Wednesday, March 13, 2024

What Does Your Community Do For You? #EdChat

I've been thinking about community lately. What communities am I part of and how do I interact with them. What do they bring to me that I cannot get on my own. As an EdTech person, the number of communities I have joined has grown over the years. Some are super active at the start, then life gets in the way of everyone and the community slowly falls away. A community only thrives when its members are active. Managing a thriving community takes time and dedication and that can be tough for teachers who might not have the energy after a particularly difficult day or week or month of teaching. 

With that idea of EdTech communities, I thought more about school communities. Every school wants to foster a community feeling that makes everyone feel welcomed, seen, and heard. Building community is a marathon, not a sprint. That idea can be tough for some school leaders to accept because "turn around" need to happen quickly to showcase change. 

As teachers, we work very hard to foster a strong sense of community in the classroom and that can lend itself to a school community, but do teachers have the bandwidth to support the growth of the entire school's community? Where would they even start? Do not come at me with committee work either. 

I'm not sure there is an answer to these questions. I know that the communities I cherish most are filled with people I consider to be friends and I always leave community interactions feeling better. Not just about what I learned, but about who I spent my time thinking and growing. 

What does your community do for you?

Friday, February 23, 2024

Motion Comics with @AdobeExpress #AdobeEduCreative #MakerEd

I wanted to share a clip of a video I assembled based on the motion comics my students created. Students used Adobe Express to create all of the images and pages of their comic. We took pictures using a green screen and the students used Express to remove the background and animate them based on their storyboard design they created. Here is an image of one of the pages.

The first graders were able to name their superhero and keep the mask and cape. This was such a fun process and showcased what can be possible using Adobe Express and looking for creative, engaging solutions to traditional curriculum items. In this case, plotting and pacing a story for a younger audience. You can follow more of these types of projects on Instagram, Twitter (X), and TikTok. 


@thenerdyteacher Students in my Innovation and Digital Design Class partnered with 1st grade buddies and used @adobeexpress to turn them into superheroes! Combining green screens with animation features once the background was easily removed, students were able to bring their storyboards to life. Check out my website for more info. #FYP #TeacherFYP #adobe #Education #MakerEd #teachersoftiktok #TeacherTok ♬ Marvel Studios Fanfare - Geek Music

Monday, February 12, 2024

Using @AdobeExpress to Create Game Cards #AdobeEduCreative

I have been playing with the idea to create something to help students understand Computational Thinking beyond what it means in relation to code. With a little help from ChatGPT to organize my thoughts and provide some extra data points, I was able to take my ideas and put them together in a simple game. If you follow the link, you will be taken to my cards and you can use them or remix them for something you are creating, or pass it along to others. Here are a few of screenshots of the cards. 




These are just three cards of over 30 that we will use in our Coding Class next trimester. I'm really pumped to roll this out with my students and see how they take these ideas and apply them to their coding moving forward. Back in the day, I would have spent so much time trying to get these just right in another program, but Adobe Express made this supper simple to create, duplicate, and share. 


Saturday, February 3, 2024

Free Webinar on Supporting Neurodivergent Students @TextHelp #Neurodivergency

I'm thrilled to share that there's a free webinar coming up next week on supporting neurodivergent students in the classroom! This is an excellent opportunity to learn about inclusive and accessible ways to make your classroom more supportive. Spread the word and share the link with your friends and colleagues who may be interested in attending: https://text.help/rTXCd9

Let's work together to create a more inclusive and supportive learning environment for all students. Thank you, Texthelp  for making this possible!


It's Totally Free!