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Tell Us About You!
As a recipient of Big Deal Media’s K–12 Technology eNewsletter, you are invited to tell Big Deal Media how you use this publication and how you participate in the purchase of technology products and services. (The survey will take about five minutes to complete.) Surveys submitted IN FULL by October 15, 2016, will be entered into a random drawing to win a $50 American Express gift card. Big Deal Media is giving away one $50 card for every 100 completed surveys.
Deadline: October 15, 2016, for completed surveys
Click Here to Access Survey
Integrating Classroom Technology to Improve Student Engagement
Encourage students to thrive in an interactive environment with NetSupport School, Classroom Management software. Gamify lessons with student response features and introduce peer instruction strategies through direct student participation. Monitor and collaborate with any student Windows, Chrome, Android, or iOS device.
Click Here for More Information
Cross Social Boundaries, Create Safe Schools, "Feel" the Past & More
October 3, 2016
In Partnership With: 
IN THIS ISSUE
Funding & Recognition
Digital Learning • Learning Support
Professional Growth
STEM • STEAM • STREAM
Mobile Learning
Social Media
Sponsored by
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Funding & Recognition
Enter to Win the LanSchool ClassroomTechGoals Giveaway
LanSchool, from Lenovo Software, is offering some great prizes in the WeAreTeachers Giveaway. You can win free LanSchool for a year, a ThinkPad Yoga 11e, and a ticket to your local ISTE conference. You can also score Amazon gift cards and a Yoga tablet!
Deadline: October 19, 2016, to enter “giveaway”
Click Here for More Information
LanSchool v 8.0 is here!
You’ll love LanSchool classroom management software in a 1:1 environment. LanSchool helps you maintain student focus, spend more time teaching, and simplify tech tasks. And your favorite LanSchool features now perform better than ever. New features include instant screen and video sharing (400x faster than before), many Chromebook enhancements, and advanced e-safety reporting to keep students safe. The software works across operating systems and all devices.
Click Here to Request Free Trial
Keep America Beautiful Competition
The Keep America Beautiful Recycle-Bowl Competition invites all K–12 schools in the United States to recycle for the chance to win prizes and receive national recognition. The competition seeks to establish new recycling programs within schools, increase or improve recycling rates in schools that currently recycle, and provide teachers and students with educational opportunities about recycling and waste reduction. Schools may compete in one of three divisions based on the source of their recyclable materials. Schools that only count acceptable recyclables collected within the school can compete statewide in the School Division. Schools that also collect recyclables in their community, including from students’ homes, can compete nationally in the Community Division. School districts that are unable to break out recycling data for individual schools can compete nationally against other school districts in the District Division, counting only acceptable items generated by the district. Schools may also participate in the competition in an Open Division or Bragging Rights Division, although these schools are not eligible for prizes. Interested applicants will find this grant opportunity on GetEdFunding, a free database sponsored by CDW•G of thousands of funding opportunities for educators.
Deadline: October 14, 2016, for registration
Click Here for More Information
Click Here to Visit GetEdFunding Website
SaveOnEnergy Teacher Grants
SaveOnEnergy.com is offering its second annual $500 teacher grant opportunity to help students learn about energy in science and society. Teachers are invited to submit their best original lesson plans for teaching K–8 students about energy or sustainability. The lessons should encourage student development through participation. They should also describe the materials to be used, provide a list of goals, and explain how students’ understanding will be measured.
Deadline: October 21, 2016, for submission of lesson plans
Click Here for More Information
National History Day Contest
Around the world, middle school and high school students are taking their learning beyond the textbook with the annual National History Day Contest. This project-based contest provides students an opportunity to demonstrate their historical research skills through one of five categories: documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, and website. Guided by an annual theme, students are encouraged to choose a topic that matches their personal interests. The 2017 theme is Taking a Stand in History. Students enter their projects in contests at the local level, with the top entries advancing to state/affiliate and national levels. Along the way, students compete for honors, awards, and thousands of dollars in scholarships. The best entries from around the world will be invited to the Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest in June 2017 at the University of Maryland, College Park. To assist students and teachers, National History Day has developed a number of free resources, including a booklet that explains the 2017 National History Day Contest theme and offers instructional insight for teachers on how to best incorporate the theme into classroom activities, as well as videos from multiple organizations to help students choose a topic that relates to the theme and conduct research.
Deadlines: For details on contest dates and submission deadlines, contact your NHD state/affiliate coordinator
Click Here to Visit Website
Sponsored by
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Digital Learning • Learning Support
Class Is in Session at an AMC Near You
Movies have the power to take your students back in time, transport them to a distant planet, or inspire their imaginations. For a unique and memorable way to connect with your students, schedule a school field trip to an AMC theatre. Choose from AMC’s calendar of films or select from a catalog of educational IMAX films, available year-round.
Click Here for More Information
Video Series to Improve Civics Education
A new series of short videos is being offered free by Bowdoin College as its contribution to a national effort aimed at improving civics education in the United States. Founding Principles: American Governance in Theory and Action comprises 15 video episodes, each 11 to 15 minutes in length, which serve as a readily available instructive tool for use in grades 9–12 classrooms and by anyone interested in better understanding the American system of government. Written and narrated by a Bowdoin College government professor, the Founding Principles videos provide an introductory, nonpartisan overview and basic understanding of American government—how it was formed, how it works, and how everyone can participate. During this pivotal election year, Founding Principles serves as a valuable resource in educating and informing current and future voters, building citizen leaders, and promoting civic engagement.
Click Here to Access Free Videos
Activities for Understanding Sacrifice
“Understanding Sacrifice: An ABMC Education Program about World War II in Northern Europe” is an online collection of free classroom activities created by 18 teachers from around the world. Each activity was made by researching the life of one fallen American hero from World War II who is buried in an American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) cemetery in Europe. The collection includes activities for science, art, and history. The website also offers an entire nonfiction book (free PDF), When the Akimotos Went to War, about two young Japanese American US soldiers who gave their lives in battle on the European front (even though they and their families had been sent to internment camps in the United States). Currently, 18 more teachers are adding to the education program based on their research of fallen heroes buried in ABMC cemeteries in southern Europe. Their activities and eulogies will be added on November 11, 2016 (Veterans Day). These two resources, the education program and the book, won first place in the categories “digital media” and “book,” respectively, by the National Association of Interpretation Media. National History Day, the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, and the American Battle Monuments Commission together celebrate the awarding of these 2016 prizes.
Click Here to Access Free Online Activities
Campaign to Enhance a Positive School Climate
A national campaign launched by Teaching Tolerance in 2002, Mix It Up at Lunch Day encourages students to identify, question, and cross social boundaries. Students have identified the cafeteria as the place where divisions are most clearly drawn. So, for just a day, Teaching Tolerance asks students to move out of their comfort zones and connect with someone new over lunch. This year Mix It Up at Lunch Day is October 25, 2016. Teachers can register online and get a jump on their planning by viewing an 18-minute webinar on how Mix It Up can enhance their school’s climate.
Click Here to Participate in Mix It Up Day
Plus: Mix It Up offers an array of free online resources designed to help school groups and classroom teachers explore the issue of social boundaries. These activities can be used as icebreakers during the planning process, to get the group geared up for the event; or they can be used as classroom activities by teacher allies seeking to support the Mix It Up effort.
Click Here to Access Free Mix It Up Resources
Professional Growth
Webinar to Bring Social Media into the Classroom
From 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. (ET) on October 5, 2016, the Amazing Resources for Educators community on edWeb.net will be hosting a webinar titled “Bring Social Media into the Classroom.” This free webinar, sponsored by Quill.com, will define social media and explore a variety of tools that will allow participants to communicate and reach out to other learners or experts from around the world. Participants will be able to ask questions during this live, interactive event, which will also be recorded and archived for members of the Amazing Resources for Educators community to access after the event. The webinar will benefit technology coaches, librarians, and educators at all levels.
Click Here to Join Amazing Resources for Educators Community
Click Here to Register for Free Webinar
Click Here to Visit Quill Website
Workshops Addressing Bullying and Cyberbullying
October is National Bullying Prevention Month in the United States. A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE Institute of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) offers innovative programming to help schools develop a comprehensive approach to prevent and intervene against name-calling, bullying, and cyberbullying as part of a broader strategy to create safe schools for all students. ADL offers the following interactive workshops for elementary, middle, and high schools on bullying and cyberbullying: “Becoming an Ally: Responding to Name-Calling and Bullying” (Educator and Youth versions), “Understanding and Addressing Cyberbullying,” “Cyberbullying: Focus on the Legal Issues,” “CyberALLY,” and “Youth and Cyberbullying: What Families Don’t Know Will Hurt Them.” The institute also offers assembly programs of 60 to 90 minutes focused on building an ally culture for middle school and high school youth.
Click Here for More Information About Bullying Workshops
Approach for Cultivating Thinking Skills and Deepening Content Knowledge
Developed by Project Zero researchers in Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, Visible Thinking is a flexible and systematic approach to integrating the development of students’ thinking with content learning across subject matters. Visible Thinking is for teachers, school leaders, and administrators in K–12 schools who want to encourage the development of a culture of thinking in their classrooms and schools. An extensive and adaptable collection of practices, Visible Thinking has a double goal: on the one hand, to cultivate students’ thinking skills and dispositions; and, on the other, to deepen content learning. (By “thinking dispositions,” the researchers mean curiosity, concern for truth and understanding, a creative mindset, not just being skilled but also being alert to thinking and learning opportunities, and eager to take them.) At the core of Visible Thinking are practices that help make thinking visible: Thinking Routines loosely guide learners’ thought processes and encourage active processing. They are short, easy-to-learn mini-strategies that extend and deepen students’ thinking and become part of the fabric of everyday classroom life. Thinking Ideals are easily accessible concepts capturing naturally occurring goals, strivings, or interests that often propel thinking. Four Ideals—Understanding, Truth, Fairness, and Creativity—are presented as modules. Each ideal has associated routines, with activities that help to deepen students’ concepts around the ideal. The Visual Thinking website provides a convenient way to learn about Visible Thinking, as well as thorough descriptions of the ideals, routines, and activities developed from research in K–12 schools.
Click Here for More Information About Visual Thinking Approach
Sponsored by
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STEM • STEAM • STREAM
Virtual Space Exploration
On October 4, 2016, during Space Week, Lockheed Martin and Discovery Education will be hosting a Virtual Field Trip for middle school students to see the behind-the-science space flight and future journey to Mars. The Virtual Field Trip will introduce students to future STEM careers in deep space exploration and help them to gain a deeper understanding of how space flight leads to innovations on Earth. The Virtual Field Trip is open to classrooms at no cost as part of the Generation Beyond in School program. The program will be broadcast live at 1 p.m. (ET) from the Lockheed Martin Spacecraft Operations Simulation Center in Littleton, Colorado. Advanced classroom signup is available on the program’s website.
Click Here to Visit Website
$1 Foldable, Paper Microscope
Foldscope Instruments produces low-cost scientific tools invented by Manu Prakash, a bioengineer at Stanford University. One of these tools is the Foldscope, an ultra-low-cost microscope made from common materials such as paper. It is designed to be produced affordably, to be durable, and to give optical quality similar to conventional research microscopes. Prakash’s aim is to break down the price barrier between people and the curiosity and excitement of scientific exploration. Foldscopes will be broadly available for sale in 2017. Foldscope kits will be available in various forms: as individual kits or classroom kits, with different amounts of accessories included. All of this will be reflected in the price, but large classroom kits (200 units) will cost $1 per student. In the end, Prakash believes that every child in the world should carry a microscope in his or her pocket … just like a pencil.
Click Here to Visit Website
Mobile Learning
App Promoting Social Inclusion
Inspired by a miserable experience of being bullied in middle school, 16-year-old Natalie Hampton created Sit With Us, a free social networking app for the iPad and iPhone, to promote kindness and inclusion in schools. The app allows students to coordinate lunches with their friends, as well as volunteer to be Ambassadors for their schools and post open lunch events on campus where everyone will be included. Cost: Free
Click Here to Visit Website
Click Here to Access Free iOS App
Network for Nature Lovers
iNaturalist.org is a place where students around the world can record what they see in nature, meet other nature lovers, and learn about the natural world. It is like a living record of life on Earth that scientists and land managers can use to monitor changes in biodiversity, and that anyone else can use to learn more about nature. The free iNaturalist app for iOS and Android helps students upload citizen-science observations of plants and animals to the iNaturalist.org online community for naturalists as well as other members of the iNaturalist network. Students can record observations with photos and GPS locations, explore observations from around the world, and keep track of updates from other students they follow. Cost: Free
Click Here to Visit Website
Click Here to Access Free iOS App
Click Here to Access Free Android App
Portable Portal into the Past
WhatWasThere.com allows students of all ages to take a walk down memory lane as they pore over photos of the past. Created in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Enlighten Ventures, WhatWasThere lets users upload photos and place them at addresses found on Google Maps. Enlighten Ventures’ vision is to provide a photographic history of the world for users to investigate. Students simply type in the name of a state, city, or local address and begin examining photos in the collection. WhatWasThere.com encourages historical thinking as students “feel the history of a specific location in a new way.” Being exposed to America’s photographic history enables youth to see the complexity of history from more than one point of view or perspective. After downloading the iOS app, students can use the camera on their iPhone or iPod touch to access WhatWasThere.com and experience in augmented reality the history that surrounds them. Cost: Free
Click Here to Visit Website
Click Here to Download Free iOS App
Twitter Activities on Current Issues
Every Friday on its Do Now website, KQED Education posts a weekly activity for students to engage in and respond to current issues using social media tools, such as Twitter. The activity includes a brief introduction to the topic and a media resource that can be played directly on the site. At the top of the activity, there is a question for student response after students go through the introduction and media resource to deepen their understanding of the topic. Students can respond to the Do Now activity in the comments section on the website, or they can tweet their responses. (Each student must create a Twitter account.)
Click Here to Visit Website
Plus: KQED Education has produced a Guide to Using Twitter in Your Teaching Practice in collaboration with Twitter’s Trust and Safety Team. The free online guide provides resources for the school community to help jump into using social media, specifically Twitter, as a learning tool.
Click Here to Access Free Online Guide
Collaborative Music Community
ODO Sound is a global community of young, collaborative music makers who use music as a vehicle to express themselves and form deeper relationships. ODO Sound members connect from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, and other countries. In ODO Sound’s online classroom, members learn to use the latest technology to create music at their own pace and share it with the world. Free weekly online sessions allow students the chance to get to know ODO Sound teachers and other members while learning to use tools such as Soundtrap, Ableton, and Musescore. In addition, Skype lessons can be scheduled at $49 per hour.
Click Here to Visit Website
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