While many schools provide suggested summer reading list, I wonder how many educators take time during the summer for professional reading.

This summer I’ve been reading quite a lot. I tend to read articles, but I have picked up a few books that have only enhanced my instructional practices.

Articles:
The DIY World of Maker Tools and Their Uses – very timely topic and will be a big focus of the 2014 NYSCATE Conference.

The Importance of Asking Questions to Promote Higher-Order Competencies – Common Core Aligned for questioning strategies.

Videos:

Evidence & Arguments: Lesson Planning (Video) – Common Core Aligned lesson about identifying main ideas and developing arguments.

Project Based Learning – 5 Keys to Rigorous Project Based Learning (Video Series)- I have co-presented PBL workshops and continue to search out resources to aid educators.

Books:

Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching by Charlotte Danielson – This book has helped me understand the APPR process and effective evaluation of educators.

Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind by Arthur Costa and Bena Kallick –  Great resource for understand how students behaviors of students and adults.

As a Certified Educator for Digital Citizenship through Common Sense Media, I can’t express how Digital Citizenship is a timely and important topic for students, teachers, and school cultures. This year I worked with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students using Common Sense Media’s Digital Passport Modules to teach students about Digital Citizenship.

Digital Passport offers interactive modules for students to learn about different aspects of Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship.

The Modules included are:

Communication – Twalkers – the module discusses cell phone etiquette and safety.

Privacy – Share Jumper – the module discusses online safety with communication and passwords.

Upstander – E-volve – the module discusses standing up to a Cyberbully and appropriate behavior online.

Search – Search Shark – the module discusses effective searching on the internet.

Creative Credit – Mix-n-Mash – the module discusses how to give creative credit where credit is due with images, text, and music.

Students were eager to share connections, ask questions, and learn about Digital Citizenship. The interactive modules engaged them throughout the entire lesson and student applied their learning by creating a Public Service Announcement using the information they learned from Digital Passport and classroom discussions.