Quarterly U5 Instructional Technology Update

In this edition of the Instructional Technology Update:

• Overview of the Unit 5 AI District Presentation 
• Women in History resources. 
• Podcast Corner

Overview of the Unit 5 AI District Presentation:  This presentation was presented at our Feb 20th institute day for all of our secondary staff.  It was a broad overview of what Artificial Inteligence (AI) is, the good, bad, and ugly of it and the positives.  It also reinforces that educators cannot remian passitve observers to the AI revolution.  It is a digital landscape we have to explore and bear the responsibiltiy of providing our students with ethical and effective uses of this technology. 

March is Women in History Month: Check out many of the resources that Unit 5 subscribes to which have ready to use resources for Women in History! 

Are you a Podcast listener?:  Check out this podcast with Cool Cat Teacher.  

You can also find the links to the weekly updates at the bottom right of the Quarterly Instructional Tech Update.  

Flocabulary Mixes & Break It Down NEW!!

Flocabulary has a new option for MIXES  and BREAK IT DOWN.  Mix Skill videos with a Video Text.  Learn the skill in one video then practice that skill on the Text video.  You still get all the Vocab cards, games, read & respond, quiz and lyric lab. Break it down provides guided review of the video through multiple choice, evidence gathering, and  short answer question to explain their thinking. Take a look at this video to learn more.

Women in History - Celebrating Women Who Tell Stories- 2023

Women's History Month was established  in 1981  for the week of March 7th.  In 1987 it was passed designating March to be "Women's History Month."   Since this proclamation, we celebrate the contributions women have made to the United States and various fields over the course of American history. ( https://womenshistorymonth.gov/about/) 

The video below introduces the 2023 theme "Celebrating Women Who Tell Stories" and can be used to introduce Women in History month. This year's theme honors the important role women have  played in storytelling throughout history.  It was created March 2023.   

Here are several resources for Women's History Month in which are paid resources at certain levels in the district:

• Unit 5 High School IMC  resources and Junior High IMC resources. $$
• Check in with your IMC Specialist to partner and learn more about the resources right at your students finger tips.
• NEARPOD:  Nearpod has 132 Lessons on Notable Women  Many of these are Videos from Biography, SciShow which highlights women in Science, TedEd, Socratica Kids, and Nearpod lessons with activities built in.  There is also a whole library on Women's Right and History.  Lessons include Women's Suffrage, Women in the American Revolution and Civil War as well as Gender Equality and STEM.  $$
• 4 ways to teach Women's History Month 
• 14 Women Who Are Impacting Education
• Flocabulary:  Enjoy the Week in Rap as they begin the month of March for Women in History & Current events.  This is a great opportunity to use there short video's to highlight what is going on in our world today.  $$
• Discovery Education: Discovery Education has a whole Channel on Women in History. This includes videos, images, activities, slideshows and much more. Check out the Modern Trailblazers section My Story: Yolanda Renee King - The granddaughter of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and listen to her story about her grandparents.  $$
• Scholastic:  All scholastic material come with multiple reading levels, text to speech, presentation view and teaching resources, such as a slide deck, Google Form for a quiz, and close reading activities.  $$
• Junior Scholastic has a Text Set to observe Women's History Month and the contributions they have made. Check out their Cover Story "Exercising Their Rights" where you will meet 5 female athletes who fight for equity in sports. (Must have a license to see this information) 
• Scope Spotlight highlights Women's History Month with Drama text and Paired Text. Find out more about Malala the Powerful, When Girls Ruled Baseball, The Lens of War and so much more. 
• Lumio - Check out the Lumio Library for more resources which can be integrated into your classroom.  $$
• Canva - FREE for Educators - Check out the Templates for Women in History!  Here you can have your student create some really creative projects with templates already started. 
• Adobe Express:  FREE If you are looking for ways to create a digital story, Adobe Express has several templates for Women in History.  Just search "Women in History" in their template library. 
• EdTechbook, Learning Pathway: Influential Women.  Here you will find Choice Boards for Women's History Month, Slide decks, and much  more.  You can also dive into different topics such as Women and the Wars &  STEM.  
• Digital Resources for Biographical Research - here is a list curated by Zeeba Pavri.  She also created a slide deck for Women's History Month take a look.  
• Decktoys Women's in History Month.  This one is a great activity for younger students.  No signup needed.  Just play. 
• This resource links your students out to Videos from each of book titles.  Great for elementary students as well. 
• PBS Media has several resources for teaching about Women's History Month.  Here are is a collection on Engaging Students and Educators on Women's History Month through film.
• Becoming by Michelle Obama -  I listened to this book and loved it. Great Read!  There is also an adaption for young readers as well.
• Book Widgets Interactive Learning: 20+ Ready to use Classroom Activities to celebrate Women's History Month. 
• Calendar which has one activity each day highlighting Women in History

Like always, these are curated from multiple sources so you can make a decision on what is appropriate for your grade level and students. 

Veteran's Day Activities

 

Veteran's Day is a day to celebrate those living veterans who swore an oath to support and defend the  United States Constitution.  Veterans fought for the American Dream many of them giving the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we have.  Teaching our children the importance of celebrating veterans and listening to the stories they share is a great way to learn about why they did what they did.  Take some time to ask a few questions about when and where they served, what branch, and what they did in the service and finally ask them WHY?  Why did they join the armed forces and what signing up meant to them during that time in our country's history?  There are some fascinating stories out there, we just have to listen.

Below are some resources you may be interested in:  

• Virtual Room for Veteran's Day - Created and shared with permission by Sarah Wood - @MyEdTechWorld  Click Use Template and share with your students. There is a lot on this, so go take a look. 

• Veteran's Day Resources for Elementary and some Junior High  put together by Tonja Parkin 

• Flocabulary Veteran's Day - Don't forget about the teaching resources and there are questions built in if you use the interactive mode.  Turn it off if you just want to talk about the questions after watching the video. This is a paid resource Unit 5 has, login via Clever. 

• Veteran's Day EdPuzzle - Take a look to see if this EdPuzzle original is something you could use in your classroom. 

• Discovery Education has a full library of videos, Images, text, and audio you can choose from. Need a login for this one. 

• Nearpod has a lesson on Veteran's Day - Take a look, it's long but you can remove any parts of it to customize it to the length of your choosing.  

• C-SPANCLASSROOM has a ton of resources for teachers to share with students.  Take a look a the video below. 

Instructional Tech Updates - October

When I get asked "How the school year is going?", my standard answer this year is "It's supercharged."  I feel like it is going really fast and there are so many new changes happening that it has been hard to keep up at times.  It is then, I realize I need a break.  To say I was very excited about spending three days away this past weekend is an understatement.  I hope October brings some relief of the supercharged year you have been experiencing. 

Take a look at the October Instructional Tech Updates.  Here is to the October slow down.  Hope you enjoyed your 3 day weekend.