📞 Free distance learning curriculum, ungrading, goal setting, and more – Edcerpts for February 27, 2023

Internet Travels

Edcerpts are my weekly round up of interesting links and ideas I discovered on the internet. It is published on Mondays for the previous week

Apps

Tony Vincent posted a toot about The Achievery (via a blogpost by Shannon Miller), a free digital learning platform for distance learning. The site is a collaboration between AT&T and Warners Bros, the latter enabling content on the site to use Warner Bros characters such as those from the DC Comics. The activities and lesson plans are geared from 10 minutes in length up to an entire class period, encompassing students K-12.

I’m always up for a good brainstorming session, and Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers posted a list of Warm-up Activities for Group Brainstorming Sessions.

Pedagogy

If I could come up with an ultimate solution to motivating students, I would be a pretty rich guy. Until then, we have to rely on studies, such as this meta analysis on the effectiveness of interventions that foster reading motivation.

Are you ready to ungrade? Elisabeth Gruner explains how she uses feedback but no grades to support her students’ learning.

The always amazing Larry Ferlazzo shares a study demonstrates that student goal-setting can work in language-learning classroom.

Here are two approaches to using ChatGPT in the classroom. The first looks at ChatGPT in the college classroon while the second takes a pragmatic approach to using ChatGPT in the elementary classroom.

Technology

The newest version of ChromeOS 110 adds 7 new features to Chromebooks. Two of the features most interesting to students and teachers are the improvements to the launcher menu and selective text to speech. The latter option gives user the ability to listen to selected text directly from the right-click menu. Google has also added so new features to the smart canvas (what we think of as Google Docs for the most part). There are a ton in the list, the one I’m most excited about is variables. Variables in a Google Doc look like form fields, allow you to easily customize documents.

More articles on ChatGPT, is it going to make us better or worse? John Spencer writes about how to use ChatGPT for writing, providing some great examples on how it will help students write.

In March, Google is finally going to connect tasks and reminders. I just hope this will finally allow us to assign tasks to people in Google Docs!

Tips

Are you having your students present in your classroom? Here are some tips finding your presentation inspirateion.

I had a discussion several years ago about how to get others to be curious. Give me curiosity and I’ll give you someone who is setting themselves for success. Peter Greene, of course, does a lot better job of explaining the importance of curiousity.

If you use Google Docs, here is the.
Free Technology for Teachers Google Docs Features Starter Pack and tips from google on writing a novel in Google Docs.

Pop Culture

Wondering what traits a spoiled child may have? A child psychologist shares 5 signs along with tips on undoing the spoilage.

How public schools can stop wasting millions of dollars. The answer won’t surprise you.

Pot Pourri

A 32 episode podcast about writing for diversity, pitting ChatGPT against the original chat AI, Eliza, and some inspiration (what if you just started walking?).