Posted on

NOW Classrooms Book Series Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Twenty-Seven Educational Experts from Across the Nation Share Best Practices for Using Technology in Classrooms

Bloomington, IN (November 1, 2017)—The NOW Classrooms series, published by Solution Tree, presents classroom-ready lessons that support the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Students. Educators can use the lessons, which are grounded in the essential four C skills—communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity—to connect technology to key learning outcomes and prepare learners to succeed in the 21st century.

“My books are written with the classroom teacher in mind and contain strategies that are practical and easy to implement in the classroom,” explained author Meg Ormiston. “The tech-rockstar teachers get everything quickly and are racing on to the next tip, app or tool. Most teachers need more time to practice as they familiarize themselves with various digital tools—I write for these teachers.”

The books are organized by grade bands of K–2, 3–5, 6–8 and 9–12. Each book’s chapters are divided into several sections containing three lessons each—one novice lesson, one operational lesson and one wow lesson (spelling out “NOW”)—that readers can choose from, based on their experience with the technology and their students’ needs. The series also includes a leader’s guide, which outlines a flexible framework for driving instructional innovation schoolwide or districtwide.

Carole Colburn, a technology teacher at Highlander Way Middle School in Michigan, praised NOW Classrooms, Grades 6–8, stating, “I love this book and how the authors organized it around the ISTE standards, including terrific lesson ideas that teachers can immediately implement in any middle school classroom. It is a great resource, and I highly recommend it for any middle school teacher who wants to create a classroom environment full of engaged, 21st-century thinkers and learners!”

Readers interested in getting technology updates from the authors can follow #NowClassrooms on Twitter or Facebook.

The NOW Classrooms series is available to order at SolutionTree.com.

Books in the NOW Classrooms Series

NOW Classrooms, Grades K–2

By Meg Ormiston, Beth Hatlen, Kristy Hopkins, Kirstin McGinnis, Lissa Blake and Nicole Ring

NOW Classrooms, Grades 3–5

By Meg Ormiston, Sheri De Carlo, Sonya Raymond, Grace Kowalski and Justin Gonzalez

NOW Classrooms, Grades 6–8

By Meg Ormiston, Lauren Slanker, Jennifer Lehotsky, Megan K. Flaherty, Janice Conboy and Whitney Cavanagh

NOW Classrooms, Grades 9–12

By Meg Ormiston, Scott D. Parker, Tom Lubbers, Gretchen Fitzharris, Ellen K. Lawrence and Katie N. Aquino

NOW Classrooms, Leader’s Guide

By Meg Ormiston, Cathy Fisher, Jamie Reilly, Courtney Orzel, Jordan Garrett, Robin Bruebach, Steve M. Griesbach and Becky Fischer

About Solution Tree

For nearly 20 years, Solution Tree (https://www.solutiontree.com) has worked to transform education worldwide, empowering educators to raise student achievement. With more than 30,000 educators attending professional learning events and more than 4,260 professional development days in schools each year, Solution Tree helps teachers and administrators confront essential challenges in schools. Solution Tree has a catalog of 515 titles, hundreds of videos and online courses and is the creator of Global PD, an online tool that facilitates the work of professional learning communities. Follow @SolutionTree on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about Solution Tree.

Contact

Solution Tree

Erica Dooley-Dorocke

Erica.Dooley-Dorocke@SolutionTree.com

800.733.6786 ext. 247

###

 

 

Posted on

Five Trends in Our NOW Classrooms Book Series

Five Tech Trends in Educational Technology for the 2017-18 School Year

Shifting trends in educational technology are hard to plan for so it was rewarding to see that the content in our soon to be released book series aligns with the vision of the leaders in the field of educational technology. In The Journal  article Watch Out for Coding, Immersive Tech This School Year The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has identified five technology trends for the 2017-18 school year.

These trends include:

  • Every student will need to know the basics of computer science coding
  • Learning feedback will happen in real time
  • Virtual and Augmented Reality will reach the classroom
  • There will be a bigger push for media literacy to identify fake news
  • More conversations about digital citizenship will be focused on being active global citizens

As we wrap up the editing process in our NOW Classrooms five-part book series this article hit home because each of these trends have been woven into our books from kindergarten through high school in specific classroom tested lessons. From coding to digital citizenship, we have created practical lessons for classroom teachers to bring these trends to students.

Coding

We wrote about coding in our k-2 book and that strand goes through the 3-5 book, the 6-8 book, 9-12 book and into our leadership guide. We don’t just write about why students should code we include specific lessons and curriculum connections at all grade levels. We agree with the ISTE article stating that coding is “the international language of problem-solving”. We take coding to the next level to help the classroom teacher bring coding into their classrooms.

Real Time Feedback

Throughout the series we have included specific ways teachers can provide feedback to students in real time using a variety of tools. The 27 NOW Classroom co-authors have written creative lessons using all types of technology tools including the Google drive applications. Each lesson has at least two curriculum connections including formative assessment strategies.

Virtual and Augmented Reality

Many of our author teams had a learning curve with virtual and augmented lessons but again k-12 we developed classroom tested lessons to support teachers. We agree with the article when they focus on the learning goal first before the technology tools. Each of our lessons begin with a student I can statement always keeping the learning before the technology.

Media Literacy

Historically media literacy education was left to the school librarian, but that is shifting to the classroom teacher in all curricular areas. Our authors have created lesson curriculum connections k-12 and in the 9-12 book we also wrote connections for the Career and Technology Education (CTE) teachers.

Digital Citizenship

One of our peer reviewers commented specifically how they liked that our digital citizenship lessons were not “focused on stranger danger approach”. In each book, we created lessons that are practical and future focused for students. Every lesson connects beyond the walls of the classroom using social media and other global connections.

These five trends and much more all focus on teaching and learning objectives first and then how do technology tools enhance the experience for students. The NOW Classroom series will be available starting in October 2017. Pre-order your copies today and keep your eye on our Twitter hashtag #NOWclassrooms as we share what these trends look like in the classroom.