VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

VSTE News

Webinar: Incorporating Diversity and Equity Principles

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Tomorrow, February 24, at 12:30 pm the VSTE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee will host a webinar on incorporating Diversity and Equity principles in your learning content. One of our mentors, Charolette Morris, will facilitate this webinar.

In this webinar, you’ll learn about:

  • The importance of incorporating D&I in learning content.
  • Examples of how to apply D&I in your learning content.
  • Common D&I Terms

Charlotte Morris is an Instructional Designer with the College of Professional Studies at The George Washington University. Join us at 12:30 tomorrow as she shares insight into how to incorporate Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) principles in your learning content.

If you would like to attend this webinar, email vstedei@vste.org to receive a link to the Zoom room.

Featured Resources #GoOpenVA, February 22, 2021

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logo for go open vaJean Weller, VSTE Board Member and VDOE Technology Integration Specialist, leads the #GoOpenVA initiative in Virginia. This collaborative initiative enables educators and others throughout Virginia to create, share, and access openly-licensed educational resources (OER, also known as open education resources). OER are free digital materials that can be used or modified to adjust to student needs; they are openly-licensed unhampered by many traditional copyright limitations.

The database is growing. Jean recently created a collection for resources specifically related to professional learning. Technology coaches from across the state have contributed and you can learn more here.

We asked Jean to periodically curate a few of the resources to give a sense of what is available. Start with these but stay for so much more! And be sure to follow Jean on Twitter.

This week, VSTE Board member Heather Hurley shares some of her favorite resources.

Heather says, "I wanted to share some resources to help teachers who are in a hybrid model or are about to begin Hybrid/Concurrent. Below are three resources to help teachers plan for virtual, concurrent or hybrid and the fourth resource is a lesson on conducting a research project virtually."

Teaching Digitally- A FREE Resource Guide for ANY K-12 teacher

Teacher Nadine Gilkison is a District Level Tech Integrator in Illinois and has put together a Google resource full of tips and links to tools for those trying to get a good handle on online/blended learning. It goes beyond just using the tools and considers pedagogical implications and challenges as well.

Planning for Success (Expectations part 1) and Planning for Success (Expectations Part 2)

Donovan O'Brien of Culpeper, VA provides these video recordings of a presentation on Blended and Remote Learning Models, which covers expectations. He offers very practical ideas that can be implemented easily.

Distance Learning & Personal Research Projects

Check out how a Science 6 CLT from Arlington, VA partnered with the school librarian, resource teacher for the gifted (RTG), SPED teacher, and English Learner (EL) teachers to engage and support all students in a personal research project...remotely!  They are sharing their project resources, experiences, and how this project personalizes distance learning.

Big Book Deal, February 15th, 2021

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VSTE partners with Big Deal Media to bring you carefully curated resources designed for K-12 educators. Grants, competitions, web-based and mobile resources and more. We select our favorites from each newsletter but be sure to scroll down and view the whole newsletter. And, since not all the Big Deal Book resources are time sensitive, we provide an archive for you to browse.

This newsletter will help you with Black History Month, Antibias Book Talks, History of Science & More...

Traveling Exhibit with Original Artifacts of Black History

The Black History 101 Mobile Museum hosts an award-winning collection of more than 10,000 original artifacts of Black memorabilia dating from the trans-Atlantic slave trade era to hip-hop culture.

Videos Exploring Multicultural Children’s Books Through an Antibias Lens

In response to requests for recommendations of antibias children’s books, Social Justice Books has launched the Freedom Reads: Anti-Bias Book Talk video series. Each episode walks viewers through a synopsis of the book, relevant resources, and four to five key points from an antibias, critical literacy perspective.
Music Legends Raising Awareness of Black Contributions to Arts and Society

Kids Discover has partnered with Rhino Records to celebrate Black History Month by releasing three free units honoring classic recording artists Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Curtis Mayfield.

Big Book Deal, February 15th, 2021

The Archives

Big Book Deal, February 1st, 2021

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Big Deal Media

VSTE partners with Big Deal Media to bring you carefully curated resources designed for K-12 educators. Grants, competitions, web-based and mobile resources and more. We select our favorites from each newsletter but be sure to scroll down and view the whole newsletter. And, since not all the Big Deal Book resources are time sensitive, we provide an archive for you to browse

This newsletter will help you with Diversity in Literature, History of Computing, Digital Note-Taking & More

 

Reference App to Explore Earth’s Ecosystems

Can your students find frogs on Mount Everest? Do they know what the climate is like in the Congo Basin in February? Do they have endangered species in their own neighborhood? BiomeViewer, from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is a free reference app about planet Earth.
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Digital Journal for Collecting Notes and Observations from Experiments

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Arduino Science Journal gives students access to a robust science toolbox for making observations and collecting sensor-based data as part of their experiments.

Competition to Design Environmentally Responsible Solutions to Energy Challenges

The Clean Tech Competition is a worldwide research and design challenge for precollege youth. The program encourages scientific understanding of real-world issues and the integration of environmentally responsible energy sources.

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Big Book Deal, February 1st,  2021

The Archives

 

Featured #GoOpenVA Resources, January 26, 2021

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logo for go open vaJean Weller, VSTE Board Member and VDOE Technology Integration Specialist, leads the #GoOpenVA initiative in Virginia. This collaborative initiative enables educators and others throughout Virginia to create, share, and access openly-licensed educational resources (OER, also known as open education resources). OER are free digital materials that can be used or modified to adjust to student needs; they are openly-licensed unhampered by many traditional copyright limitations.

The database is growing. Jean recently created a collection for resources specifically related to professional learning. Technology coaches from across the state have contributed and you can learn more here.

We asked Jean to periodically curate a few of the resources to give a sense of what is available. Start with these but stay for so much more! And be sure to follow Jean on Twitter.

Remixes, or adaptations of lesson plans, are one of the great strengths of OER.  Below are two remixes of plans from outside Virginia, but customized to our SOL by our own Virginia teachers. Then there is the learning object that is user-ready but which you can remix to make your own!

Viaduct on the Baltimore and Washington Railroad Lesson Plan, from Janet Page of Nelson, is a remix of an OER lesson plan which is not on #GoOpenVA currently. Her remix is excellent and includes all the information you need to implement a lesson in reading…using art!

Shopping Spree – Remix is an adaptation of an older lesson from our neighbors in North Carolina.  The lesson asks students to apply math to an everyday situation.  Laura Brown of Loudoun updated the lesson to use digital resources rather than print, and to adjust the activity for older students.

Parts of a Computer, developed by Dana Smith of Tazewell, is exactly what teachers need! Everyone will be working to address the new Computer Science standards and it’s nice to know you don’t have to create ALL of your own materials.  Dana put together a nice short presentation on the parts of a computer, along with clear illustrations.  Use it as is, or adapt it for your own students.