Beyond Integration

The 4Cs are a topic of frequent discussion among teachers - how can we incorporate them into our classrooms?  Why are they important for our students?  How can we build and assess our kids on creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication?   We have introduced Breakout Edu in our district a few times this year already and each time the excitement of challenging these groups gets better and better. Now, we have had the boxes in the district for a year now, but it was not until this year that our Technology Learning Coaches are bringing into faculty meetings and classrooms more and more. Teachers are experiencing the value of this activity in the classroom, where students will develop interpersonal skills and perseverance, as well as the 4C’s. So, what is Breakout EDU ? Puzzles are created for groups to decipher, these clues leading to another that will unlock the box within a specific amount of time.There are several age ranges to choose...

On Global Collaboration day , our team of technology and learning coaches and technology integration specialists participated in a mystery hangout.  It was a new experience for many of the people in the room and it was so much fun.  This blog post will outline how we set up the mystery hangout, what we learned in the process, and ideas for teachers when implementing mystery hangouts in the classroom. We found a class to hangout with by requesting a connection in the Connected Classrooms Google Plus Group .  Here we posted the time and date we were seeking a connection and a general description of what we were hoping to accomplish. Before the hangout, our technology and learning coaches brainstormed two yes/no questions to ask the students regarding their location on the other side of the computer screen. We joined the hangout at the predetermined time and got to work! Takeaways The kids asked way better questions than the adults!  They beat us t...