Learning in the Lou

gum on the ground by the Alamo I have been watching a billion crime shows on Netflix over the past year or so. Mostly because many of the shows have lots of episodes, right now it is Bones. What those shows have taught me was that everything leaves trace evidence behind. I was strolling by the Alamo and took the image above. Gum. I have noticed there is a lot of gum on the sidewalks. I wonder how much gold and silver could be harvested from that gum. There has to be trace amounts of precious medals in the gum, how might we mine it? This reminds me of a time during my student teaching. A student exclaimed that ice cream was made of dirt. No one laughed or said anything, the room was quiet for a bit. Slowly others started to figure it out. His connection was that the grass grows in the dirt, cows eat the grass, people take the milk and turn that into ice cream, thus ice cream is made out of dirt. This connection was brilliant and helped the other kids think differently and...

Just too much noise! It is just about July and I have taken a bit of time off. At home things can get all kinds of noisy. Kids talking (yelling)  to Alexa/Google Home to play some great hits like that pen pineapple song, someone else watching random Youtube videos, cell phones dinging, Nerf guns and more. All this noise can drive me nuts. Then there are times when the house is too quiet, so quiet I can't think. This post is how to fix the too quiet issue. Coffitivity Simply, a way to create soft background noise like you are in a coffee shop or on a college campus. Navigate to coffitivity and check out the left side. Select one of the three top options. Let the concentration begin! Need more sounds? The premium   is only $9! That is less than a trip to the actual coffee shop. Apps Add it to your mobile device for total portability. So sweet!       iOS       Android

Are you looking for a few new ideas this summer? Maybe something to improve a workshop, parent communication or just something fresh? Starting in a few days there is a HUGE educational technology conference happening in Texas. I believe there are over 16,000+ participants, you can just imagine how many ideas will flow during the conference. The ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference runs from June 24-28. So how can you hop on and join in? Open TweetDeck and start to read.      Don't have a twitter account? Make one! You will need one to use TweetDeck. I promise it won't disappoint.       You can also just click on the hashtags below and follow along.            #iste17  - people at the conference use this to tweet out new learning and ideas           #notatiste17   this hashtag is used by those who are not at ISTE Tweet Deck ...

My current note taking application. Not always effective. I feel pulled in a billion directions all the time. I sometimes forget more in one day than I care to admit. Other times I show up somewhere and can't recall why I am at the store. Like just two days ago I went to Target and bought some stuff, some we even needed, but totally forgot to get the one thing my wife told me to get. She only told me like five times but I still forgot. Ever happen to you? There are a number of ways that the Google Keep app can help keep you on track. In this post we will show you a few ways on how to do this on your mobile device. It works pretty much the same way on your laptop. Checklist I fell in love with checklists after reading the Checklist Manifesto . Open the Keep app on your mobile and create a new note. 1. Title your note. 2. Click the little plus symbol in the lower left. Then you will have access for the next step. 3. Click Checkboxes. 1. Click the little i...

Want to export/import your bookmarks from Chrome? Follow these steps and you will be good to go. Exporting Open Chrome . 1. Click the ice cream cone . (three little dots in the upper right corner) 2. Click Bookmarks . 3. Click Bookmark manager . 1. Click Organize . 2. Click Export bookmarks to HTML file... 1. Feel free to rename the file so it is easier to find later. 2. Click Save . Importing Open  Chrome . 1. Click the  ice cream cone .  (three little dots in the upper right corner) 2. Click  Bookmarks . 3. Click  Bookmark manager . 1. Click  Organize . 2. Click  Import bookmarks from HTML file... 1. Locate your bookmark file. 2. Click Open.

BreakoutEdu has been an exciting development in education.  Kids love discovering clues, solving puzzles, unraveling mysteries, unlocking locks, and competing with other groups to finish first.  And while most people know about the physical games and kits, few are aware of the amazing world of digital breakout games.  This summer class explores digital breakouts--what they are, where to find them, and how to make them. Try it! Teachers in our district and around the world are creating digital breakouts to make learning fun.  Team up and try one out! Cha-Ching by Anna Martin and Emily Bozdeck -- 1st grade, Concord Tic-Tic-Toc by Sarah Behnen -- 2nd grade, Crestwood Og's Great Adventure -- 2nd grade Monkey Cage Breakout -- 4th grade JFK  by Greg Seagraves -- 7th grade - Truman Social Studies Ticket to the Bahamas  -- HS math/probability Poetry Breakout -- Middle School ELA Learn how to do it! Now that you have exper...

Marketing 101 - aka how do I get people to look/click on what I post? This post was created to be a guide for a summer class. By the end of the class you will... have a few ideas on how to market what you post from your classroom create a schedule of ideas on your calendar boomerang a reminder to get started in August What makes something clickable? Why do videos go viral? Why did Rebecca Black become a success? Is there something here that we could apply to what we do with our own social media? Why do some sites/posts get traffic while others are simply never clicked upon? Idea Generation The posts below were used to look at how we create our message. The big idea was to look outside what were are already doing and finding some      1.  5 Ideas To Build Your Personal Brand This Summer - this is a super interesting idea. How do we create a brand for ourselves and the classroom? The five ideas help to start building a consistent message, on...

This post was created to be used in one of our summer courses. Feel free to use it as a reference as you create with Google Sites. Introduction Sites is a quick way for you and your students to create a website. The site can be limited to people within the district or published to allow anyone with the link to view the site. You can also add additional editors to the site allowing many people to collaborate on the same site. Is this your missing link? Is this the thing that might just tie all of your student work together into one place? One portfolio? See Classroom Ideas #3 to see how it happened for one kindergarten class. overview video Demo At this point in the class we opened Sites and created most of a site in a few minutes.  Challenge! (This is just a mock challenge, you are not really building a public site for Moore.) Your team is tasked with creating an informative site based around the Moore Leadership Center. The site will be used by those withi...

Not sure how to really explain this so just check it out. I took a quick selfie and opened it in the Snapseed app. To start editing, click the pencil in the lower right. 1. Scroll down to the very bottom. 2. Click the Pose button. Click on the center icon and drag up/down/left/right. It actually moves your face while the rest of the image remains in place. Not a big selfie taker but this seems to be a interesting idea.