I am so excited to finally announce my book will be released shortly. You can order it from Visions at http://www.toolsforteachers.com/kim-caise! After months of writing, editing, and reviewing it is finally finished! The book is based on learning activities and tools that you can use in mystery adventure quests along with sample activities and tools to use in the mystery adventure quests you design for your students. You can click here for a full description of the book. The book takes quests and scavenger hunts to the next level and can make them content based with technology integrated. The book is applicable to all educators, administrators and parents - parents you weren’t left out! This is a great start to gamification learning activities for everyone that works with children so check it out!

Recently I have seen a lot of blog posts discussing the removal of mobile devices or 1:1 programs from the classroom as it is becoming a distraction and teachers are relying on the hardware to teach instead of teaching the content in a conceptual, hands-on way for students. While I agree teaching national standards or CCSS is important, as well as test preparation, I also believe teaching students to use digital media within the context of a global project or assignment is just as important. Not all students are adept at using the computer for research or synthesizing information on in-depth projects. While this is true that not all students are efficient and skilled computer users, I don’t think technology should be removed from the classroom at all. In fact, I think trained teachers should increase the use of technology to further learning and motivate students to be actively engaged in the learning process. Steve Jobs didn’t let his children use the iPad. When asked how his kids liked using the iPad, he said the amount of time his children used technology was limited. Blogger Sarah Lesnar shared the following regarding the limited use of technology with children, There is a quote that was highlighted in The Times by Chris Anderson, CEO of 3D Robotics and a father of five. He explains what drives those who work in tech to keep it from their kids. "My kids accuse me and my wife of being fascists and overly concerned about tech, and they say that none of their friends have the same rules…  That’s because we have seen the dangers of technology firsthand. I’ve seen it in myself, I don’t want to see that happen to my kids." Many people have noticed and made comments that children don’t play outside and aren’t as social in person like we were when we were kids. Over time technology evolved and we did have some technology to occupy our time and learn with but for the most part our entertainment came from socializing in person. As did our learning. Our learning was hands-on, allowing students of all abilities to conceptualize content to develop strong foundations for learning. Again, I wholly support hands-on learning and helping students conceptualize complex content areas or algorithms but technology should be a tool to facilitate the learning when possible in my opinion. Clay Shirky is one educator that bans all laptops from the classroom. He feels that it is a distraction and hard to compete with the challenge of keeping students focused and motivated on the content presented with all of the distractions having laptops presents holds during a lecture. But is a lecture or discussion the best way to engage large classes and present content? Clay Shirky’s thinking is along the lines of the research presented in "Brain Rules" about multi-tasking.  John Medina, best-selling author or Brain Rules, does not believe we can effectively pay attention to multiple tasks at one simultaneous time. Medina shares that our brains can focus on one thing only and multi-tasking is a myth. Instead, our brains switch back and forth from each task and pays attention to several items individually not simultaneously. Other educators are following suit as Clay Shirky. Effective teachers use technology in the classroom and its use is paramount to student success and academic performance. I couldn’t imaging teaching without technology. Lisa Nielsen, The Innovative Educator, shared the following in a recent blog post, Clay Shirky author and professor of media studies at New York University, recently penned a guest article for the Washington Post sharing why he decided to ban technology in his class.  He explains how it was challenging to be more interesting than the devices. The following quote captures some of his thinking: "The practical effects of my decision to allow technology use in class grew worse over time. The level of distraction in my classes seemed to grow, even though it was the same professor and largely the same set of topics, taught to a group of students selected using roughly the same criteria every year. The change seemed to correlate more with the rising ubiquity and utility of the devices themselves, rather than any change in me, the students, or the rest of the classroom encounter." While I can understand the feelings of Clay Shirky, I personally tend to lean to the side of Lisa Nielsen. Lisa contends that the students that just ‘sit and get’ information from lectures don’t experience true learning. In my opinion, students need interaction, to experience simulations and learn from one another by collaborating on authentic, real world challenges that they might experience in a job or career setting after high school or college. Career readiness skills are paramount to preparing students for success as an adult in the workforce and the use of technology tools is one of those career readiness skills. Using technology in the classroom is so important to me it is the reason that I sought national board certification in the area of technology education. Playing outside is important but so is playing games to learn content in the classroom. But that leads into a whole different conversation about gamification, which has become near and dear to my heart since I finished my book on gamification, that I will save for another day. What are your thoughts on using technology in the classroom with students? Agree or disagree? Please leave a comment and let’s discuss this and make connections during Connected Educator month!

Complete Post Shared Below from http://www.rubegoldberg.com/. Click here to see Press Release concerning the task change. The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest (RGMC) is an annual international competition that challenges teams of students from middle school to college age to compete in building the most elaborate and hilarious Rube Goldberg Machine. A Rube Goldberg Machine is an overly complex contraption, designed with humor and a narrative, to accomplish a simple task. The 2015 Task is: ERASE A CHALKBOARD. Team Registration is open now! The RGMC is STEM and STEAM friendly, and Teams and their machines are judged on a range of criteria from absurd complexity, reliability, team chemistry, creativity, humor and story-telling — along with the successful achievement of the task at hand. Download the ALL NEW CONTEST 2015 Rule Book. Click here to find out How To Register CONTEST HISTORY Dating back over 60 years, the contest’s namesake is the late American Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, humorist and inventor, Reuben Lucius Goldberg, who specialized in drawing whimsical machines with every-day objects that performed a seemingly simple task. Goldberg’s legacy lives on through the contests — as students nationwide build crazy machines that complete the annual task, all in the spirit of Rube’s illustrations. View the International Online Contest page for middle school students. View the High School and College Contest schedule for dates and to find a contest near you. No contest near you? Sign up to become a Host. Hosting is a great way to: - Create an exciting, annual, on-campus event that sparks the imagination of media and spectators; - Connect students from all disciplines — Engineering to Theater, Physics to Art, and Chemistry to Computer Science — in a creative, competitive, and fun atmosphere fueled by learning and humor; - Engage your students and teachers with an audience and community of creative and abstract thinkers, including prospective students; - Help your students become the problem-solvers of tomorrow by participating in a Rube Goldberg Machine Contest today!  

I am in the process of transitioning publishers. I have a supply of books and will be selling them directly through this website. Just click on the contact form or the widget in the right sidebar! I will then send you an invoice for the book and you can pay a variety of ways. The price of the book is $19.99 which includes shipping or you can purchase from Amazon. Either way take this opportunity to get a guide to implementing technology at a discounted price. If you are looking for easy, innovative ways to integrate gamification, web tools and mystery adventure quests then this book is for you. There are great ideas for simple to complex technology integration activities with sample lesson plans and step by step directions. If you would like a sample please let me know. I am currently working on my second book and hope to have it self-published by the time the new school year starts in August or September. For now, I would love your support and appreciate let their colleagues know about this book. Thank you to those who have supported me in the past and I appreciate it for my future adventures in writing! Miguel Guhlin, author of ‘Around the Corner’ blog, shared a great write up of the content in the book in a post that can be found here: http://wp.me/p39xZQ-1je. Hopefully it gives you an inspirational overview of the book and you decide to purchase the last of the stock. Thanks again for your support!

This past Saturday, June 6th, there was a discrepancy in the directions for one section of the SAT test according to a Washington Post article. The test proctor’s booklet said section 8 or 9, depending on the version the student received, was limited to 20 minutes, which was the correct time allocation, while the student booklets said 25 minutes for the section. Once the discrepancy was noticed, test proctors were frantically calling the College Board asking how best to proceed. It is unfortunate the time allocation discrepancy was not noticed prior to starting the test. Most students were only allowed 20 minutes for the section regardless of what their booklet said causing many students to panic as they had paced themselves thinking they had more time than they actually did. Five minutes can be a big deal when taking timed tests and on a test that is as important as the SAT, anything that alters the timing or answering the questions can really affect student scores. According to a Washington Post article, the College Board issued the following statement: Shortly before noon Eastern Time on Saturday, June 6, Educational Testing Service (ETS) informed the College Board that there was a printing error in the standard test books they provided to students taking the SAT on June 6 in the United States. The time allotted for a specific section, either section 8 or 9 depending on the edition, was incorrect in the student test books and correct in the script and manual provided to Test Center Supervisors. The student test books contained "25 minutes" while the manual and script contained the correct time limit of "20 minutes." As soon as ETS became aware of the error during the administration of the test, they worked to provide accurate guidance to supervisors and administrators. The College Board understands the critical nature of this issue, and we are actively working to determine next steps to ensure the fairness of the test and the validity of the scores we deliver. We regret the confusion and concern this issue is causing for students and their families, and we will provide them and others with updated information as soon as possible. Updates will be available online. ETS is the College Board’s test administration and security provider for the SAT. Think of the panic if you are taking the SAT and planning to enroll in the fall of 2015 in a college program. This is one of the last administrations that you can take and still possibly enroll in the fall. Rushing to finish problems or leaving too many blank can have negative repercussions on the overall SAT score due to a student panicking or experiencing increased test anxiety. This was an unfortunate problem for students all over the United States that took the SAT on June 6, 2015. Some students were given the extra five minutes as stated in the test booklet even though the directions the test administrators were given read 20 minutes. Bob Schaeffer, public education director of the nonprofit National Center for Fair and Open Testing, known as FairTest, said Sunday night that his organization had been alerted to the same problem in SAT booklets administered in Asia on Saturday hours before the exams were given in the United States. But a College Board spokeswoman said on Monday that the organization said in an e-mail: "ETS and the College Board have confirmed that there was no misprint in tests administered outside the United States." Schaeffer said in an e-mail: If the mistimed sections were not experimental, the College Board faces a serious test scoring problem. At a minimum, the administration of that portion of the exam was not "standardized" since some students had 20 minutes to complete the items, while others had 25 minutes. Rather than its typical circle-the-wagons and say nothing non-response, the test-makers need to explain immediately how this error occurred and what they are going to do to insure score integrity. The error was brought to light when a student, who had taken the test twice before, noticed the booklet said 25 minutes although he knew the directions only allowed 20 minutes for that section. The test booklet said he had 25 minutes, but the proctor said he had 20. He pointed this out, and the proctor asked what other people’s exam books said. About half the people in the room had 25 minutes for Section 8. Presumably, the other half would have the extra time on Section 9. The test supervisor had to be called in, and she indicated that other classrooms were experiencing the same problem. It turned out that the extent of this problem was much wider and was in fact nationwide. James Murphy is an educator who prepares students for the SAT. He made a statement about the changes coming in the future on the new SAT. In order to get a perfect score on the SAT, you need to be pretty much perfect. You can’t make stupid mistakes, and you have to be very careful with your timing. The SAT this past Saturday did not live up to its own standards. Students across the nation received exam booklets containing a printing error that allotted five extra minutes to one section of the exam.  The SAT has 10 sections, and Sections 8 and 9 are 20 minutes long. On June 6, however, tests were distributed in which the directions for either Section 8 or 9 indicated that section would be 25 five minutes long. Students that took the SAT on June 6 took to Twitter to voice their concerns and frustrations. Two samples tweets are below.                             The College Board put out an initial update regarding the June 6th SAT administration. You can read the update here.

The state of New York recently announced that it was replacing Pearson as its testing vendor and is going to go with Questar Assessment Inc, a smaller Minneapolis based company. Questar is receiving a $44 million, five-year contract. Pearson’s $32 million contract ends this December and was responsible for developing the Common Core-aligned tests that have been given to New York students for several years. Pearson’s tests have had repeated complaints about the validity and content of some of its questions. Just a few months ago, Pearson lost its three-decade testing contract for the state of Texas. Educational Testing Service won the state’s new testing contract of a mere $280 million spanning the next four years. Pearson will keep a small portion of the testing business though, just $60 million compared to Pearson’s last contract with Texas for $468 million over the past five years. Living in Texas, I know many educators were glad to see that Pearson’s presence was lessened. A new test was developed that was supposed to be harder because the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test was too easy and teachers were achieving high passing scores. The new test that replaced TAKS, the State of Texas of Assessment of Academic Readiness (STARR) is extremely difficult and is not without controversy over the questions and difficulty level. In 2014, Pearson lost its contract to provide tests for public schools in Florida, and a new $220 million, six-year contract instead went to the AIR (formerly known as the American Institutes of Research). According to a Washington Post article, Pearson-created Common Core tests in New York have been the target of complaints for several years, including a now infamous question about a "talking pineapple" on a 2012 standardized reading test given to eighth-grade students, which students and adults said didn’t make sense. Ultimately, the question wasn’t counted in students’ scores. But questions about other questions have continued, including these concerns expressed this year by educators: Requiring fourth graders to write about the architectural design of roller coasters and why cables are used instead of chains A sixth-grade passage from "That Spot" by Jack London, which included words and phrases such as "beaten curs," "absconders of justice," surmise, "savve our cabin," and "let’s maroon him" A passage on the third-grade test from "Drag Racer" which has a grade level of 5.9 and an interest level of 9-12th grade. The article also lists the following links to testing related articles of issues Pearson experienced in 2015, as collected by FairTest and the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, a non-profit that works to end the misuse of standardized testing: 2015 New York - Quality of Pearson-designed questions on state exam challenged 2015 California - Pearson battles over award of state testing contract to rival firm 2015 Minnesota - Statewide testing suspended due to Pearson computerized administration system collapse 2015 Florida - State end-of-course testing suspended due to PearsonAccess log-in problems 2015 Virginia - State Testing Interrupted Three Times Because of Pearson Testing System Problems 2015 Indiana - Cyber-attack on Pearson Computerized Exams Raises Security Concerns Unfortunately, even though Pearson is out of the picture or their presence is lessened in some states, there is still controversy surrounding Pearson or its replacement. There is no company without controversy when it comes to standardized assessments. How unfortunate for our students. Weigh in with your comments on difficulties with standardized testing in general or Pearson created tests. I am collecting data and anecdotes for future blog posts and appreciate all responses.  

One athlete lost everything because of one tweet that he posted online. It is so important to teach students about developing a positive online presence, that whatever is posted is never really deleted, and create an digital footprint that one can be proud of and not worry if it is searched by recruiters or employers. There were two athletes that a recruiter was watching. The recruiter told the coach that only one was going to be considered because the other athlete had posted an inappropriate tweet and some other posts about partying using vulgar language. "We found his Twitter account, looked through it and some of what we saw isn’t representative of what our university is about," the recruiter explained. That athlete lost everything he worked for because of one negative tweet that he posted. It can be challenging to teach students about creating positive digital footprints and that people do search a person’s online presence for a variety of reasons. Those primarily include job interviews or scholarship or college admissions. That one tweet cost the athlete over $140,000 in scholarship money and a possible future career as a professional athlete. The athlete, Scott Fitch, now speaks to students about watching their online presence and making sure there is nothing negative they have posted online. Fitch also has presented "Pause Before You Post," at a Section V Sportsmanship Summit and to administrators on the state level. "Never let a 140 character tweet cost you a $140,000 scholarship," Brandon Chambers, an assistant men’s basketball coach at Marymount (Virginia) University, tweeted on Aug. 25. On some recruiting and employment forms, usernames of social media accounts are asked for so they can be searched to see what kinds of things are posted and make sure they have the right person associated with the correct account. Had Finch been educated about creating a positive digital footprint earlier in high school, he wouldn’t have thrown away his scholarship by a negative tweet. With cyberbullying and students partying and wanting to share selfies on various media outlets, it is easy to post negative items and get caught up in things and post off color or hate filled posts. "It’s here to stay and we either get up with the times and figure out how to get through it or we’ll be sorry," said veteran Rush-Henrietta football coach Joe Montesano, who’ll occasionally tweet inspirational sayings or messages for his players to see. "I think it’s part of the education process as a teacher and coach. We try to model for them, try to teach them how to do it the right way."    "It’s instant and it’s public and some kids don’t realize that," said Gates Chili athletic director Ken Hammel, who is Monroe County’s representative on Section V Sportsmanship Committee. "You can start a pretty big disruption with one comment that is tweeted or retweeted and taken the wrong way. It could offend an entire district." At one time Facebook was the chosen media outlet of students. Whether a student went to school online or offline, Facebook was the social media venue of choice. Now that many parents and adults are on Facebook, students have move to Snapchat and Instagram. Students still run into the same problem due to ignorance of social media and internet etiquette. That is where teachers and coaches need to step in and help reinforce the importance of thinking before posting. We only have the students in high school with us for a short while and this is such an important topic. We have to do more to reach our students and educate them about their online presence. And just as students, we adults must do the same making sure we think before we post. Share this post and the original article with your students, their parents and your colleagues. Together we can help protect one another and remind each other to think before we tweet.

On September 17th, there will be several events going on to celebrate Global Collaboration Day, International Dot Day, and Constitution Day. International Dot Day is September 15-ish but can be celebrated in conjunction with Global Collaboration Day and Constitution Day. Constitution Day is mandatory by law that educators have activities that support instruction about the founding Constitution of our nation every September 17th. Discovery Education is planning two events to celebrate Constitution Day. Student Town Hall with Justice Breyer 12 PM Eastern Students will meet Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer who will speak about the ins and outs of his job and answer students’ questions A Tour of the National Constitution Center and Conversation with Judge Marjorie O. Rendell 1:30 - 2:00 PM Eastern Take a virtual tour inside this cutting-edge museum, the first and only one of its kind devoted to the U.S. Constitution. Highlights of the 30-minute tour: Signers’ Hall which includes 42 life-sized bronze statues of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention Exhibits that focus on the 13th Amendment, women’s rights, civil rights, and more American National Tree that gives an interactive glimpse of the lives of 100 citizens About Judge Marjorie O. Rendell Both events are appropriate for upper elementary, middle, and high school students. Register your classroom today! As you can sign, Discovery Education has some really exciting events and virtual tours created to teach students about the U.S. Constitution.  If you and your students have questions you would like to ask Judge Rendell, you can click here to submit your: https://discoveryed.wufoo.com/forms/k1g2aycm0pnrqgb/. To find out more information about Global Collaboration Day, click here: http://www.globalcollaborationday.org/         International Dot Day Information and registration can be found here: http://www.thedotclub.org/dotday/get-started  

Are your students 13-18 years and like to explain math or science concepts? Then Khan Academy is looking for new video creators. Between now and October 7th, Khan Academy and Breakthrough Prizes are looking for video creators to create a video Khan Academy style about a  challenging and important concept or theory in mathematics, life sciences, or physics. If your students are 13-18 years old please encourage them to submit a video. Inform your students that: Not only can you (13-18 year old students) dig into a topic that you’re passionate about, but there are also great prizes to be won, including a $250,000 scholarship for you, a $50,000 award for your teacher, and a state-of-the-art $100,000 science lab for your school. The winner will also be invited to the televised red carpet 2016 Breakthrough Prize ceremony in Silicon Valley, where the prize will be awarded in front of the superstars of science, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood. If you enter, you’ll view and assess other participants’ videos in a peer-to-peer review process. Submissions will then be assessed by leaders in science, technology, and education from Khan Academy and by Breakthrough Prize laureates. The judges will select a winner based on how engaging, illuminating, and creative their video is, and how challenging the concept is to understand. The deadline for submissions is October 7, so register today at www.breakthroughjuniorchallenge.org. We hope you’ll be inspired to get involved - and share your passion for understanding the world! This can be a fantastic opportunity for young people who are creators of digital media and like to share their creations. How exciting!

In conjunction with all the fun, fabulous activities celebrating International Dot Day today and Constitution Day and Global Collaboration Day on Thursday, I am lowering the price of my book purchased through my website here to just $15.00! It is normally $19.99 and I wanted to cut the price to join in the festivities this week in education until September 18, 2015. Many teachers will include gamification activities and that is exactly what my book is about. To purchase, fill out the contact form by clicking here and let me know you want the book at the discounted rate and I will send you an invoice right away!