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Let Flexibility Lead To Alignment

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  In my previous school district, I was the only teacher teaching a physics course with set, district-wide learning outcomes. These same outcomes were also taught in physics classrooms at the other high school in our district. But at our school, I was one of the 2 physics teachers. The other teacher taught the AP-level physics courses. So, in many ways, I had opportunities to incorporate strategies I believed were best for learners and that I found worked best for them without being seen as out of alignment with anyone in our building. My amazing friend and one of my teaching philosophy goddesses, Katie Novak, stated the following misconception about alignment: All teachers must deliver instruction in the exact same way. True alignment, she says, is about shared goals, rigor, and outcomes. Thank you, Katie! Katie has taught me to truly believe that learner variability is the rule, not the exception. I encourage you to take 10 minutes to listen to Katie Novak explain it in the ...
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SLATE Day 2: A GAFE Summit in 60 Minutes

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The second day of SLATE is only half a day.  We had a great closing session with Dr. James Rickabaugh. I feel like I’ve discussed his book in a few previous posts including a wonderful Video Q & A with him. This video quality isn't great but the quality of the information is.

I attended a session by Rita Mortenson that blew me away.  Rita is the Educational Technology Coordinator for Verona Area High School. Her session was titled Google Tips and Tricks to Know Before Your Students Do.  It was filled with so much stuff I did not know that I am excited to bring to my classroom.  The presentation is below.  I’d love to run through some of my highlights.



Savefrom.net:  This extension allows users to download videos from YouTube.  It is currently blocked by my district.  I hope we can change that soon. If you are interested, you can get the extension here: http://en.savefrom.net/user.php?vid=387#download

Drive Template Gallery: Move you and your students beyond the basic templates with this app.

Lucidpress for Education: Lucidpress has free accounts for education both educators and students. Just a fantastic suite of templates for building powerful digital documents.

Slides Carnival: Have your learners go beyond the overused templates found in Google Slides. Templates should not be tired.  Sometimes I feel that way whenever I open up a student created slideshow.  I look forward to bringing this new resource to bear and require students be more intentional in their design choices.

Chrome Music Labs: I don’t want to tell you too much, because I’m going to be introducing my students to this next week now that I’ve discovered it.

For Math Teachers: Apps, extensions and add-ons.  These were curated by Eric Curts and his blog Control Alt. From elementary to AP level, there’s something for everyone.

Honestly, there is so much here that you could go through the slides and have your personal GAFE Summit.  Save it for a over the winter break where you can’t get outside and dig deep into the presentation.



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