Innovation 4 Everyone

It's February 19-20, 2016.  A year has passed since we ran our first school wide conference . The second edition of Live Curious, Go Beyond was a special one. This time around we invited teachers from schools around the region to present and to attend. The outcome was overwhelmingly positive.  Once again, our group of digital teachers stepped up to the challenge and were heavily involved with the organization of the conference, not to mention their interest in running a session or two. Educators had multiple opportunities to learn about innovations in education as well as to build relationships to develop their professional learning networks. Imagine being able to learn about drones in education; the use of Google Cardboard; what is Design Thinking; the experience of a Breakout Edu session, how to use Twitter like a pro, and so much more! For the full details, visit the  Live Curious, Go Beyond 2 016 website . You can also look up the h ashtags #asfmtech, #livecu...

Did you know YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world? Yes, coming right after Google. YouTube is a very powerful tool that is used extensively by all of us when we need to learn about something on our own. This is the type of learning that is called "just-in-time" as opposed to "just-in-case". You know it will be available exactly when you need it. Millions of videos have been uploaded to YouTube and many more are added daily. With all this content, it is probable that you will eventually run into inappropriate content. So, here are 3 simple tips to make your experience with YouTube a safer one when it comes to sharing videos with students: 1. Search for videos in trustworthy sites Instead of performing a regular search, try one of these video sources that focus on education. SchoolTube TeacherTube YouTube Education YouTube Educación 2. "Clean up" the video before sharing or posting These tools will eliminate ads, surround...

If you are thinking of ways to transform your classes, then consider the possibility of communicating and collaborating beyond your classroom walls. A great resource that can help you accomplish this goal is  Skype in the Classroom . You'll find hundreds of lessons already created that you can participate in. Choose by subject area, age group, country, etc. Don't find what you're looking for? No problem. Create your own content. That's what first grade teachers did this year.  First grade teachers Ms. Mireya Almaguer and Ms. Claudia Martinez were looking for an opportunity to interact with classes from other parts of the world. Early in the start of the school year, first grade focuses on the Mapping Unit. In it they learn about such topics as directions, the compass rose, legend, and locating parts of a map. A project they work on is creating the map of what would be the students' ideal classroom or school. At this time, they were looking for partn...

We never stop learning and students at our school are no exception! Students have embraced technology as a way to assist them in their learning. With the use of various devices, kids are able to capture their learning and gather feedback that will drive their learning.  Take a look at a few examples through these very short videos: Grade 5 Class Mr. Marco Trujillo's 5th grade class took a trip into the Huasteca Canyon to meet face-to-face the forces of nature that have shaped our land. They took along iPods and recorded what they saw. Spanish Class Ms. Gaby de la Garza and her first grade students took advantage of the shared iPads to record themselves reading Spanish books that they later listened to again. Music Class Ms. Misty Flores and Mr. Ryan Branta encourage students to record their practice and check on their progress. Kinder Class Ms. Magda Arechavaleta and Ms. Miriam Campas incorporated iPods when they took their group on ...

Hi! A couple of weeks ago, the grade 5 students set out to what promised to be an exciting field trip. Very nearby the school is a gorgeous canyon. With the guidance of an expert explorer and a young geologist, each of the grade 5 groups took turns to go deep into the canyon. I was lucky to be asked to accompany one of these groups and their teacher. So, here's my story. It turns out that we were the first ones to take the trip. I had no idea of what to expect. I carried my water bottle, a light lunch, my iPhone, sunglasses, and a cap. So did the kids. They were so excited! The ride getting there was really fun, but what they were about to see I think blew everyone's mind even more. Fifth graders had been studying the Changing Earth unit. They had learned about plate tectonics, erosion, deposition, earthquakes, etc. Imagine being able to witness the forces of nature first hand. Imagine being able to see where plates have collided; where layers of earth ha...

Having a computer science background myself might explain why I always get so excited when it comes to coding. In my good old days, I learned to program in computer languages such as COBOL, Fortran, Basic, Pascal, 6502 Assembler, and Logo. Each problem I was faced with represented a new programming challenge. Bring it on! Well, many years have passed since then and throughout them I became more involved with education, which is why I appreciate even more how programming (or coding as it is commonly known now) can benefit children. Knowing that coding can develop important lifelong skills in children makes me even more excited! Imagine being able to develop critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, logic, abstract thinking, design, experimentation, and algorithmic thinking, in a fun, play-like way. What is coding? Computer applications and games, Apps, websites, etc., have all been developed through coding. In short, coding is putting together instructions (or commands) to ...

Greetings! In my previous blog post I wrote about my recent use of scripts and add-ons . I was thrilled to have found a way to make my work more efficient and effective. Shortly after, I was faced with a new challenge: How could we send approximately 170 emails (each one containing unique information, such as parent emails, usernames, and passwords) for each one of the second grade students? In the past, I must confess, I composed one by one, each of the emails. But this time, I was determined to find a better way of doing this. I had a feeling that an add-on would do the trick. I had time to explore beyond the two tools I had just discovered, and that's when I came across formMule . It didn't take long to figure out how to apply this tool to my personal needs. formMule is a free add-on for Sheets created by NewVisions CloudLab. I had a Google Sheet already filled out that contained all the information I needed. I opened formMule and with very little configuration ...