I am a big social media user. I have accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google+. However, the social media account I use most is Twitter, the microblogging tool. In Twitter, I share my own discoveries and learn from others every day. It is a huge source of professional development for me. Twitter is
November 2017: Web-ulous tools, part 2
Back in March of 2014, my Kathy’s Katch blog post highlighted some of my favorite online tools– Google Docs Story Builder, Magisto, Pixiclip, Thinglink, and Narrable. Story Builder and Narrable are gone. Thinglink has expanded into the VR arena. Magisto is now a paid service. Pixiclip has stayed the same. Apps and online tools come
October 2017: Sharing your ideas with video and audio
Sharing your successful practices with others is an important part of the role of a educator. Traditionally you have probably shared your ideas, tips, tricks, and findings in-person with your grade level team, your district team, and with face-to-face audiences at regional and national conferences. However, with the current crop of digital apps and tools,
September 2017: Put the “make” in your makerspace
When my son was in high school, our high school had really old technology. There were no CD/DVD players, just videotape machines. So, when his friends were done creating their great multimedia projects on DVD using their home computers, they would come to our house to move the project from DVD to videotape. We had
August 2017: Augmented reality in the classroom
Last year, I wrote a blog post dealing with the use of virtual reality resources to support the instructional process. I started the article with an explanation of the difference between virtual reality and augmented reality, which I feel is important to include again since, this time, the post will be about the use of
July 2017: Using fidget spinners to target literacies
Fidget spinners were the end-of-school-year passion for students. A fidget spinner is a small device, usually with three “arms” and a ball bearing center. The basic spin has the user holding the fidget spinner between the thumb and forefinger of one hand and spinning it with the other hand. The ball bearing in the
June 2017: Promoting inventiveness in the classroom
We are all familiar with invention—the process of creating something new and useful. But what about the creativity factors that play a large role in this process? The form of creativity leading to invention is called inventiveness. How can you lead your teachers or colleagues to promote inventiveness in the classroom? The Belin-Blank Center for
May 2017: Resources to support STEM
I like this definition of STEM from WhatIs.com: STEM is an educational program developed to prepare primary and secondary students for college and graduate study in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In addition to subject-specific learning, STEM aims to foster inquiring minds, logical reasoning, and collaboration skills. I prefer this definition because, in
April 2017: Celebrating Earth Day every day
Earth Day 2017’s campaign is Climate and Environmental Literacy, which they hope leads to student attainment of these literacies by 2020. The Earth Day Network site has a downloadable toolkit for educators who are planning an event, as well as a place to register their project and locate other projects in the area. The site also includes downloadable
March 2017: Traditional literacy ideas and resources
I have identified thirteen literacies I feel our students need to succeed. (See Kathy’s Katch blog posts from from September 2014 to June 2015 to learn more about them.) One of the skillsets is the “traditional literacy skills” of reading and writing. Because March is NEA’s “National Read Across America Month“, I thought I would concentrate