sheets and tutorials for teachers and students.  Sometimes those require long explanations which are better solved using video but sometimes all I need is a 20 second clip or shorter.  For those shorter cases, I just use Snagit for Chrome to capture a quick video and turn…

Biweekly Newsletter #5

(Apparently I have been forgetting to post the newsletters that I send out to the staff I work with onto this blog.  I removed the stuff that pertains only to them and will post the old newsletters all at once.)   Friday, December 12   Update to Google Docs – You can now merge table cells…

Biweekly Newsletter #4

(Apparently I have been forgetting to post the newsletters that I send out to the staff I work with onto this blog.  I removed the stuff that pertains only to them and will post the old newsletters all at once.) Tuesday, November 25th Getting rid of notifications in Mac App Store – Simple step to get…

Biweekly Newsletters #3

(Apparently I have been forgetting to post the newsletters that I send out to the staff I work with onto this blog.  I removed the stuff that pertains only to them and will post the old newsletters all at once.) Thursday, November 13   Welcome to the third AHS Tech Times newsletter.   Self-paced Google Apps…

Biweekly Newsletters #2

(Apparently I have been forgetting to post the newsletters that I send out to the staff I work with onto this blog.  I removed the stuff that pertains only to them and will post the old newsletters all at once.) Friday, October 31   Welcome to the second AHS Tech Times newsletter.   Add-ons in Google…

Curate Resources For Students To Differentiate

I have become less and less of a fan of textbooks as technology has made it even easier to find resources that are better suited to help our students learn.  A textbook is as far away from differentiated resources as you can get as it is written in one way and written for students who…