Power PD #4 Student Engagement

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This issue of Power PD includes some creative ways to increase student engagement.  


You can check out the slidedeck with all the links here.

1. Try Wakelet

Check out this post by TCEA to see more creative ways to use wakelet.


Have you had a chance to try out Wakelet yet?  
Ditch that Textbook recently put together a great post about using Wakelet.  You can read more about it here.  Wakelet is a tool that can be used to organize or curate your information.  Students can use it to show what they know or to respond to others.  It can be individual or collaborative.  There is so much possibility with using this tool.

Check out this wakelet about using wakelet created by Holly Clark.

2. Choice Boards
I recently used Choice Boards in my Capstone Research Project lesson series.


Giving students choice is a great way to build engagement.  I love using choice boards with my lessons.  If you have never used choice boards, I would suggest starting small.  You can give students a few choices on how they can learn about a topic or a few choices about how to respond to show what they know.  Read more about my experience with choice boards in my post "Choice Boards in Action." 

I recently participated in Gold Edu's Choice Board Make and Take live event.  I would highly suggest you check it out.   

3. Tech Tip

Recently one of my teachers showed me a great tech tip for taking a cropped screenshot.  I had been using windows + print screen or the windows snipping tool but she had an even better tip.  When you use windows + shift + s you can draw a box over the area you want to grab a screen shot of.  Super easy!  Thanks Mrs. Garza for the tip!

4.  Flipgrid
Have you seen all the updates?  You must go check them out.   
🚵‍♀️Backdrops
🐶Stickers
🖼Frames 


5. Google Applied Digital Skills



Thanks to GEG SOUTX for giving me a walk through of Google's Applied Digital Skills.  This is an awesome resource for educators to use that can help scaffold how to use the Google tool and apply it to a lesson.  The way it works is the teacher signs in with their Google account.  Then they can browse through the lessons and assign it to their students via a link or share code.  Students would work through the lesson self paced, using the video tutorials provided in Google Applied Digital Skills.  Teachers can monitor progress on their dashboard.  It is a great way to have students learn how to use the Google suite of tools while also integrating it into the content teachers need to teach.

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