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Director of Communications
(615) 741-9010
Public Relations Media Manager
(615) 741-9069
Communications Content Manager
(615) 532-7822
In Tennessee, celebrations are encouraged for every occasion. Celebrate moments that will be relived over and over again. The kind that fill your family and friend time with memories and create stories that will be told for years to come. Dance the night away, cozy up in a cabin, enjoy a classic Southern brunch or find one-of-a-kind boutiques. Whether you're marking a birthday, wedding, anniversary, family reunion, girlfriend getaway, bachelor or bachelorette party or weekend getaway, you can celebrate in style in Tennessee.
Blues and barbecue. Angling for catfish. Side-of-the-road safaris. West Tennessee has can't-miss attractions, outdoor havens, restaurants and events for everyone. In Memphis, stroll down historic Beale Street and listen to live music at BB Kings Blues Club. Finish it off with a cozy cocktail at Silky O'Sullivan's. Walk in the footsteps of legends at Elvis Presley's Memphis at Graceland, Sun Studio and Stax Museum of American Soul Music and Tina Turner Museum at Flagg Grove School in Brownsville. Savor a creative dish at Gray Canary in Old Dominick Distillery in Memphis or indulge in mouth-watering barbecue at Helen's Bar-B-Q in Brownsville. Experience wonder at Discovery Park of America in Union City. Choose your own adventure from treetop zip-lining, horseback riding and more at Shelby Farms Park. Explore the culture with a visit to the Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, take the family to the Memphis Zoo, or stroll through the Memphis Botanical Garden. Sip and enjoy Tennessee sights at Crown Winery. Finish the day with Southern downhome cooking at Casey Jones Village in Jackson and after dinner indulge in a scoop at the Old Country Store Ice Cream Parlor & Fudge Shoppe.
Middle Tennessee provides genuine Southern hospitality and an unparalleled creative music experience. Explore music along Broadway and tour downtown Nashville by pedal tavern, trolley, Segway or bus. See if you can handle the heat with hot chicken at Prince's or Hattie B.'s, fresh farm dining at Five Senses in Murfreesboro a slawburger at Honey's in Fayetteville. Thrill to the music of legends at the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium or pay homage to hometown hero Minnie Pearl in Centerville. Enjoy music in the vineyards while sipping on the best vintage at Arrington Vineyards, Beachaven Vineyards, sip on Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey in Lynchburg or try craft beer and soda at Red Silo in Cookeville. The new craft brewery Hop Springs in Murfreesboro spans more than 80 acres with a taproom, concert venue, wet & dry dog park and an 18-hole disc golf course. Pop into antique shops and historic spots including Carnton and Carter House museums in downtown Franklin. Not far away, check out the rustic atmosphere, antique and vintage items and local art in the charming village of Leiper's Fork. Rock into relaxation at Evins Mill resort and enjoy a farm-to-table dinner in Smithville, home to the Fiddlers' Jamboree & Crafts Festival. Explore historic Granville, where you'll find a pioneer village and weekly live bluegrass show at Sutton Old Time Music Hour. Take in a play about the famous Bell Witch Cave in Adams or visit one of the country's premiere regional theaters The Cumberland County Playhouse in Crossville. Stop for a picnic with local prize-winning goat cheese produced at Bonnie Blue Farm. Test your skills rock climbing and kayaking in the Upper Cumberland.
Take any path in East Tennessee and you'll end up someplace memorable. Hike the Appalachian Trail. Sing along to the tunes that made Bristol the Birthplace of Country Music. Go whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River. Enjoy wine tastings along the Rocky Top Wine Trail. Find adventure with family-fun activities at Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Anakeesta Adventure Park in Gatlinburg, Bristol Caverns, Cades Cove, The Lost Sea in Sweetwater, Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Gray Fossil Site in Northeast Tennessee or the Museum of Appalachia in Clinton. Hear a show at the historic Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville, then checkout the art in Market Square downtown. Try the famous bible burger at Tinsley-Bible Drug Co.'s soda fountain in Dandridge, sip a craft beer at Chattanooga Brewing Co. Sip spirits at Sevier Distilling Company.
No celebration would be complete without a Made in Tennessee brunch. Start your morning or afternoon off with a bonut (biscuit dough stuffed with lemon mascarpone and topped with blueberry compote) and a Bloody Mary at Biscuit Love in Nashville. Get a short stack of fluffy pancakes at Pancake Pantry in Gatlinburg, Lola's Mac and Cheese at Café Lola in Johnson City, a breakfast burrito at The Tomato Head in Knoxville or Beauty Burger from the Beauty Shop in Memphis. Whether it's sweet or savory, Tennessee has you covered.
From quaint downtowns lined with antique shop and boutiques to booming shopping districts, you're sure to find everything you're looking for and then some. Stylists can help match accessories with outfits at Serendipity in Johnson City. Stroll along the historic district while shopping for finds at Pink Whale Boutique, Angela's Vintage Boutique or Bewitched Boutique in Jonesborough, Tennessee's oldest town. In Knoxville, you can fill your closet with blazers, chic hats, unique jewelry and racks of clothing from denim to dresses at Elle Boutique. Find your perfect match at Caravan Boutique in Cookeville. Locally-made products at affordable prices can be found at Abednego in Nashville's Germantown. Franklin, Lebanon, Collierville and Greeneville are four of the myriad of small towns in Tennessee where local boutiques, antiques and other shops featuring vintage and chic clothing and homegrown goodies are the order of the day.
Tennessee is the fifth most-visited state for weddings. If you're looking to tie the knot, find a cabin rental or chapel tucked into the hills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Couples can make their vows amid waterfalls and scenic beauty of the 56 Tennessee State Parks or plan a weekend celebration at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee; complete with horseback riding, a concert, a brewery, spa and wellness center and farm-to-table meals. Couples can tie the knot and stay in style at the Saltbox Inn & Stables in Cookeville. Southern weddings and historic homes go hand in hand. Victorians and Antebellums make a gorgeous backdrop for tying the knot, such as Carnton in Franklin. In Nashville, Belle Meade Plantation's Carriage House, Two Rivers Mansion and Riverwood Mansion are hot spots for receptions. In Memphis, Woodruff-Fontaine House, a well-preserved 1871 French Victorian, is punctuated by manicured gardens and towering magnolias. Others to consider include the Historic Sam Davis Home in Smyrna, Rippavilla Plantation in Spring Hill, Cedar Hall in Bartlett and Crescent Bend House & Gardens in Knoxville. Tennessee's wineries set the stage for your special day. Arrington Vineyards provides a stunning spot for outdoor weddings or a sun-drenched family reunion. Other scenic wineries perfect for tying the knot include Crown Winery in Humboldt, Villa Nove Vineyards in Butler, Goodwater Vineyards in Mosheim and Tennessee's oldest winery, Highland Manor in Jamestown. In Tennessee, you can buy your cattle via auction and also throw a wedding in the same visit at Crazy K Ranch in Michie. Farm weddings are all the rage in Tennessee at beautiful spots like The Barn at Sycamore Farms in Arrington and The Lily Barn in Townsend, which offers a rustic gazebo surrounded by 3 acres of the lovely Smoky Mountains foothills. From east to west, Tennessee offers rustic barns, quaint chapels, cabins, wineries and upscale venues with beautiful views to provide the perfect wedding day and stunning wedding photographs to last a lifetime.
For a sample of Tennessee Celebrate images, visit: https://tennesseetourism.tandemvault.com/lightboxes/9flsXfMMb
Director of Communications
(615) 741-9010
Public Relations Media Manager
(615) 741-9069
Communications Content Manager
(615) 532-7822


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subset: commoncrawl


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How to Pick the Best Font for Your Website, Easy Guide:
Looking for the best font for your website? The ideal choice is a font that can grab and keep visitors' attention, while remaining easy to read. But with tons of options to choose from, how do you pick the best font for your website?
In this easy guide, I'll show you how to zero in on the best web font for your particular brand and give you a list of Google's best web fonts to choose from.
I'll also give you suggestions for pairing these fonts to create a specific look and style for your website.
By the end of this quick guide, you'll be able to easily select the best font for your website.
The Google web fonts on this list are all super-popular, distinctive, and stylish. And even better, they're all 100% free and easy to add to your website.
You can pick a suggested pairing from this list, or play around with the options and create your own unique combo.
So let's get into how to pick the best font for your website in minutes.
Choosing the Best Font For Your Website: Rules to Remember
Rule #1: Don't Combine Too Many Fonts (No more than 2 or 3)
With all of the gorgeous font options available to you, it can be tempting to go a little crazy and add every font that catches your eye to your site.
But that would be a major design no-no.
When choosing the best font for your website, limiting the number of fonts is key.
As a general rule, your website should have no more than three web fonts, to create a polished, pulled-together feel.
You've probably seen brands that use a jumble of different font styles. Ever noticed how messy and unappealing their branding looks?
Not only does this move mark your brand out as a rookie, it's also a sure-fire way to ensure that your business just isn't memorable.
That's because good branding is all about the repetition of a few selected elements.
When visitors to your site see the same two or three fonts on your logo, in your headers, and body text, they'll begin to associate those fonts with your brand.
This helps your website and business to stand out and come across as more professional and authoritative.
Rule #2: Pair Opposing Font Types for More Appeal
While there are thousands of web fonts to choose from, they can all be split into two main groups:
Serif and Sans-Serif fonts.
Serif fonts are those with small lines attached to their ends, like Times New Roman or Georgia fonts. Serif fonts are more traditional and give your branding a more conservative look.
Sans-serif fonts don't have these little lines and tend to be more modern, sleek, and even playful.
Examples of sans-serif fonts include Helvetica and Montserrat. If you're going for a more contemporary brand style, you'll want to use sans-serif fonts.
You know the phrase "opposites attract"? Well, it definitely applies to choosing the best fonts for your website.
Pairing a serious, formal font with a cooler, more fun font is a fantastic way to create a highly memorable, eye-catching brand.
So if you're having trouble figuring out the best web font combo for your website, try combining a serif font with a sans serif option.
Then, make one font larger than the other, for maximum contrast.
This quick trick works whether your website is for a lawyer's office or a style influencer's blog.
Juxtaposing a classic font with a modern one is an easy recipe for instant branding success.
Now that we've got the basics out of the way, it's time to pick the best font for your website. Here are my picks for the best fonts for websites.
The Best Font for Your Website: My Top Picks
Josefin Sans: This Google font is a firm favorite for its cool, geometric style. While this font has a modern look, it's also got a touch of vintage in its pedigree (it was based on classic Swedish design). It works equally well on big bold headlines and sub-text.
And If your brand's name has a "z" in it, Josefin Sans will definitely add a stand-out look to your branding.
Josefin Sans pairs well with: Amatic SC for a quirky effect, or try it with Dancing Script to achieve a fun, playful look with a feminine touch.
Oswald: If you want to give your website a more high-end feel, you really can't go wrong with the Oswald font. With its straight, slim look, this sans-serif font is a great choice for websites offering professional services. Whether you use it for headings or body text, Oswald gives your words and your site a trustworthy, authoritative feel.
You have six different styles of Oswald to choose from, so you're sure to find the perfect match for your brand.
Oswald pairs well with: Everything from Arial and Roboto, to Opens Sans and Merriweather.
Love Oswald's sleek modernity but also want to introduce a slightly classic font to your branding? Pair Oswald with EB Garamond for a perfectly balanced look.
Alegreya: Choose the Alegreya serif font if you're looking for a mix of classic and friendly styles. While Alegreya is a serif font, it's not as traditional as others, making it ideal for a less serious feel.
It's also a highly readable font, helping your visitors easily make their way through large amounts of text. But Alegreya also looks amazing on headlines, so don't be afraid to use it to highlight sections.
As a bonus, Alegreya displays wonderfully as an italic font.
Alegreya pairs well with: Practically any sans-serif font. Add a large Alegreya headline to an Alegreya Sans sub-heading or pair it with Roboto.
Or try my personal favorite. Pair it with Lato for classical meets modern simplicity.
PT Sans: PT Sans is another great sans-serif font option. It works well on big headlines and is clear, easy to read, and simple.
Because of these properties, web designers often use PT Sans on areas of websites where easy reading is important. If you've got a landing page with lots of text you want potential customers to read, PT Sans is ideal.
Plus, PT Sans has several varieties for you to choose from so you're bound to find the right one for your site.
PT Sans pairs well with: PT Sans Narrow. Try using PT Sans on your big bold headlines. Then add PT Sans Narrow to your sub-headings, for a harmonious effect that flows well.
On the flip side, you can also use PT Sans as the body text, under an Oswald font heading.
Varela: I'd recommend Varela if you want your website to have a clean, modern look, without being too stark. The Varela font is sans-serif but still manages to retain a little classic roundness.
Varela is the best font for your website if you want to communicate openness and friendliness.
This font's clean-cut, low letters look just as good in a heading as they do in body text.
Varela pairs well with: An Open Sans sub-heading or body text. While they are a tad similar in roundness, I absolutely love the look of the Varela font with Open Sans.
This pairing gives your readers the feeling that your brand is warm, honest, and transparent.
To fully differentiate between the two fonts, try putting your Varela heading in all caps.
Poppins: What's not to love about Poppins? This sans-serif font has a rounded but still sleek charm that appeals to almost everyone. No wonder it's the font of choice for sites that want a simple, highly legible reading experience for their visitors.
Want the same? Use Poppins in your heading or body text, to attract attention while keeping your readers happy.
Poppins pairs well with: Everything from Roboto to Oswald looks awesome with Poppins.
But the clear winner to me is Poppins with Playfair Display. This fresh-meets-classic pairing looks simple, forthright, and just plain cheerful!
And make sure to bold your Poppins headings to really show off the font's beauty.
Raleway: This one is a personal favorite. The Raleway sans-serif font is slick without being too futuristic. With thin lines, it conveys an elegant, refined appeal.
Plus, its thin lines make it easy on the eyes and quite restful.
I've seen it used well by minimalist brands, which makes sense since it gives off a pared-back vibe.
And if you have a "w" in your brand's name, you're in for a serious treat.
Raleway's overlapping "w" adds an iconic, established look to any website.
If you use Raleway for a header, try it in all caps for maximum impact.
Raleway pairs well with: Other popular sans-serif fonts, including Roboto and Open Sans.
But if you want to achieve a cool 90's style effect, why not pair Raleway with Roboto Mono?
This web font pairing looks great on everything from a writer's portfolio to a chic coffee shop.
Montserrat: Okay, this one is a huge favorite across the board. Bloggers and brands love the Montserrat font for its beauty and versatility. The truth is, you don't need to do much to make Montserrat look fantastic.
Whether you use it in headlines or body text, light, bold, or italic, it just works.
Montserrat combines tradition with modernity. It's the best font for your website, if you want your branding to look solid and established.
Use Montserrat to make large blocks of text a breeze to read through.
Montserrat pairs well with: The Lato font. Use Lato as the body text, and let your heading steal the show in a bold Montserrat.
Fjalla One: And last, but definitely not least, on my "best font for your website" list is Fjalla One.
Fjalla One is a condensed, sans-serif font that really pops in headlines. Its narrow, straight letters and slightly blocky look give this web font an on-trend feel.
Unlike most of the other fonts on this list, it doesn't offer you a variety of styles.
But luckily, Fjalla One looks good just the way it is.
If you're going for a contemporary but approachable vibe, this may be the best font for your website.
And if you use numbers in your website's headings, you're going to LOVE how Fjalla One's narrow, tall numbers display!
Fjalla One pairs well with: Noto Sans in regular. Try balancing your long and narrow Fjalla One headline with a more rounded Noto Sans sub-heading or body text.
Picking the Best Font for Your Website:
Picking the best font for your website doesn't have to be a long or difficult process. If you start with this list of gorgeous Google web fonts and aim for no more than 3 fonts at a time, you'll easily be able to create a cohesive and beautiful effect.
Keep in mind that the rules in this post are really just suggestions.
Design rules are often made to be broken. Play around with different combinations of fonts and don't be afraid to go with your gut instinct. If you like a certain font pairing, chances are, your audience will like it too!
And don't forget that Google Fonts makes it easy for you to pick the best font for your website, in a matter of seconds.
To use these free fonts, just head over to the Google Fonts site and copy the HTML code provided.
You can easily embed any font you choose into a webpage. Just add the code for your chosen font into the head of your HTML document.
Google Fonts also makes it super-simple for you to select and use multiple fonts at a time.
The Wrap-Up:
Hopefully, this list and guide has helped you pick the best font for your website. Getting your font choices right is a major part of creating a strong and established brand.
But remember that your choices don't have to be permanent. If you're just starting out with your blog or website, get in there and really experiment with different options.
This will make it easier to identify the best font for your website and your audience.
Now over to you — Do you have any favorite fonts from this list? Have you tried any of them on your website?
If so, leave a link below.
I'd love to come and check out your font pairings!


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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—More people say they favour a pardon for Billy the Kid than oppose the idea after Gov. Bill Richardson's office set up a website and email address to take comments on a possible posthumous pardon for one of New Mexico's most famous Old West outlaws.
Richardson's office received 809 emails and letters in the survey that ended Sunday. Some 430 argued for a pardon and 379 opposed it.
The website was created in mid-December after Albuquerque attorney Randi McGinn petitioned for a pardon, contending New Mexico Territorial Gov. Lew Wallace promised one in return for the Kid's testimony in a murder case against three men.
Richardson term ends Dec. 31, leaving him only a few days to decide whether to pardon the Kid in the 1878 killing of Lincoln County Sheriff William Brady.
"I might not pardon him. But then I might," Richardson told the Associated Press last week.
Billy the Kid, also known as William Bonney or Henry McCarty, was shot to death by Sheriff Pat Garrett in July 1881, a few months after escaping from the Lincoln County jail where he was awaiting hanging for Brady's death. He killed two deputies while escaping, but McGinn's pardon request does not cover those deaths.
McGinn, knowing Richardson's interest in the Kid, offered to look into the issue this summer. She petitioned for a pardon Dec. 14 after reviewing historical documents and other material.
Emails debating the issue came from all over the U.S. and beyond, including England, Japan, France and New Zealand, said Richardson's deputy chief of staff, Eric Witt.
"This has clearly generated a lot of interest globally," Witt said.
He said responses, pro and con, came from people familiar with the legend of Billy the Kid as well as from people knowledgeable about the territorial era and the Lincoln County War, in which the Kid and Brady were on opposite sides.
Some argued that circumstantial evidence points toward Wallace offering a pardon and said it was not implausible since Wallace pardoned other people involved in the Lincoln County War. Others questioned why Richardson would consider pardoning "a cop killer," Witt said.
McGinn has said the point is not who was killed, but whether a government has to keep its promise.
Among those opposing a pardon are Garrett's grandson J.P. Garrett, of Albuquerque, and Wallace's great-grandson William Wallace, of Westport, Conn.
J.P. Garrett has said there's no proof Gov. Wallace offered a pardon — and he may have tricked the Kid into testifying.
"The big picture is that Wallace obviously had no intent to pardon Billy — even telling a reporter that fact in an interview on April 28, 1881," he wrote to Witt. "But I do think there was a pardon 'trick,' in that Wallace led Billy on to get his testimony."
William Wallace said his ancestor never promised a pardon, so pardoning the Kid "would declare Lew Wallace to have been a dishonourable liar."
The Kid wrote Wallace in 1879, volunteering to testify in the murder case if Wallace would annul pending charges against him, including the Brady indictment.
McGinn said Wallace responded he had the authority "to exempt you from prosecution if you will testify to what you say you know."
The Kid kept his end of the bargain, but Wallace did not, she argued.
J.P. Garrett said there's no written proof Wallace offered a pardon.
And, he noted, when the Kid was awaiting trial in Brady's killing, "he wrote four letters for aid, but never used the word pardon."


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Disclaimer, this post might display opinions that some of you don't share, however, they are not the content, but can be taken as examples for the point I am trying to make.
People of the internet, we need to talk about this. What is going on with all the hate and disgusting stuff that people throw at each other online? I never understood how you could dislike a person so much that you threaten them with violence or worse, but apparently there are people out there who haven't got the slightest problem with exactly doing that. In fact, it is what happens every day. There are so many people out there fearing their life, because they regularly receive hate comments and death threats. I think we need to address this topic, because only few people explicitly talk about this, but it is becoming more relevant than ever with younger people having access to the internet.
My reaction to hate online is often pure shock. I cannot believe what people can say to each other without having ever met. I have a message for all those of you that harm others in this way (and if you are offended by this, I am indeed talking to you):
When you get so upset about gay marriage, keep it together, it is none of your business, so don't go around scaring people with your disgusting behaviour. You can be against it, everyone is allowed an opinion after all, you might even pose your arguments, as long as you are respectful and not outright insulting or molesting anyone.
When you don't like feminism and would rather return to the old patriarchy, I do project dark times for you ahead (BTW feminism is not only about women, it's about equality). However, you can stick to that mindset, go ahead, I am not holding you back, but please stay off the internet and stop threatening all the confident, successful women out there.
When you can't stand the thought of foreign people coming to your country, that is your problem, so just be quiet and let them enjoy their life, instead of humiliating them or worse.
I think there should be a general rule: If you are not directly involved or affected either support the people who are going through whatever it is or keep quiet. If you are a man and a woman is pregnant and the child is not yours, you are not affected. If someone is transgender and having an operation, you are not affected. Also, if you have no clue or expertise on the topic, don't you dare tell others what is right or wrong. People can think and decide themselves, if they needed help with a choice or an educated opinion, they would contact someone they trust or who is an expert regarding that topic. You, the weird stranger sitting in the dark typing on your laptop, on the other hand, have no idea what it is like. You don't know the background, you have no expertise at all and still you believe you can dictate other people's lives. Just no.
If you are against gay marriage and are affected in no way (which you automatically aren't if you are not gay), go away, it is not that it will take away any of your privileges, other people are just given the same stuff that you have. If you don't grasp the concept of love and sharing and equality, you might consider doing a course or seminar or religion (only if it is not the hateful kind of relgion, stay away from that).
I won't be wasting energy on trying to convince you of a different opinion, I just want to know:
How hard can it be to just be polite and nice? (Or if neither of that is an option keep quiet). Also, a hard background story and life are not an excuse. They don't give you the right to make other people feel bad or harm them. There are billions of people out there who had and have an incredibly hard life, and they did not start throwing dirt around and make other people's lives harder. There are people working so hard to be a good person and nice, even though they are struggling, and there the haters come and take everything apart.
I mean, I also don't agree with everyone's opinion, but that does not mean that I try to destroy those people. It does make me angry that there are people out there who seriously believe one or more of the following:
- The climate change is not real
- Racism is not real
- Women should not be able to decide about their body (abortion)
- Feminism is about women taking over the world (like… how? I mean even if it was, I think after thousands of years of men doing exactly that, I think it would just be fair, but okay)
- Equal marriage should not be allowed (No one expects you to march on pride, just let them be happy for god's sake)
- Disapprove of transgender people
- Young people's and children's opinions do not matter (a generational thing, which keeps repeating itself and apparently no one is interested in changing that)
- Hate and violence would be a solution to any problem
- Mental health problems and mental disorders are not to be taken seriously or don't exist
I don't agree with people who support one of these opinions, but that does not mean that I am going to their Instagram or Twitter profile and start insulting, threatening or molesting them. I could spend all my energy on trying to convince them of different opinions, but it is a hopeless idea when I can see that they are beyond reason and not listening at all. Discussions could bring out a lot of interesting new insights, but there rarely are fruitful discussions taking place online, because everyone is hating on each other and being so agressive.
How come that some people never learn how to properly discuss (which also involves listening to each other)? Is it really so hard to think rationally and wait until the other person has made their point or do these people just don't do it because their opinion might turn out to not be founded on any logical reasoning but on their damaged ego that fears to be thrown off their throne of oppression (which they built by hating on others of course)?
I am increasingly getting frustrated, as I am growing up in a world where everything seems to be falling apart. There goes our planet, dying from global warming. There goes the love, dying from people full of hate. There goes our humanity, dying from all the wars. I am being honest, it becomes harder for me to see positive things out there.
Okay finally:
To all amazing people that spread love: Please share this with people you know. Of course, especially those of whom you know that they belong to the haters (although I hardly believe that you would enjoy their presence). Therefore, it is even more important to post it online if you have a public social media account (on Twitter or elsewhere), I would like people to read this. I want the haters to be aware of the damage they are doing (I highly doubt that this will do anything, they do all of it, because of the damage it does).
To the poisonous people that spread hate: Shame on you. Shame. On. You. If you have something on your heart that needs to get out, do that in a way that does not harm other people, don't even think of going somewhere and bother one of the other amazing human beings on our planet. And when you are finished letting your hate out in a non-harmful way, go look for a therapist that can help with your anger problems that most likely are rooted in some unconscious part of your brain.
Going on a rant like this is quite unusual for me, so I am sorry if this comes unexpected, but I do think that some things need to be addressed. And just to make this very clear again: Everyone is free to have their opinion, I am an advocate of open discussion and I always try to understand everyone (even though some people are so toxic that they wouldn't deserve that someone listened). This post is about people who not only don't listen what others have to say, but who go around and frighten and endanger others.


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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84069435658950604342020-04-05T04:56:11.955-07:00Class Tech Integrate Best Practices and Resources for EdTech in the Classroom.Mickey McFetridgehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-13594683788612788752020-01-22T11:35:00.002-08:002020-01-27T06:49:44.367-08:00Easy Facilitation is a Click Away with ClassroomScreen

I tend to blog about edtech tools that students use more so than tools strictly for the teacher, but classroomscreen.com breaks the mold! Simply put, classroomscreen.com is a classroom facilitation tool. The teacher/presenter displays the webpage up at the front of the room, and has a list of tools to choose from:

Random Name Selector

Sound Level

Qu-Code (to share websites)

Drawing

Text

Work Symbols

Traffic Light

Timer

Clock

image from classroomscreen.com

These tools can all be used simultaneously and serve many purposes. My personal favorites are the sound level check, work symbols, traffic light, and timer.

If you're looking for a solution to help facilitate small group work or stations in your classroom, check out classroomscreen.com!

This post was not sponsored, all views and opinions are my own.

Mickey McFetridgehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-44702479589059890192019-01-20T10:19:00.001-08:002019-01-20T10:23:32.116-08:00Kahoot: From taking quizzes to transforming your classroom.Kahoot was launched in September of 2013, so it's hardly a "new/cutting edge tool." However, with the speed of newly appearing (and quickly disappearing) EdTech tools, Kahoot still seems to be one of the top used. When I talk to teachers about Kahoot, there is one question that I always ask:
 "Are your students making Kahoots, or only taking them?"

A simple question that implies an easy tweak of how students are engaged with the tool, but why does it matter?

Consumption vs. Contribution
A blended learning classroom allows for two major roles for students: consumers and contributors. The traditional use of Kahoot, where a teacher delivers the quiz to students, is an edtech spin on your standard multiple choice quiz. It's more engaging and gives the students immediate feedback. For those of you familiar with the SAMR model, it ranks at the augmentation level. The task could still be done without tech but adds functional improvements.

So what about allowing students to contribute with Kahoot? Think about this small twist in using the tool, and how it can change the level of tech usage and thinking levels for your students. For the most part, multiple choice questions are usually pretty low on the Blooms and DOK scales. We are basically just asking students to recall information.

Let's look at what happens when we ask students to step in the contribution roll of creating the Kahoot quiz themselves:

Students analyze & evaluate the given content and decide which information is relevant enough to include in the quiz.

Students learn how to create distractions, helping them identify when they are given quizzes with such distractors.

Students can add visualizations to represent the information/questioning.

Students apply the appropriate voice to their audience for presentation. (DOK 3)

Students can have the teacher publish the Kahoot globally - extending outside of their classroom walls.

Quite a difference in levels of thinking! From an edtech/SAMR standpoint, we also see an improvement. When the student becomes a contributor/creator of a Kahoot, we see a shift from the enhancement level to the transformation level. We see task redesign. If the teacher/students publish those quizzes globally through the Kahoot platform, we are at a redefinition level of SAMR. All of a sudden your student went from taking a quiz in your classroom, to creating a quiz that students all over the globe can take. Think of the level of ownership they will take when their audience could be global.
Mickey McFetridgehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-85700283021584744122019-01-07T16:30:00.000-08:002019-01-07T16:48:07.062-08:00#OneWord2019: Contribution
#OneWord2019
My colleagues at the Fayetteville School District and I often have conversations about how we want students to use educational technology for more than just consumption. We want them to contribute while engaged in blended learning lesions and tasks. Prior to this school year, I would often say that students were either consumers or creators with technology. I've come to find that when we use the term creators, many people often draw parallels to the arts, and then claim that they aren't creative. The word contribute leaves a little less for interpretation.

The students are able to give something as well as take with technology:

an image that displays their understanding of a story

a quick video explanation of a problem they solved

a how to infographic

a blog post that serves as a journal entry of their learning journey

I have personally chosen to use contribute as my #OneWord2019 in hopes to be an example of how we can use technology to contribute thoughts, ideas, theories and/or explanations.

My Top Tools for Contribution

1. Adobe Spark
2. ScreenCastify
3. FlipGrid
4. SeeSaw
5. EduCreations
6. ExplainEverything
7. Clips by Apple
8. Buncee
9. Google Draw
10. Canva

During the next few posts, I will utilize these tools to display how they can simply be used by students or teachers for contribution. In the meantime, I invite you to check out some of these tools or leave feedback below of how you use any of these tools for contribution below.Mickey McFetridgehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-81668702253577400312018-11-30T13:16:00.002-08:002018-12-02T07:15:02.950-08:00How are teachers and students curating content?
This week, I decided to start a video reflection series on Blended Learning.

Topic 1: Content Curation.

I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about content curation. I find so many great articles and infographics online, just to lose them in the ocean of information that is the internet. I have yet to find the perfect tool for myself, but I think I'm getting closer. Check out the video below, and feel free to add comments on you favorite tools!

Anonymoushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-58347036521794411272018-10-31T14:04:00.000-07:002018-11-04T16:07:27.874-08:00Digital Assessments: More than an online quiz

There is a sea of assessment tools out there in the EdTech world: Kahoot, Google Forms, GoFormative, Nearpod, Socrative... the list goes on and on. All of these types of tools are good. They can give students instantaneous feedback, and can become more engaging. The but the question is, how are these tools more than just a digital worksheet?

There are many reasons that districts jump on the 1:1 digital bandwagon. The biggest arguably being that technology allows for great support of Personalized Learning. So is taking a quiz and putting it in Google Forms personalized learning?

EdTech gives us the opportunity to add Voice & Choice to how the students want to be assessed. We now have audio, video, graphic design, and many other tools at our students fingertips!

Thinking "Outside the box" on Assessments

1. Graphic Design Displays - Designing posters and infographics no longer takes hours of time with scissors, construction paper, and poster board. Students can use tools like Canva, Adobe Spark, & Piktochart to easily create graphics to display and/or explain their learning. Wouldn't your students take more ownership in their learning if they were developing a social media graphic about the causes of the Civil War as opposed to filling out a google form?

2. Video & Multimedia - There are so many video and media tools available these days. Screencastify, Explain Everything, Educreations, SeeSaw, and FlipGrid are all simple tools for students to record with. With these tools, we can ask every student to explain how they solved a problem as they submit an answer. When the student reviews their video explanation before submitting, they are checking their metacognition! How often does a multiple choice test do that for us?

3. Global Publishing - This option comes with a disclaimer - students under the age of 13 are not legally permitted to use social media accounts.
For our middle - high school students, we can allow them to share their learning through a blog, mini blog (twitter), or other social media outlet. This allows them to ask for feedback from others. Think about the effect of meaningful conversations with others, including experts, would have on the learning of a topic.

Mickey McFetridgehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-71416394212260873502018-07-16T19:38:00.000-07:002018-07-16T19:38:21.550-07:00Summer Learning for Educators: The Someday/Monday Approach

This post is week 6 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for educators from hotlunchtray.com. To find out more, click here.

Summer learning for educators; there can be so much of it. Conferences, book studies, twitter chats, sessions at the local co-op. etc... The question always is, "how am I going to implement all of these great things into my classroom next year?" The answer is, "you may not... and that's okay."

A few years back, Feb of 2015, I was able to attend a summit from the EdTechTeacher team. At the summit, I was able to see a fantastic member of their team, Tom Daccord. At the end of Daccord's presentation, he gave some advice: Take the Someday/Monday Approach.

The Someday/Monday approach is simple, but important to those of us that love to soak in tons of professional learning.

Think of your "someday." That is what your classroom will be like once all of these pieces are fully implemented. "Someday my classroom will ________." Write it down, capture your vision. This may even be a multi year plan.

What is the first step on "Monday" that you can accomplish towards this goal? Keep it simple, keep it small. Don't try to change too much all at once.

The key is to constantly revisit your "someday" and check on your progress towards it. Once a step is made/implimented, plan the next step.

I invite all of my fellow educators to create your Someday/Monday plan, before day one of the school year! Feel free to share in the comments below.

Mickey McFetridgehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-736028892780432742018-07-06T10:37:00.001-07:002018-07-07T07:07:27.727-07:00Empowering Students to Share Their Learning

This post is week 5 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for educators from hotlunchtray.com. Find out more by clicking here.

Most of us have been there before as either the teacher or the student. It's the first week of school, and out comes the predictable prompt: "What experiences did you have during the summer?" Now don't get me wrong, it's a decent prompt for building rapport between the teacher and their students, but there has to be a way we can shake it up a little bit, right?

Think about what your students have been doing most of this summer... They've been on social media, sharing (sometimes oversharing) almost every day. Selfies at the ball park, a victory on Fortnite, hanging by the pool, etc... All of this leading to the question, "How do we get them to connect their life experiences to their classroom experiences?" My answer, let them share.

Social Media of THEIR Choice:

Instead of that writing prompt the first week of school, why not set up a social media prompt. "With the platform of your choice, share an experience you had over the summer and include what you learned from the experience." Then create a hashtag for it... or better yet, let the class create the hashtag for it. SnapChat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, the platform doesn't matter. Have them get out their phone and share not only something they did, but what they LEARNED from the experience. Remember social media is only for students ages 13 and over, check out other options below.

or

Flipgrid Sharing:

If you are timid of the social media route, then set up a Flipgrid for your class and ask the same prompt. Flipgrid will keep the videos private within your class, but students can still respond to each other.

or

Shared Videos via QR Code:

Allow students to use classroom or personal devices to record a video of themselves answering the prompt. Save the videos to a cloud drive, such as Google Drive, then take that link and create a qr code. There are many qr code generators out there, just Google qr generator and you will be good to go. Print and post the qr codes in your classroom or in the hallway of your school.

Why do this?

There are several benefits to this activity:

Student Voice: You are starting the year off by asking them to share something that THEY want to share. They have control over what they share with the class.

Digital Citizenship: It's important for students to learn to post and respond appropriately on social media.

Sharing their Learning: If students are sharing their learning, they are taking ownership in it. Taking these steps will encourage them to begin to share what they have learned, without a teacher directing them to.

The Real Challenge:

Keep the sharing going all year long. Frequently ask them to pick something from the class that they learned about, and make a post about it in what ever platform you desire. Even if it is just on a Padlet Wall or in Google Classroom, keep them sharing what they learn.

Imagine months later, your students are at the dinner table. When the parent asks the inevitable "What did you learn in school today?" Their response, "I posted it on Instagram for you to see!"

Mickey McFetridgehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-8212108666637600052018-07-03T13:23:00.001-07:002018-07-03T13:40:12.078-07:00Lifelong Learning: Leading by Following

This post is week 4 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for educators from hotlunchtray.com. Find out more by clicking here.

Here is a thought I have as I sit down to write this post: Can we be a leader without being a follower?

I think of many of the professional leadership opportunities that I've had over the last several years: instructing PD sessions, coaching teachers, consulting administrators, writing blog posts, engaging in twitter chats. None of those things are possible if I am not following the work of others.

A few years ago, I began training in a program called eMINTS. At first glance, eMINTS is looked at and described as a program that teaches teachers how to effectively integrate technology into their classroom. Similar to other professional development groups, eMINTS places you in a cohort. You become part of a family of educators. eMINTS also teaches you about the importance of setting up a PLN, (professional learning network).

Once I began to develop a PLN across Google+ and Twitter, my leadership opportunities grew exponentially. Why? Because I was able to follow the lead of so many educators across the globe, and bring it back to those around me. The funny thing is, at the time, I didn't realize that I was being a leader. I thought I was just sharing things that I had learned.

To this day, that is how I continue to lead; by following. I enjoy seeing the work of others, and sharing that work. This process causes great dialogue to happen between myself and my peers.

I don't just follow the lead of those who post things on social media, it's also important for leaders to follow what is going on in the school around them. I try to visit classrooms often to see the work that is going on in the building. I invite teachers to share their work with me in person as well. As great as it is to share strategies and ideas that I see on media platforms, it's even better to share things that are happening right here at home with others.

There isn't a way to be a leader with out being a follower.
Mickey McFetridgehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-42944964735321531712018-06-26T09:56:00.002-07:002018-06-26T09:56:52.037-07:00Making Students Aware of the 4Cs

This post is week 3 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for educators from hotlunchtray.com. Find out more by clicking here.

I am constantly thinking about the "4Cs of the 21st Centruy" when I work with students or coach teachers. The 4C skills are: Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking.

According to many, like P21.org, these are the skills that our students need to be successful in the current workplace, as well as the workplace they will walk into. Until recently, I hadn't put too much thought in making the students fully aware of how classroom activities are developing these skill sets for them. Yes, I've shared with students before how their time at school should and will be spent developing these skills along with learning content, but I don't promote them on a daily basis with students. I plan on making this change for my learners in the coming school year.

It is common practice to display the student learning objectives for the students in every lesson. Along with those objectives, I'm going to begin displaying a 21st Century Skill objective for them as well. The idea being that by the second semester of the school year, students themselves will be able to identify which skill they are developing. To me this doesn't have to be a major shift in anything my colleagues and I are currently doing. Some examples of this could look like:

These are two pretty basic statements that I can post for students, but they could make them aware of the fact that we are working on these skills.
Anonymoushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-4336738054291807302018-06-20T16:47:00.001-07:002018-06-20T16:47:05.225-07:00#PLN: Using Twitter to Impact Your Professional Learning
This post is week 2 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for educators from HotLunchTray.com. Find out more about this challenge by clicking here.

The most important/impactful professional learning I have ever participated in was developing my own Personal Learning Network (PLN) through Twitter. When I tell many of my fellow educators this, they look at me with a strange look on their face. Whats a PLN? and how on earth are you doing professional learning with Twitter?

My explanation of a PLN is an asynchronous (sometimes synchronous) group of learners that openly share and discuss their resources with anyone that wishes to join in. The great thing about a PLN is that the learner can engage where-ever and when-ever they want. I also use the term engage very loosely. Many people are lurkers, meaning that they just go through a topic and read what other people say/share. There is no right or wrong way to do it. Some weeks, I barely have time to check my twitter feed, while others I'm on twitter several times through out the day.

How do I get started?
There are several platforms that can be used, but Twitter seems to be the most popular. There are a couple steps that you take to get going.

Step 1: #Hashtags
Find hashtags that apply to what you want to learn about. The very generic ones are #edchat & #edtech. There are many, many hashtags, and some groups even make up there own. Here are some resources of Educational Hashtags to use in your Titter Search Bar:
The Complete Guide To Twitter Hashtags for Education  from TeachThought
60 Popular Education Twitter Hashtags from Getting Smart

Step 2: Follow, Follow, Follow
Once you search through hashtags, find people that are posting frequently about those topics and follow them. Don't feel bad about being choosey either. If you click on that persons profile and you find there are more posts about what they eat for lunch than what you want to learn about, then don't follow them. Here are just a few of my favorite Education Twitter users:
@gcouros
@NoApp4Pedagogy
@jmattmiller
@DavidGeurin
@curriculumblog
@Rdene915
@ziegeran
@bethhill2829

Need more convincing?
Here is an excellent SketchNote from Sylvia Duckworth on why you should give a PLN a try!

Mickey McFetridgehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-74159342068337400582018-06-13T10:24:00.001-07:002018-06-13T10:41:55.289-07:00Professional Learning: Keeping A Balance

This post is week 1 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for educators from hotlunchtray.com - Find out more about the challenge by clicking here.

I know that I'm in the right profession, because when I learn I get excited. I share what I learn to twitter, voxer, this blog, as well as other mediums. However, if I'm being honest with myself, I begin to admit that I don't keep a good balance of learning about all of the aspects of my profession.

I find myself quickly getting wrapped up in coding in the classroom, makerspaces, technology integration, and so on. As I reflect upon my professional learning I have to ask myself, "Do I really take a balanced approach to all of the professional learning topics that I need to stay on top of?" My self critical side says, "no, not really."

I'm going to take this prompt as a challenge to balance out my professional learning goals.

Content Curation: Google Keep or Padlet? 🤔
To do this, I plan on using either Padlet or Google Keep for content curation. I am going to set up a few different labels/pages: Educational Leadership, Pedagogy Practices, Curriculum Development, Technology Integration, 21st Century Skills. After I figure out which tool I'm going to use, I plan on setting a goal for at least one link per month shared to each category. As I check throughout the year, I can see how balanced I am with each category.

Mickey McFetridgehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-58641483160029228422018-06-11T17:19:00.000-07:002018-06-14T11:48:05.271-07:00Extending Your Reach

Last week I was able to be a part of the 4th annual Innovation Institute in Springdale, Arkansas. I have been fortunate enough to be a part of the planning committee for this event and present at it every year. This year, we invited the Arkansas Commissioner of Education, Johnny Key, to come and give a short speech before our keynote.

Key made the excellent point that "technology will never replace great teachers/teaching." A point that many of us have all made before, and agree with. Then he added, "However, it can extend your reach." An excellent point, and one that isn't stated enough.

It is easy to get wrapped up in "cool EdTech" for the classroom. How often do we get wrapped up in "extending our reach" to our students through EdTech? To do this let's make sure we are asking some of the following questions as we plan our lessons:

Does this app deliver content to my students in a way that can't be done without it?

What 21st Century Skills (Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, or Communication) are my students engaged in while using the tech?

Is the feedback process to students and/or parents improved by using this app?

Does using this tech offer student voice and choice opportunities? (Such as sharing their learning with peers in and outside of the classroom)

Does the tech/app allow for anytime/anyplace learning?

We can use EdTech for efficiency and engagement, but our goals should be using EdTech to extend our reach as educators.

For the last 3 years or so, this blog has really focused on apps and tools to use in the classroom. While I feel that I've been able to help teachers through that aspect, I've decided that it's time to start to shift that focus.

This shift isn't because I'm not proud of what this little blog was able to do, but more so the fact that I want to help teachers by offering more than just tools. I want to help teachers think about how technology effects their pedagogy, as well as the learning in their classrooms. I'm looking forward to this step in having my reader's grow along with me.

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-78643102251595338562018-04-24T09:04:00.001-07:002018-06-18T12:01:29.038-07:00The Flipped Classroom: Response Tools
This post is the second in a series on flipping your classroom. The first post, Tools for Student & Teacher Production, can be found by clicking this link.
A large part of "flipping your classroom" involves giving students multiple opportunities to respond and interact with content that is being delivered to them. Students no longer have to wait until the next day to turn in a piece of homework, or have a conversation with students or teachers about their work.

There are many tools that this blog has shared over the last few years that explain that purpose. This post will highlight some of those tools, as well as introduce some others.

Video Interaction - EdPuzzle & PlayPosit

These two EdTech tools offer an interactive video instruction experience to students and teachers. PlayPosit (formally known as EduCannon) and EdPuzzle allow you to upload a video, or take one from YouTube, and add multiple question types. You can even prevent skipping ahead in the video, so the students must watch it in it's entirety.

Multiple Choice, Open Response, Voice Instruction, and Voice Response, are just a few of the options available in the tools. They both have subtle changes in what they offer, so it really is a matter of personal preference.

Video Response - Recap & FlipGrid

Let's Recap and FlipGrid allow teachers to ask their students questions and receive a video or audio response back from them.

I personally like to use Recap if it is just going to be a question that I want to keep in the classroom, no outside sharing. They have a newer feature called Journeys where you set up a lesson flow for students to follow and complete. Recap also allows you to use it's platform for free, without asking you for upgrades.

FlipGrid allows teachers and students to share globally. They can send out links to their grid globally, and have control of who can see responses. Conversations that start in one classroom can quickly get traction from all over the world. FlipGrid allows you to have one Grid for free with some options. To utilize the full experience of the tool, you do need a paid FlipGrid Classroom account. UPDATE 6/18/18 - Flipgrid is now completely free for all educators.

Gamification Interactivity - Quizziz

Similar to Kahoot, Quizziz is a game styled quiz experience for students. It allows them to compete with each other for the best score. What Quizziz has to offer is that it has a homework option. The teacher can assign a Quizziz between a specific window for the students to complete. It still allows students to compete by showing a leaderboard according to correct answers and time taken to complete. Teachers also have the ability to shuffle questions and answer options.

Other Online Response Tools

Here are links to two other previous articles from this blog on Classroom Response Tools:

Student Response Tools for the Digital Classroom

Facilitate Online Discussions with Backchannel Tools

firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-24602918267495536682018-03-08T09:34:00.002-08:002018-03-14T13:00:10.288-07:00The Flipped Classroom: Tools for Student & Teacher ProductionFlipping your classroom, what does that mean?

It's the idea that most direct instruction moves from whole group class time to an individual space. This allows the classroom to become a place where the teacher is allowed to take on more of a facilitator of learning roll, as opposed to a lecturer. In part, you are setting up a piece of your classroom as an asynchronous learning environment. Meaning that you can and will learn outside of the classroom: at anytime, anyplace.

A misconception about the flipped classroom is that it is dependent on the teacher making all of the content in a classroom for students to read and view. If that were the case, you would simply be recreating a digital textbook. A flipped classroom involves communication from all stakeholders involved. In other words, teachers & students are involved in the creation process of a flipped classroom.

This post will be the first in a series that will focus on tools that both students and teachers can use for a Flipped Classroom.

Production Tools

Apple Clips
iPhone & iPad App

Clips is a newer app from Apple that I think of as a cross between the camera app and iMovie. It has some editing abilities, but keeps it very simple for users of all ages to quickly produce a short video.

A great bonus for Apple Clips, is that the app does real time subtitles as you are talking! Here is a clip that I made right when I learned about this feature

Ideas for flipping your classroom with Apple Clips are:

Sending out class announcements.

Showcasing Student Projects

Book Summeries

Field Trip Highlights and Learnings

Screencastify (Free & Pay Versions)
Google Chrome Extension

Screencastify is a simple yet powerful tool that anyone can use with just a few simple clicks. As the name implies, the Chrome Extension allows students and teachers to record and voice-over anything on their computer screen. The camera function also allows recording the presenter's face in the corner of the screen to add personality to the clip. Along with its ease to use, Screencastify automatically saves all files directly to your Google Drive automatically. The extension is free for 10 minutes of recording time per clip, with 50 clips to record per month.

Ideas for flipping your classroom with Screencastify are:

Recording teacher lectures for students to review

Recording student presentations

Creating virtual tours with google maps or google earth

Making quick tutorials for multi step procedures students may need to follow to complete a task

Student explanations of how they solved problems

Adobe Spark (Free & Pay Versions)
Multi-device - Chrome OS & iOS Friendly

Spark has a few creative options, but let's just focus on Spark Video.

Spark video allows teachers and students to put together videos through a "PowerPoint style" format. This is a nice feature because it will allow for voice over to be recorded on each individual side, as opposed to having to do an entire recording in one take.

Spark allows users to import video clips into a project, but is not set up for recording videos straight into it. In other words if a teacher or student wanted some video slides, they would need to record them with another program or camera and import them.

Spark will save all projects into its cloud system so you can access them from multiple devices.

Explain Everything (Trial then Pay)
Multi-device - Chrome OS & iOS Friendly

Explain Everything is a recordable whiteboard that teachers can use for their classrooms. The trick on a laptop will be trying to free draw with a mouse, but if you have a touch screen device with a stylus or a Smart/Promethean Board, you may be able to use it with ease.

Explain Everything is actually much more than a whiteboard app, it allows you to import documents, videos, and more and then annotate and record on top of them. You have unlimited pages to add to your project, and each page has unlimited zooming capabilities (both in and out). You may also record page by page in your presentation and pause in the middle of your recording.

Explain Everything also has it's own cloud storage where your projects can be accessed from multiple devices.

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-7676449135809570152018-01-18T18:39:00.000-08:002018-01-18T19:05:37.593-08:00EdTech for Struggling Readers

A teacher's number one responsibility is to meet the needs of their students. Now this sounds like an obvious statement, but it isn't always as easy as it sounds. In fact, it is hardly easy at all. The reason we use technology in education is to support student learning by helping teachers meet the needs of their learners.

This post will focus on two support tools for struggling readers. Whether they are Native English Speakers, English Language Learners (ELL or ESL), or Dyslexic, our schools are filled with a large amount of students who struggle when they read. These tools will obviously not solve the problem for the students, or teach them how to read (only skilled teachers can do that). Yet, these tools might give some support to those students at a time when a teacher isn't available to them.

Speechify - Chrome OS & iOS app
I was introduced to Speechify in Episode 99 of The House of #EdTech Podcast by Chris Nesi. Speechify does what many apps and accessibility features on devices do by reading text that a student highlights on their screen. So you may be thinking, then why use it? My answer would be, ease of use and quality of voice. The drop-down menu in the chrome extension allows you to change the speed of speech and voice with a couple of clicks. There is even a child voice that can be used, which sounds surprisingly real.

If you decide to go the premium route with Speechify on your iOS device, the app goes the extra mile! You can connect the Google Chrome Extension to your iPhone and it will share text between the two devices in a clean and organized manner. Send multiple multi page documents to your phone and have them read to you. It's like taking anything on your computer screen and sending to your phone as an audiobook.

Speechify also does something rather phenomenal with your iOS device. Take a picture of a page of text and speechify will import it as a text file, and then read it to you.

Think of how this can support your students that struggle reading classroom content. Also, think about your students that have hectic life schedules, they can now listen to their science book on their way to work or practice.

OpenDyslexic Font Extension - Chrome OS
This extension simply changes all of the font on the webpage you are viewing to the OpenDyslexic font with one click. It's that simple!

OpenDyslexic font has been in development for at least a couple of years now. I do want to state that I'm not licensed or trained enough in dyslexia to know if it is actually proven to help students with dyslexia. I have however had a handful of students try this font extension on their chrombook screen, and some claimed that it helped them read their screen better, while others didn't like using it. So like many things EdTech, it will probably come down to a preference by the student.

firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-3674987008204773432017-11-14T08:14:00.001-08:002018-01-18T19:06:41.993-08:00Tools to Support Student Inquiry

Inquiry Based Instruction has been an area of study for me for the last couple of years. In my opinion, teaching through inquiry is not only engaging for our students, but develops an essential skill that our kids need to be successful in the 21st century. In this post, I want to share a few of the resources I have been using for the last few years, as well as a few resources that I just learned about.

Dive Into Inquiry

Before finding your digital resources to support inquiry in your classroom, I highly recommend reading Trevor MacKenzie's book, Dive Into Inquiry. In his book, MacKenzie walks teachers through the 4 types of student inquiry: Structured, Controlled, Guided, and Free. This process allows educators to understand that inquiry based instruction is not just a free for all approach, but a structured practice.

Wonderopolis - K-6

Wonderopolis is a fantastic website that models inquiry for students and teachers. Every topic on Wonderopolis begins with a question, and then follows up with an article that allows students to explore that question. Your students can even submit questions to the Wonderopolis site as well as vote on other questions on the site to be explored next.

The Question Formulation Technique by the Right Question Institute K-12

The Question Formulation Technique or QFT is a collaborative way for students to work in teams to brainstorm questions based off of a teacher given focus. It teaches students how to prioritize their questions and evaluate the differences between open ended and closed ended questions. The Right Question Institute website is full of resources to make the QFT process a success in your classroom.

Genius Hour 4 - 12

As students toward Free Inquiry, the Genius Hour website give students and teachers a structure on how to be successful during a self driven process. The Genius Hour practice is based off of what Google implements with their development team. Giving their employees time to work on self-interest projects that have potential to improve the company, has allowed Google to create many of their popular products. What Genius Hour attempts to do is bring this ideology into your classroom. Giving students the option to choose projects that will have potential to improve their understanding of a concept or pass through a competency.

Do you have a resource you use for inquiry based instruction? Please share it below!

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-29601302230527643002017-09-12T06:42:00.001-07:002018-01-18T19:07:02.492-08:00Keeping Students on Track with Google TasksTime management and prioritizing are two huge challenges for students (and some of us educators as well). Schools and teachers use agendas, messaging apps like Remind, Monday Folders; the list goes on and on. We know students need a variety of reminders to keep them on track, but what about tools that teach them these responsibilities for themselves. Is there a tool that already exists that teachers can show students how to become more responsible and learn how to prioritize? I believe there is: The Google Tasks Chrome Extension!

Google Tasks is a part of the Google Universe that is so simple, that it's often overlooked. With connections in Gmail and Google Calendar, Tasks offers a seamless use for your student's studying and workflow.

You may be thinking, "That's great, but my students aren't always in their calendar or checking their email when I need them to be keeping up with class assignments." That is why the Google Tasks Chrome Extension is the perfect solution.

With the Google Tasks Extension, your complete task-list is only a single click away. Like all Chrome Extensions, there is no need to switch tabs to open your calendar or mail to access your list. With easy accessibility, your students can now have a quick place to click and add to their to do list.

What about prioritizing?

Two excellent features about Google Tasks is that they allow your to rearrange your list by clicking and dragging items up and down the list. Tasks also allows you to place due dates that automatically sync to your calendar.

If your school district is a Google Apps for Education district, there isn't an easier way to teach your students (and teachers) task management and prioritizing skills than using the Google Tasks Extension.

Check it out here: Google Tasks Extensionfirstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-90572312740372243642017-07-25T08:26:00.003-07:002018-01-18T19:07:23.576-08:00Using Social Media to Promote Student Voice

One of the most powerful things technology allows for our students, is the ability for student voice to be heard. Many educators who embrace the use of technology in the classroom, are still very leery of talking about social media in the classroom. The negatives of social media usage between students and teachers can be disastrous. However, if used carefully by teachers, social media can be a powerful tool to not only engage our students, but to promote their student voice as well.

DISCLAIMER: Students are not legally allowed to have a social media account if they are under 13 years old. We as educators should not encourage students to use Social Media apps before that age.

This post IS NOT suggesting that teachers connect with current students on their personal social media accounts. All discussion will be about school permitted, classroom/school accounts.

What do you mean by student voice?
To quote Bill Plamer from the Edutopia article Including Student Voice: "The term 'Student Voice' describes how students give their input to what happens within the school and classroom. Our desire is for students to know that their expertise, opinions and ideas are valued in all aspects of school life. Student Voice permeates all levels of our work together, from students participating in small group classroom conversations to students partnering in curriculum design or establishing school norms and policy."

Why promote student learning/voice with social media?
Think about the power that social media tools have brought to our society. For good or bad, people share what they are doing, buying, eating, creating, and so on. In turn others are excited to try and buy the same things that they see posts about. Making an interesting change in our world's marketplace.

What about our classroom "marketplace," the marketplace of learning? If students share their learning the way they do their other daily activities, will that encourage other students to learn? I believe it will.

As equally important, what about those students who don't add much into classroom conversation. This can give them a different outlet. Maybe they feel more comfortable expressing themselves through a creative Instagram post or Tweet about what happened in class as opposed to speaking in front of all of their classmates. This outlet allows for student voice to happen outside the classroom walls.

How is this done with Social Media?

Keep it Optional: Stay away from making posts about learning mandatory. We want this to be an authentic activity for the students, something they want to do. Many may oppose or shy away at first, but it will only take a few trendsetters to get many students on board. Keeping it optional will also avoid issues with any parents who do not want their child to participate.

Open App Choice: There are so many different tools out there, and it is impossible to keep up with them all. Put the students in the driver's seat of which tool to use. Also, we know that students are into different social media tools than teachers are. Chances are if you ask a kid to post what they learned on Pinterest, they will look at you like you're crazy.

Create A Classroom Hashtag: Creating a hashtag is pretty easy, you literally just make up a phrase out of letters and numbers only and put a # in front of it! Letter casing doesn't matter, I like to capitalize each word just to make it easier to read, but you don't have to. This could even be a class activity that you allow the students to create with you!

Feel free to edit and use this poster in your class!
 Access it by clicking Here.

 Give Examples: Just because your students use social media for fun, doesn't mean they will automatically know how to post in a professional manner. Give them a few examples on your classroom Twitter or Instagram account.

This may seem like a scary step for many teachers to take, but these steps can help you get started on a path to get student involved in owning their learning. The benefits they will receive in learning how to use social media in a responsible manner will only improve their understanding of digital citizenship. Why not give it a try!?
Anonymoushttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-24609969922162562482017-05-23T17:17:00.001-07:002018-01-18T19:07:47.900-08:00Introducing SAMR: Planning & Reflecting Classroom Technology Usage

As the 2017 school year comes to an end, its a time of reflection for classroom teachers. A mixture of projects, activities, and events from August to May come to mind. Hopefully for most teachers and students remembering an engaging activity that utilized technology in the classroom is part of that mixture.

During this reflection, what tool do teachers have to help them reflect upon this tech usage? The answer to that question: The SAMR Instructional Model. The SAMR Model points out the 4 categories of how technology can be utilized for students. The interesting aspect of this model, is that it differs from other educational criteria tools. The "high level" of SAMR, does not equate to a DOK level 4 or the highest level of Bloom's. Instead, the model brings an awareness that there are different levels of how technology can be used to support learning in the classroom.

The following presentation is a simple introduction to the SAMR Model that I was able to present to a group of educators. There is a task card activity included to practice identifying these levels. Feel free to share with your fellow educators.

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-76764909152678463552017-04-05T12:22:00.002-07:002017-08-04T07:35:35.778-07:00Facilitate Online Discussions with Backchannel Tools
There are many Learning Management Systems out there, such as Google Classroom and Seesaw, that allow teachers to post information and questions. In return, students can make comments when prompted by the teacher. While this can be an engaging piece, it still doesn't feel very conversational. This is where using a Backchannel chat can be used facilitate discussions between your students either in the classroom or from a distance.

I know what you may be thinking... "Did he just say chat? As in a chat-room?" Yes chat rooms can have negative connotations with them, but when used correctly in an educational setting, they can be a safe discussion alternative. Two backchannel sites that I am going to suggest allow the teacher to create a virtual room that can only be accessed with a specific link shared by a teacher. This means that you have total control of who has access, keeping your students safe.

Why should I try a backchannel discussion with my students?
First and foremost I am not saying that these discussions should replace verbal discussions you have with your students. Giving students the opportunity to collect their thoughts and speak them verbally is a skill that is different then typing them out on a screen. However, occasionally using a backchannel has an advantage as well. These virtual rooms allow a teacher to save/print the conversations had with students. This gives the teacher a record of student participation within a content conversation, as well as leaves a record of the students understanding.

There are many backchannel sites out there, but two that I have used are TodaysMeet and Chatzy.

TodaysMeet
TodaysMeet is an easy to set up and use virtual chat room geared for classroom usage. After logging in, which it does allow you to login with Google, you are sent to a simple dashboard to set up as many rooms as you like.

After setting your room up, all you need to do is share the link with your students, and your class is ready to have a discussion. At the end of your discussion, you may save/print the transcript.

Chatzy
Chatzy doesn't advertise itself as an education site quite as much as TodaysMeet, however several of it's safety features make it great to use in your classroom.

You can add a password to the chat along with allowing or blocking several features for users. Chatzy also allows them to embed YouTube Videos or Internet Images if they wish. This could allow for some creative answers. These are features that could be turned on or off.

The beauty in these and other backchannel tools is the simplicity to them. These tools allow the students to focus on the conversation and not get too wrapped up in the bells and whistles that they are used to seeing in social media.

If you have a backchannel that you like to use, please add it to the comments below!

email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-16993512107365124472017-02-15T07:50:00.000-08:002017-08-04T07:35:58.122-07:00Presentation Tools that Ignite Student Creativity

I am an educator who is constantly in search for tools that promote student creation over student consumption. For years PowerPoint, Prezi, and Google Slides have been the "go to" presentation tools that allow for some student creation in the classroom. At times, many teachers and students look for something different to use, something a little more engaging for their audience.

There are many free online presentation tools out there, but I am going to highlight a couple that your students can use to create with.

Adobe Spark

Example of a Adobe Spark Web Story

Spark offers 3 different presentation types: Social Media Posts, Web Stories (similar to a PowerPoint), and Videos. All three types are simple for students to use. Students can search for media and information without having to leave the application. This allows for a more efficient presentation development time. At the end of the presentation, all of the photos are automatically cited. For students wanting a professional looking product, Adobe Spark is an amazing option.

Buncee Edu

Buncee is a fun and simple tool for students to create engaging presentations. The platform is set up like PowerPoint/Google Slides but caters to kids more creative side. As with Adobe Spark, backgrounds, pictures, animations, stamps, and several other media types can all be searched and found within the app.

Buncee's click, drag, and search options are simple to use for all learners.

firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-80680752849323372402017-01-24T15:46:00.002-08:002018-01-18T19:08:27.630-08:00Digital Tools for Flipping Your Classroom

This post originally appeared on The FETC: Future of EdTech Insiders Blog

At FETC, I was delighted to attend a session by high school foreign language teacher Rachelle Dene Poth titled, Flipping Classrooms: Trading Spaces and Places Digital Tools and Ideas to Empower Students. During the session Rachelle gave attendees several resources for flipping learning for students.

However, before those digital tools were given, Ms. Poth set the stage for the why she wanted flipped learning for her students. She explained that she had a need to connect students to her classroom resources no matter their location. If a student is absent or forgets a textbook at school, they can still access the content/resources to stay current with the students in class.

Another aspect of Rachelle's presentation was explaining the importance of putting the students in the driver's seat. She gave examples of how she has students create their own presentations, quizzes, infographics, and more. Ms. Poth even discussed the benefits of using these student made digital projects as resources for other students to learn from. This made me think of the SAMR model and how transformative learning can be for our students when they have the flexibility to choose a tool that lets them display or explain their thinking. Rachelle's suggestion for this was to take small steps: "pick a class to try something with, set parameters and have students create their own."

Rachelle had many wonderful tools to share. As you look over the following list, it is important to remember to start small. Pick one or two that sound interesting, and try them out. It is easy to get overwhelmed with all of the tools out there, so take small steps for success. Ms. Poth's presentation and handouts will also be linked in this article as well.

Now, on to the tools!

Tes Teach with Blendspace: A building tool that allows teachers to curate content for lesson delivery packages. Websites, powerpoints, Google Docs, YouTube Videos, and more all in one convenient location for your students. All of these resources can inserted right through the Blendspace search bar, or connecting your own accounts. Simple quizzes can also be created. No more multiple tabs from several links, just one clean lesson flow. The lessons can be shared several ways: a classroom in Blendspace, Google Classroom, or any other method of link sharing. Works on all devices.

Today's Meet: A backchannel tool that allows for written conversations between teachers and students. The beauty of this tool is that it allows for a full transcript to be saved and printed. This helps keep a log of everything that was discussed in the session. An excellent tool for teachers to use during virtual office hours for students.

Quizizz: Similar to Kahoot, quizizz is a fun competitive way for students to take a quiz. In Quizizz, quiz questions are actually on the screen of the device, not just the screen in the front of the room. This allows for a quiz to be a homework assignment as well. As discussed above, having students create a Quizizz themselves based off of the content in your classroom can be a great way where students can be creators not just consumers with their devices.

Nearpod: A lesson delivery system that gives the teacher control of the student's screen. Think of sharing a Powerpoint file or Google Slide with your students, but being in control of when the slides change on their screen. Nearpod also allows for interactive questioning, where student answers can be anonymously shared with classmates.

Formative: A student response system allows for multiple question types to be asked. Students can answer questions by multiple choice, drawing, short answer, and more.

Educreations & Explain Everything: Two very similar student explanation tools. Just as their titles imply, students create (by hand or typing) and record their voice to explain their thinking. These can be powerful tools for meta-cognition in and out of the classroom.

EdPuzzle: A student response video tool that allows teachers to bring in YouTube or other videos and add questions to them. These questions are added during the video so as the student watches, it will pause and ask the question.

Buncee: A presentation tool with creative interactive elements. Buncee allows you to add animated characters, videos, and voice over to each slide that you are working on. As with Educreations/Explain Everything, a child can use the voice over to explain the content that they place on each slide.

There were other resources shared by Ms. Poth at the workshop and below you will find the links for them. She is also on twitter, and is well worth the follow! @rdene915

Flipping Classrooms Google Doc with Links

Flipping Classrooms Presentation Link
firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-83714689255206146012016-12-07T11:12:00.000-08:002016-12-07T11:12:00.431-08:00Transforming Learning with the Seesaw App

by Mickey McFetridge

Many people who use iPads and Chromebooks in the classroom know about the app Seesaw. It can be used primarily as an LMS (Learning Management System), but many of its features allow alignment with the Transformation spectrum of the SAMR Model.

Students using Seesaw can:

Take pictures and video

Annotate documents with drawings or voice

Record actions and voice on a whiteboard

Ask teachers to publish work on a class blog

Lets look at the SAMR Model and these Seesaw features together:

Modification: When students use the annotation features, especially voice and video recording, it allows "for significant task redesign." Students can replay their recordings many times to reflect upon their learning. This reflection is a critical piece in fostering a growth mindset and meta-cognition.

Redefinition: The teachers can safely share his/her student's work on a classroom blog and with parents. This allows the students learning to impact others outside of the classroom. They can receive feedback to make improvements on their work as well.

For ideas on activities to use with Seesaw check out the following resources below:

4 Weeks with Seesaw K-2

30 Seesaw Activity Ideas

Seesaw's YouTube Tutorials Playlist

Slide Presentation of the Material on This Post

This post has not been sponsored by Seesaw, it is based off of my own in class experience with Seesaw.

firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-57775653642816565432016-11-15T11:20:00.001-08:002016-11-22T22:08:30.608-08:00Learning to Code Websites

The #CSforALL movement continues to grow. Many students are excited about this growth, while many teachers are apprehensive. Thankfully, many websites are designed to guide the students through their learning to code journey, allowing the teacher to act as a facilitator. In other words, classroom teachers at the elementary through middle school levels aren't expected to be coders or programmers themselves. These teachers can oversee the progress of their students as they begin to take interest in this journey. Look into the following sites to get your students started.

Code.org (K- Adult)
Most famous for the "Hour of Code," Code.org is a great place for students to begin their coding experience. Younger students learn the coding process through block coding and then gradually begin to use Java, a coding language. The site has really taken off with a teacher dashboard. Teacher's can create a section for students to sign into so their progress can be followed. Complete lesson plans and modules are ready to go for teachers to assign to students K- 5. Middle school teachers have complete lesson plan access to Computer Science in Algebra and Computer Science in Science materials. Code.org also offers free PD for teachers either in person or online. All of these links are found on their Teacher Dashboard Page.

Scratch (3rd Grade - Adult)
Created by MIT, Scratch is a great site to learn coding. It is highly engaging for students as they get to create different scenes for characters (or sprites) to act out in. Scratch allows students to share their creations to a project board for others to see. Once students get started, they can click the Tips tab at the top of the screen and there are many tutorials to guide them through their learning process.

Codecadmey (Middle School - Adult)
Codecadmey focuses more on the coding languages than block based coding. I would recommend this site for those students who rapidly completed block coding and are ready for that next step. What I like about Codecadmey is that it clearly lays out the programming language options on a menu for people to choose from: HTML, CSS, JAVA, and PYTHON just to name a few.

Pencil Code (Middle School - Adult)
Pencil code not as self explanatory as the previous two sites, but it does have some great features. The Materials for Teachers page breaks down concepts one by one, allowing teachers to hone in on particular skills. It's almost like grabbing a particular "worksheet" off of the shelf for a specific skill. Pencil code promotes the student creativity side of coding very heavily. There are art, music, and game making playgrounds for students to explore. I'm not sure I'd start off with pencil code, but it is a great place to send the students that get through code.org's Hour of Code quickly.

Anonymoushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406943565895060434.post-71791706172080230692016-10-28T10:13:00.000-07:002016-11-23T21:57:46.889-08:00Teaching Digital Literacy: Resources to Help Students Validate Online Information

Digital Literacy is a term that is growing ever more popular among those teaching our 21st Century Learners. Also known as Information Literacy, Digital Literacy is an important component of what is known as Digital Citizenship. It is a skill that many children and adults grapple with. One of my favorite memes on the topic is right here!

We all chuckle, but then the conversation kind of fizzles out from there. It isn't that we shouldn't believe anything that we find online, it is that we need to be critical of the validity of what we find.

I often hear teachers say, "kids are so lucky now, they can just search for the information they need on the internet. They have the answers instantaneously." While it may be true, the statement doesn't take into account that students must be critical and validate information that they find. I argue that this was not a skill that previous generations had to grapple with as much. For example, as a child of the 80's and 90's, when I went to the library to look up information in encyclopedias and books, I didn't have to deeply question the validity of material found. I may have looked at publishing dates, but I hardly questioned who the author was, or the publishing company of the source. (I'm speaking of non-fiction texts of course) Yes our students can quickly access information, but they have to learn how to validate and be critical of that information.

So that leads to the following question: "How do I teach kids how to validate what they find online?"

Here are just a few resources out there to support teachers as they develop this 21st Century Skill with their students.

November Learning: Education Resources for Web Literacy - Middle School & Up
This site has 7 different steps to walk students through as they begin to learn about internet information, urls, domain names, and so on. It begins with a pre-test to give students an idea of where they stand.

Common Sense Education:
Common Sense has a great amount of support materials when it comes to teaching all aspects of Digital Citizenship. Here are just a few links that are directly used for Digital Literacy
Common Sense Education: Sites I Like (Grades K-2) - What makes a Website the Right Site For You?
Common Sense Education: You've Won A Prize! (Grades 3-5) - What is Spam and What Can You Do About It?
Common Sense Education: Identifying High Quality Sites (Grades 6-8) - When Can You Trust What You Find On the Internet?

iKeepSafe Digital Literacy - Google Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum (Grades 6-8)
The first lesson plan on this page titled, Become an Online Sleuth, can help you teach your students to use a critical eye while using the internet.

These are just a few of the many resources out there to support teachers and students as they shuffle through the unlimited information online.

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