Book Review: A Must Read EdTech Hit Out FRIDAY

Shout out to my friend and Education Technology colleague +Lisa Johnson (TechChef4u) on the publication of her first book available Friday THIS WEEK! After perusing the praise of my colleagues for her work, I'm so excited to get my hands on it. Here's what Kyle Pace had to say . . .

This book is the most practical guide I have seen to truly help secondary students be “future ready.” The advice and tips that Lisa Johnson shares should become a standard digital literacy read for all middle school and high school students. 

—Kyle Pace, Instructional Technology Coach Grain Valley School District Kansas City, MO

I'm most excited about the chapter on Visual Literacy, which I've long believed is an important skill to teach without having a convincing argument as to why or really understanding how. Lisa provides both, and I'm buying it, literally and figuratively. Check out her four guiding questions for students (full descriptions of each one in the book). Even this ONE chapter is worth the purchase and there are so many more!

Communicating the Organization of Content Within a slide Deck  

• How do you hook your audience’s attention? 
• How do you capture the most important details and information? 
• What is the best logical order for your information? 
• How do you leave your peers with an impression? 

Buy it now before it's sold out! (Just kidding, it's digital! But you should still buy it!)

Amazon

Corwin Book Link

Corwin Book Code: N173H5 for 25% off the list price, expires 4/30.

Engagement Defined

I'm impressed with what I've read so far of Engaging Students: The Next Level of Working on the Work by Phillip C. Schlechty. Below is a portion that especially stood out. I wish I could Tweet the highlights from my Kindle Cloud Reader, though if I shared everything I like, I would undoubtedly severely violate copyright restrictions.

If you are interested in student engagement, check out this book.

The warning that follows this passage is to all educators: Take care not to confuse "on-task behaviors" with student engagement. You can tell the difference by asking yourself, if the reward or punishments were removed, would the good behavior continue? If students would still work on the project even if it weren't graded, they are engaged. If not, they may just be "on-task."

Learn more about Schlechty's work on Google Books here.