Kickstarting the month was an exciting iPad masterclass, I hosted across the ditch in Auckland. Twenty keen primary and secondary school teachers seized the opportunity to explore the creative possibilities on iPad with me.
It was awesome to see plenty of magical ‘aha’ moments amongst the keen primary and secondary school teachers who seized the opportunity to explore the creative possibilities on iPad. It really made it all worthwhile, knowing these teachers had nuggets of creativity to take back to their students and share with other teachers.
While in New Zealand I was lucky enough to meet up with other UTB trainers and personally welcome the two latest recruits to our growing training team. It was great to connect with each other and share inspiring stories of how our work with teachers and students is making a positive impact on their lives and in the classroom.
With schools already in full swing for Term 3, the Aussie team will be taking tech training to Adelaide, Queensland and even Singapore this month.
Read on for coming events, along with our usual lineup of must-have tech tips and tricks that help you achieve more with less effort!
Content Overview
1 Tech Tools for Teachers: Free Creative Common Images
2 Tech Updates: Microsoft & Google
3 Trainer Tip: My Favourite Things
4 Lesson Planning Made Simple: Hands-On Learning
5 Events: STEAM Camp Highlights
6 Blog Bites: 3 Areas to Include in Your Teaching Plan
7 UTB Team Milestones: Celebrating Work Anniversaries
Tech Tools for Teachers
Free Creative Common Images
Images can be an effective stimulus for student writing tasks or support study material. They can be used for layered compositions, persuasive visuals or even part of documentary movies.
Where to find quality creative common images that you don’t have to worry about copyright issues is something teachers often ask us. So we’ve rounded up our top three image banks for royalty-free imagery and movie footage to use with your students.
Top 3 Image Banks:
Tech Updates
Get the latest updates from Google and Microsoft that make creation, communication and collaboration much easier for your students and your fellow teachers.
Click here > Google Updates
Click here > Microsoft Updates
Trainer Tip
My Favourite Things
Integrate this simple, yet highly effective strategy into your lesson to demonstrate how we’re all experts in something – not just the teacher. In just 10 minutes your students will be empowered by sharing the knowledge they have about their favourite things.
Kick off the session with sentence starters like “My favourite Chromebook extension is ….” or “The tool I use most on iPad is ….” or ” I couldn’t live without ….” Whether it’s app used in the classroom, content from the last class or a website they use every day, students will soon see it’s not just their teacher that holds all the knowledge.
Students will love having a voice and being given the opportunity to share what they know. And you may be surprised at the wealth of skills and knowledge they already have. Perhaps far more than what you may know!
Lesson Planning Made Simple
Hands-On Learning
It can be easy to get stuck in familiar routines, especially when it comes to lesson planning. Guilty of falling into this trap myself, I found it leads to disengagement – both for teachers and students.
Shake things up and get your students motivated with some hands-on learning. Adding a simple task a few times a week is all it takes. One simple thing you can try is integrating coding into your reading program.
Get this resource from our online Resource Hub when you subscribe to Learn on Demand. You’ll find plenty more ready-to-use resources like this one to help you create interesting and meaningful lessons. If you’re engaged and excited, your students will be too!
Click here > Subscribe to Learn on Demand for unlimited access to the Resource Hub
Events
STEAM Camp
In the second week of the school holidays, students of St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Rotorua had a blast at the 2-day holiday STEAM Camp.
Our two newest recruits, Rachel and Jimmy joined Mark and Richard to see students displaying their amazing creativity and ingenuity with Makey Makey, micro:bits, Spheros, Tello drones and mBots.
Click here > Watch STEAM Camp Highlights
Blog Bites
3 Areas to Include in Your Teaching Plan
Every teacher has used a lesson plan at some stage in their career. But very few teachers have a plan that identifies 2 or 3 main areas they need to improve in and then do everything they can to grow in these areas and implement their learnings.
There are 3 areas that every teacher should include in their teaching plan:
1 Classroom Management
2 Student Engagement and Motivation
3 A Co-ordinated Approach to Technology Integration
Click here > Read more about how these 3 areas can transform your teaching experience
UTB Team Milestones
Celebrating Work Anniversaries
As we celebrate our work milestones we share what it means to us to be part of the UTB family.
“It’s all about the people, the teachers, the kids and the amazing supportive whanau at UTB. I love that moment a teacher’s eyes widen in astonishment when we show them that one simple thing that is going to make their life so much easier.
I’m also grateful for the PD opportunities we have at UTB that enable constant growing and learning so we can get even better at what we do.”
Richard Campbell, 1 year
“They say that “time flies when you’re having fun” and this is definitely true for my first year with UTB. Working in a job I really enjoy with great people, helping others around the country, and being able to ‘geek-out’ on new tech with like minds, is all part of my new normal. What’s not to love?!”
Kelly Kenyon, 1 year
“My first year with UTB has been a year of pivoting and a pedagogical shift in how we teach our kids. It’s been so exciting to work alongside schools supporting them through this challenging time.
I feel incredibly grateful to meet so many incredible school leaders, see how they interpret the curriculum, and hear the incredible things that are going on in schools all over Aotearoa.
I look forward to continuing to build relationships with our current schools and meet more leaders who are excited to embrace the way Covid has transformed the way we teach our kids.”
Bex Rose, 1 year
