Summer Links

Twitter provided hundreds of links throughout the past summer related to innovative instruction. I have whittled the list down to a few that I think any teacher in Barrington 220 would benefit from seeing.

1. Breakout EDU
Breakout EDU is a classroom game designed to provide students an inquiry-based experience of solving problems in order to unlock different types of locks and open a mystery box.

2. How Technology Should Have Already Changed Your Teaching

This article outlines how access to technology can transform the emotional, instructional, and assessment aspects of student learning. While visiting Apple, I experienced how Apple Design Team members interact to shape ideas and implement them into action. That experience makes #8 on the list in the article my favorite.

3. 15 Things Every Teacher Should Try This Year

This infographic/sketchnote includes some very easy ideas for teachers to implement this year to transform the learning experience for their students. The TPACK team in each building (Tech, LTA, Librarian, and iDAL coach) can help you with any of these easy, but meaningful experiences.

4. ISTE- Five Ways to Make Your Classroom Global
This article outlines five great, easy ways for teachers to expand the audience of their classrooms to include classrooms, experts, and people from around the globe.

5. Julie Smith on Mastering the Media
If you're looking for organic, real-life examples of lessons learned about digital citizenship, Dr. Julie Smith's website is a great place to start. She covers basic digital citizenship practices with examples and even scales up to current pop culture and time sensitive issues.

6. Edcamps
Edcamps are becoming all the rage. These grass-roots unconferences planned and run by teachers for teachers are free and popping up all over the Chicago area. This article outlines the idea behind Edcamps and leads to schedules of Edcamps in our area.