Diary of a Digital Learning Coach

TRUTH:  Holidays are for family, recharging and giving ourselves a much needed break. This break, I hope you take time for doing just that.   Image created using Canva TRUTH: Despite the fact that our priorities are set for the above activities, and our intent to not work might be totally real, most of us will still end up working at some point over break. We educators are planners.  We get itchy to get a "jump" on things.  When this happens to you, keep in mind the following: TRUTH:  No one will judge you if you don't work. TRUTH: No one will judge you if you do. And in that spirit, if you want to take some of that time to learn, you might want to begin one of 3 implementation challenges my team is offering through this winter/next spring.   All of the challenges are set up so that you can learn at your own pace to earn up to 6 hours of credit, but you decide how much or how little you choose to complete.  Choose from: The Blogging Challenge 2.0 Sc

You may have noticed that it is not a Tuesday.  Welcome to the holiday season, folks.  If you aren't running behind on something, congratulations!  Tis the season for me to be a bit behind...so welcome to Teach Me Something Tuesday a day late... Learning doesn't stop just because the holidays are upon us, though many kids might disagree.  As we dream of Santa visits, family traditions, Menorah lights and most importantly TIME OFF FOR BREAK, it can be hard to stay focused.  So this week, I am having some fun while learning about a new interactive tool called Apester . I could tell you what it is and you could spend a ton of time reading about it, but why not take a look at the holiday fun I created using it instead? Images borrowed under creative commons from pixabay.com and flicker.com. Images borrowed under creative commons from pixabay.com and flicker.com. Embed customized quizzes, polls, video polls and more to your classroom website, blog or Schoology c

The countdown is on...Hour of Code starts on Monday!  Yes, I am a little obsessed.  In my blog here , I broke down some ways to participate and get yourself started in designing. This week, I have had so much fun talking to educators about plans and helping them work on designs that I couldn't resist blogging about it again.   Technology Ted loves to code at code.org The refreshing thing to me is that Hour of Code is what you make of it.   For example, one of the houses of K-5 learners I work with is hosting their Hour Of Code playdate style - with experiences set up in each classroom each day of the week that learners of all ages can choose from. Since they do Challenge Based Learning and are actively involved in the big idea of Discovery,  their challenge for the week's activities will be  based around the challenge, "Discover how programmers think".  They are including robotics like Code-a-pillar and BlueBots, unplugged activities, and a variety of